Championship drag racing team owner Don Schumacher once spotted Leah Pritchett racing Nostalgia Funny Cars and brought her to Indianapolis for a test session prior to the U.S. Nationals. She proceeded to earn her NHRA Nitro Funny Car license with Don Schumacher Racing.That was eight years ago. At this years U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend, Pritchett raced her Don Schumacher Racing Top Fuel car into the NHRAs six-race Countdown to the Championship for the first time.Pritchett entered nationals tied with Terry McMillen for 10th in points. Both drivers were eliminated in the first round, but because Pritchett outqualified McMillen by six positions (she was 10th; he was 16th), she beat him by one point for the final Countdown position.Actions speak louder than words, Pritchett said. I said I was going to make the Countdown and we did. Im going to give everybody one hell of a run for their money for this championship.By Pritchett making the Countdown, which begins Friday at zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina, all eight DSR teams are in title contention: four in Top Fuel and four in Funny Car. It is Pritchett, however, who is the surprise of the group.?Four races into the season, Pritchetts team, owned by Bob Vandergriff Jr., abruptly shut down. After the unexpected death of the teams financial backer and C&J Energy Services founder Josh Comstock, Vandergriff announced his retirement. Pritchett hastily put together a deal for the Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX with Lagana Family Racing, but she had nothing solidified for the next event. Pritchett then turned to Schumacher.I went ahead and hired Leah, even though I didnt have a car for her to race, Schumacher said. I did put a team together a couple of races later. Shes been employed by me ever since the Atlanta race [in May].Pritchett was responsible for obtaining the teams funding -- $125,000 per race. That money pays for things such as parts, fuel, per diem for crew members and hotel rooms. In the first 18 races this season, she missed only one because of a lack of a sponsor. She currently has sponsors for four of the six Countdown events, but Schumacher has assured her shell be at all of them.Schumacher supplies the cars, which have to be built, the transporter for them and the full-time crew at the shop to build and prepare the cars.Im very impressed by her effort, hard work to get that done [acquire funding] and her willingness to do anything necessary sponsorship-wise, Schumacher said. Shes a talented driver, quick on the starting line. Shes very good with TV, very good with sponsors and a very good teammate, which is very important to my organization. She needs to fit in with everyone, and she does a very good job of that. It makes a great situation.Deb Williams is a North Carolina-based writer and former editor. She has covered auto racing for United Press International, USA Today and The Charlotte Observer. Cheap Suns Jerseys . The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., captured a World Cup downhill event Saturday, his second this year and fifth career victory on the circuit. Wholesale Custom Suns Shirts . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. http://www.customsunsjersey.com/custom-penny-hardaway-jersey-large-72r.html . After a lengthy wait, persistent rain finally forced the postponement of the Nationals game against the Miami Marlins on Saturday night. The teams, and a few thousand fans, waited nearly four hours from the 7:05 scheduled start time before an announcement was made shortly before 11 p. Authentic Custom Suns Jersey . - After leading the Saints to a fourth playoff appearance in five seasons, Drew Brees expressed confidence in the direction of his team and, perhaps more importantly, showed a willingness to listen to contract proposals if the team needs his help getting under the NFLs salary cap. Suns Jerseys China .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. SPRINGFIELD, N.J. -- Every two years, as the Ryder Cup nears, American golf fans go through a miserable cycle.We talk ourselves into believing this time our team will to rise to the occasion, that well have good chemistry, that our captain will put together a coherent strategy, that our stars will shine and our role players will contribute.Every two years, we get humiliated. Its deflating and depressing.Sure, weve won Ryder Cups twice in the past 20 years (in 1999 and 2008), but thats out of 10 chances. The Europeans always seem to have better chemistry, their captain is always outfoxing our captain, and their players play loose and fearless. Its no coincidence. They are better at team golf than we are. We now have two decades of evidence to back it up.You know how we can change that this time?We can start by putting Brooks Koepka on the team.We dont need a task force to figure this out. Captain Davis Love III should get on the phone Monday with the 26-year-old Koepka and tell him to take off as much time as he needs to let his ankle heal. Tell him there will be a spot waiting for him at