Texan Has Won at Indy, Now He’s Hoping to Win the U.S. Nationals
Photos by Mark Rebilas
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – What do Billy Torrence, the part-time Top Fuel racer and CEO of Texas-based Capco Contractors, Ron Capps, the former Funny Car World Champion, and Justin Ashley, the NHRA’s most recent Rookie of the Year, have in common?
Well, all three have hoisted one of the NHRA’s iconic “Wally” trophies at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis and, while each of them can claim an Indy win, none of them actually can say he’s “won Indy.”
That’s because, to racing purists, “winning Indy” doesn’t mean winning the Big Bud Shootout, like Capps did in 1998; winning the Lucas Oil Summer Nationals like Ashley did in a season in which COVID-19 compelled the NHRA to contest multiple events at single venues, or even winning the E3 Spark Plugs Nationals like Torrence did last July when he beat Doug Kalitta in the final.
To anyone in the sport, “winning Indy” means beating the best drivers and teams, the quickest and fastest race cars on the biggest stage in drag racing’s biggest event, the Dodge SRT U.S. Nationals contested this week for the 67th time overall and for the 61st time at Lucas Oil Raceway.
Torrence, who is relatively new to Top Fuel, a category in which his son, Steve, has been dominant the last five seasons, grew up drag racing in East Texas and has considerable street cred in the Lucas Oil sportsman division.
He won the South Central Division Super Comp championship in 1998, has a pair of NHRA national event wins in Super Comp (including one at Atlanta in 2016) and has had even more success at the divisional level where he won at Topeka, Kan., little more than a month ago.
It’s that background that made the transition from 180 mile-an-hour Super Comp dragsters to 330 mile-an-hour Top Fuel dragsters a little less daunting, that and coaching from a son and teammate who has won 39 Camping World tour events in the last five seasons; seven of 12 so far this year.
Actually, the elder Torrence, who races whenever the family’s oil-and-gas pipeline construction business allows, may be more motivated this week than even his more highly-decorated son, who already has clinched his fifth straight regular season championship and who won a U.S. Nationals title of his own in 2017.
For one thing, he knows he has a race car under him that can compete run with all the big dogs. In addition to his win “at Indy” a year ago, the 63-year-old Texan has six other Top Fuel victories (including one this year at Epping, N.H.) and in 2019 reached the finals at The Big Go before losing to Kalitta in a pedal-fest after both of their cars lost traction.
Moreover, he has an opportunity to move up a couple of positions in the driver standings before the points are adjusted for the Countdown to the Championship. Having missed four of the last five races, he tumbled from third place, the position he occupied on July 1 and the position in which he finished a year ago, to ninth.
For all his on-track success, the business exec has remained refreshingly humble. He’s run 65 races in his pro career, qualified for every one and forged a 84-58 record but still insists that he owes everything to his son and his crew.
“I’m just out here trying not to be the weak link,” he said. So far, so good.
Looking Ahead
2021 NHRA Camping World Tour Countdown to the Championship
9-12 Mopar Express Lane Nationals Reading, PA
9-19 NHRA Carolina Nationals Charlotte, NC
9-26 NHRA Midwest Nationals St. Louis, MO
10-10 NHRA Texas Fall Nationals Dallas, TX
10-17 NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals Bristol, TN
10-31 Dodge SRT Nationals Las Vegas, NV
11-14 Auto Club Finals Pomona, CA
