Leah Pruett hasn\u2019t wasted any time adapting to her new role with Tony Stewart Racing (TSR). Her role, as she describes, is not confined to a single title, but rather, it spans across various dimensions. In fact, she was beginning to take strides in her new role while she was competing for a Top Fuel championship at the 2023 NHRA World Finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
[Editor\u2019s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #189, the Women of Power Issue, in July\/August of 2024.]<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt started with conversations last year when we knew I wasn\u2019t going to be in the car, and there was a particular project that came to our opportunity, and we needed somebody to take the lead on that, so I did by enrolling myself in MIT and doing coursework,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n Even though Pruett cannot say much about the project she\u2019s working on, she still feels very much part of the team.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not have any feelings of disassociation with the team since being out of the seat,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause of the responsibility and opportunity that Neal [Strausbaugh, crew chief] has given me, we wrapped our arms around it. I think it comes back to being smart about your decisions, so I\u2019m enjoying being at the track in this new role.\u201d<\/p>\n Pruett, who has spent more than 25 years in the sport, has been a role model for many young girls. Now that she\u2019s stepped out of the driver\u2019s seat of her Top Fuel dragster to start a family, Pruett has advice for females of all ages.<\/p>\n \u201cThe opportunities are endless,\u201d says Pruett. \u201cThe driver\u2019s seat is great, but this sport and industry fulfills passions from data analytics to mechanics, to engineering, to logistics, to marketing; there is a discipline throughout the entire industry.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, if you have a love for drag racing and you\u2019re finding out what your skill set is, there\u2019s a place to follow what your passion is, and it will guide you to the right spot within the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n Life hasn\u2019t slowed down for the Nostalgia Funny Car and Factory Stock Showdown NHRA world champion, who is also a 12-time event winner.<\/p>\n \u201cI still do all the things that are associated with driving without driving the car,\u201d Pruett continues. \u201cI still have all the sponsor obligations \u2013 appearances, signings, strategic alliances, summits. I\u2019m currently writing my keynote speeches for a couple of Fortune 500 companies that I do motivational speaking for, so I\u2019ve definitely stayed busy.\u201d<\/p>\n Pruett is also using her time away from the driver\u2019s seat for another initiative that has come into focus this past year.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been leading an initiative using my voice with the NHRA to create a pregnancy protocol in NHRA drag racing,\u201d Pruett explains, mentioning she has collaborated with other women in the sport. \u201cI have used our voice to be heard by the NHRA to implement a pregnancy policy for the upcoming and current generation of women that are racing so that they don\u2019t have to make the absolute choice at a very distinct time in a season, whether they choose to start a family or not. We\u2019re lobbying for something fair so you don\u2019t jeopardize partnerships, sponsorships, or your crew members, and you maintain the integrity of everything that the team and driver have built, as well as fans.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are all things that don\u2019t have anything to do with a race car, but they have everything to do with what we consider the most diverse motorsport in the world,\u201d she adds. \u201cI am focused on empowering women to maintain and continue to be strong in this sport as equally as possible. So, my experiences have shaped an opportunity to help other generations, and I\u2019m thankful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n Lastly, Pruett\u2019s role that does have a title within TSR is \u201cdriver coach.\u201d It\u2019s a term she didn\u2019t embrace at first when Tony Stewart, her husband and replacement Top Fuel driver for TSR, started referring to her as that, but is now getting more comfortable as the season progresses.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI love working with him when it comes to driving because he is such an incredible student, and we can have such thorough conversations,\u201d Pruett says, \u201cbut it took him about 10 times of saying it before it really resonated with me.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people tell Tony he\u2019s doing a good job, he jokes, \u2018I\u2019ve got a good teacher.\u2019 It made me feel cringy inside. Like, come on, you\u2019re Tony Stewart. You\u2019re doing great. He\u2019s like, \u2018No, Leah, you don\u2019t understand. I stepped into this, and I have you, and I have Matt [Hagan, TSR Funny Car driver]. Any question I ever have, you are there to walk me through it, validate my opinion, change my understanding, and keep me safe. You don\u2019t cut me any slack.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n She pauses to make a joke, \u201cWell, yeah, that\u2019s me technically, right? That\u2019s my driver coach role.\u201d<\/p>\n Then Pruett continues explaining how she looks back on her own journey, stepping into a Top Fuel dragster with no one to hold her hand to make sure she was competing at her full potential.<\/p>\n \u201cTony understands that, and it\u2019s really awesome,\u201d Pruett says. \u201cSo once he said that and he explained it that way, I took a little bit more pride in being his driving coach because I took it from the angle of making sure he was safe. The crew is safe, and it\u2019s very important that he looks like a professional and that he\u2019s a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on the 2024 season up to this point, Pruett says, \u201cThe round wins we\u2019ve currently got means so much. It means the same as if I\u2019m in the car, as when [Tony] is, and I believe it\u2019s valued. I value our success, and I value Tony\u2019s success so highly because it\u2019s a representation of our efforts. I guess I\u2019m enjoying living my racing career and everything that I\u2019ve learned through Tony racing.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published on August 23, 2024. <\/p>\n The post DI Women of Power 2024: Leah Pruett is Leading By Example<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Leah Pruett hasn\u2019t wasted any time adapting to her new role with Tony Stewart Racing (TSR). Her role, as she describes, is not confined to a single title, but rather, it spans across various dimensions. In fact, she was beginning to take strides in her new role while she was competing for a Top Fuel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}