the end of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, whether he has enough qualifying points or not.Dont even make him sweat it. Because what Koepka did in the PGA Championship, finishing T-4 with an ankle so swollen and painful he could barely walk earlier in the week, was nothing short of inspiring.On Tuesday, we all tried to talk him out of playing, Koepkas caddie Richard Elliott said. He was nearly in tears on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he decided to give it another nine holes. We found different strap for him, and he was able to kind of grit it out on Thursday. On Friday, he got some momentum going. I think the pain kind of caught up to him in the end, but it was all guts. He worked his ass off in rehab. It was unbelievable.If the rain hadnt forced most of the leaders to play 36 holes on Sunday, its possible Koepka might have made a run at Jimmy Walker and Jason Day. He was right there after three rounds, 2 shots off the lead. But over the last nine holes, he could barely push off his right leg. He was spent. Elliott said the pain finally caught up to Koepka, and he still managed to birdie two of the last four holes to shoot 70.To go from barely hitting balls on Saturday to finishing top five, Ill take that, Koepka said. Im kind of numb right now. It hurts, dude. I dont even feel my foot.Koepka, who grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida, is a golfer by profession, but he looks more like a football player. You could sneak him into a Miami Dolphins locker room and no one would blink. And if you want to know the truth, he approaches golf with a similar mentality: aggressive and fearless.Last year at the Open Championship at St. Andrews, when rules officials from the Royal & Ancient were insisting players continue on during the third round even though the wind was whipping in excess of 35 mph, Koepka stood his ground and got into a heated discussion with the official on the seventh green.According to someone who witnessed the exchange, the official, a Scotsman, became annoyed when Koepka admonished him and failed to address him by his proper title.dddddddddddd am a sir, the rules official allegedly said. And you will refer to me as such when addressing me. I dont give a f--- who you are, Koepka responded. Im not playing until my ball stops oscillating. We could use that kind of mentality in the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine this September. If that sounds boorish and ungentlemanly, ask yourself this: How have our previous strategies worked out? How much fun is it watching European players soak themselves in champagne every two years, while our team is reduced to shanking our captain in a media conference?Day might be the most talented golfer on the planet, and he is a nice guy whom everyone admires. But every week, he lets us know when hes not playing at 100 percent. Its a cold, a muscle tweak, the flu, or any one of a dozen other maladies.Koepka played the entire week of a major with an ankle that looked like a turnip, and he downplayed his agony at every turn. (He said the injury occurred right after the U.S. Open in June, when he rolled it taking an awkward step.)Maybe it isnt fair to Day to contrast them, but you have to admire Koepkas toughness because other players did. It wasnt until it was over that he explained he thought there was a 70 percent chance he was going to withdraw.We went from me just trying to move my foot like I was drawing the alphabet to putting a band on it, to eventually trying to balance on one foot, Koepka said. Its stupid, but thats what it took.Koepka should have been on the United States Presidents Cup team that went to South Korea in 2015. He was the 12th-ranked player in the world at the time, ranked higher than seven other Americans who did make the team, but he didnt have enough FedEx Cup points to automatically qualify, meaning he needed Jay Hass to add him as a captains pick.Haas instead picked his son Bill, Mickelson and J.B. Holmes when Jim Furyk was injured. It wasnt a travesty -- the U.S. hung on to win -- but it wasnt exactly forward thinking as we try to improve the state of team golf in America.In all likelihood, Koepka secured a spot on the squad this week. Because the PGA Championship was worth double Ryder Cup points, Koepka moved into fifth place in the rankings, up from ninth. But only the top eight players automatically qualify after the Barlcays.Before his injury forced him to withdraw from the WBC Bridgestone and miss the Open Championship, he was ranked third and cruising. But miss a few weeks, and you can tumble down the ranking fast.Koepka said hed already spoken to Love about his ankle and expected to have another conversation next week. For now, hes slated to play in the Travelers Championship next week in Connecticut.I wont need a pick, Koepka said.Thats exactly the mentality we need if were going to have any chance to avoid another shellacking at the hands of the Europeans. Lets pair Koepka and Patrick Reed together right now, ask them to set the tone, and see what happens. ' ' '
