NHRA Breaks New Ground With Pregnancy Policy for Drivers

• The new pregnancy policy unveiled today by the NHRA allows for replacement drivers for pregnant drivers.

• The policy also creates a path for a pregnant driver or new mother to jump into the seat midway through the season and still compete for a championship.

• NHRA Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett, who is expecting her first child in November, led a group of racers who helped craft the new deal.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, one of the most socially diverse racing series on the planet, has unveiled new policies to address pregnancy and pregnancy-related issues for its female drivers.

The new pregnancy policy unveiled today by the NHRA allows for replacement drivers for pregnant drivers or drivers with pregnancy issues. The policy also creates a pathway for a driver who has just started a family to jump into the season midway into a season and still compete for a championship.

It is the first replacement policy that directly addresses pregnancy.

Leah Pruett, who is sitting out the 2024 season and expecting her first child with father and fellow racer Tony Stewart in November, was a leader in the push for the new policy.

"I was addressing what I considered to be the invisible race," Pruett told Autoweek. "I've felt this large pressure to establish myself, become successful, create a brand—all of the things that any driver, male or female, needs to be successful in motorsports. Except for a female, there's this invisible race to get it done sooner so you have something to come back to."

Other NHRA drivers in on the discussion included Erica Enders, Angie Smith, Brittany Force, Julie Nataas, Jasmine Salinas, and Ida Zetterström.

"The goal here for all of it was to create a pathway moving forward that represented what the makeup truly is in motorsports—that women are prevalent, prominent, and successful building careers in this space," Pruett said. "And one of the largest deterrents for long-term success for females is having to get out of the seat when they decide to build a family.

"Nothing, as far as I know, had addressed that. It started with my own journey and recognizing the challenges ahead and how impossible it would be to race and start a family and its implications on my career. I thought, it doesn't have to be this difficult and this hard."

According to the NHRA, the following policy for replacement drivers will apply should a driver wish to suspend participation during a season due to pregnancy or pregnancy issues:

In addition, any female driver who competes in at least one national event prior to the first race of the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs would be able to assume any points earned by a replacement driver who started the season in that seat.

"Say I wanted to get in the seat in July, I would take over the points that Tony (Stewart is her current replacement driver) accrued for me," Pruett said. "As long as I get in the seat before the Countdown begins, I can take over the points and everything moves seamlessly forward."

The pregnancy policy differs a bit from the series' replacement policy being used this year to handle the absence of 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force. Force, who suffered a serious head injury at Virginia Motorsports Park in June, has not returned to action but is still in contention for the 2024 Funny Car championship.

John Force Racing has hired 2012 Funny Car champion Jack Beckman to replace Force for the final eight races of the season—including all six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Any points that Beckman earns during these final eight races go directly to John Force, who is currently third in the championship with five races remaining in the season. Eight races are the maximum allowed for any replacement driver for illness, injury or medical issues.

"We had COVID replacement driver policies in place, we have medical, injuries—policies that really protected the points of a driver, protected the sponsors," Pruett said. "The mindset was already there. We just needed to find out how do we keep a team moving forward while a driver recovers. That's what I wanted to get, something as most similar to, as fair, as possible.

"Just like COVID and injuries, you don't know when those things are going to happen. Pregnancy, with many women, you also cannot control—even if you're trying to have a child—you don't get to control when during the season or what month in the offseason you're going to have that child."

Pruett said she's happy with the way the policy turned out.

"The policy does a great job, in my opinion, of covering what happens when a woman gets pregnant and allowing her team to move forward and also the opportunity for her to get back in the seat," Pruett said. "This really does such a great thing for your overall career, makes it more viable, creates longevity.

"Hopefully, all motorsport adapt something similar."

Pruett also said working with the NHRA on this new policy was a positive experience.

"The sanctioning body, they have a lot to do," Pruett said. "And worrying about a woman getting pregnant in the middle of the season probably isn't at the top of their list. But I can guarantee you it's at the top of the list of many of their highly competitive and highest achieving competitors."