Offtopic/fun » mid-July. MURRAY, Ky. -- Troy Cook

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. China Jerseys 2022 . -- Nathan Pancel scored twice as the Sudbury Wolves defeated the North Bay Battalion 4-2 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. China Jerseys Wholesale . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. https://www.chinasjerseys.com/ . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Nike China Jerseys .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. China Jerseys Cheap . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July. MURRAY, Ky. -- Troy Cook hit Greg McKillion for a 75-yard touchdown pass with 9:56 left to lift Tennessee-Martin to a 38-31 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Murray State Saturday.The Skyhawks (4-3, 3-1) built a 20-7 lead in the first quarter, but Murray State (1-5, 1-2) came back to take a 21-20 lead midway through the second. UT-Martin took the lead with 3:17 left in the half when Cook hit Londell Lee from 11-yards out for a 27-21 advantage.Murray State rallied behind a 23-yard toouchdown pass from KD Humphries to Jesse Blackburn with 12: 55 left in the game and the Racers took the lead, 31-30 with 10:06 left on a 50-yard field goal by Connor Mitchell.ddddddddddddCook was 21 of 38 passing for 317 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Skyhawks.Humphries was 23 of 44 for 248 yards and three touchdowns, but also threw an interception. ' ' '