- Joined
- Apr 3, 2009
- Messages
- 2,556
- Age
- 70
- Location
- Wilburn, Arkansas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TORRENCE PURSUES ‘HOLY GRAIL’
Mello Yello Series Champ Sends Capco Dragster after Second U.S. Nationals Win
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Whether the NHRA series is four races, as it was in the ‘60s, 24, as it has been throughout most of the Mello Yello era, or only 11, as apparently it will be in this COVID-19 shortened season, the one event every pro and every sportsman racer invariably wants to win more than any other is the U.S. Nationals, contested this week for the 60th consecutive year at Lucas Oil Raceway.
Certainly, it is an event especially meaningful to Steve Torrence, the two-time reigning Mello Yello Top Fuel champion, who won it as a sportsman racer in 2005 (in the Top Alcohol Dragster class) before driving his Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster into the winners’ circle as a pro in 2017.
“It’s the holy grail of drag racing,” he said, “the one that everyone wants to win. You can win a championship, but if you don’t win Indy, your career is not complete.”
Since he is one of the 13 Top Fuel drivers who has won both an NHRA points championship and its biggest single event, one might think the 37-year-old Texan had nothing more to prove. That would be mistake.
“We are racers,” Torrence said of his motivation. “It’s what we do. It brings us happiness. The competition fuels our fire. It has been a very emotional couple of weeks (for our team), but we couldn’t think of anywhere else we’d rather be (this week) than at the U.S. Nationals competing (for bookend win in the world’s most prestigious drag race).”
Even though this is Team Capco’s fourth race in the last two months at Lucas Oil Raceway and despite the fact that it celebrated in the winners’ circle after two of the previous three events, this week definitely is different.
“Even though only a handful of our fans will get a chance to attend in person, there’s still a different atmosphere going into the Nationals,” Torrence said. “It’s the Big Go and if you can’t get excited about the U.S. Nationals then you need to be doing something else.
“You think about all the people who’ve hoisted that Wally trophy at Indy: “Big Daddy” (Don Garlits), Shirley Muldowney, (Don) Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, Antron (Brown), Tony (Schumacher). That’s a Hall of Fame list right there and to be there, too, is really humbling.”
Now, though, he is in position to race to a new plateau. A victory this week would make him just the eighth Top Fuel driver with multiple wins in the U.S. Nationals.
Nevertheless, more than most, he understands the difficulty of such an achievement having himself settled for runner-up honors in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
Bidding this year to become just the third Top Fuel driver to win three consecutive NHRA championships (after Joe Amato and Schumacher), Torrence will roll his car to the starting line for Friday’s first qualifying session trailing Doug Kalitta by 83 points in a season in which the NHRA has suspended its Countdown playoff format.
Although he has won two of the four races he has contested this year including last month’s Dodge Indy Nationals, Torrence has struggled to retain bragging rights within his own pit compound. The only driver to beat him to the finish all year occupies the adjacent pit space.
Dad Billy Torrence, who was runner-up to Kalitta at last year’s U.S. Nationals, beat his son in an all-Capco semifinal at the first of this year’s events at Lucas Oil Raceway (the E3 Spark Plugs Nationals) and in a first round match in the subsequent Lucas Oil Summernationals on the same track.
While the younger Torrence enjoys a 7-4 advantage overall, dad has driven the second Capco entry to victory in four of the last five meetings between the two including an historic final round at last year’s AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals at St. Louis.
The founder and CEO of Capco Contractors, a Texas-based and family-owned pipeline construction company active in the support of drag racing at the Jr. Dragster, sportsman and professional levels, Billy Torrence enters the Nationals in fourth place in points after finishing fifth a year ago.
Between them, the Torrences have won 28 of the last 53 Mello Yello tour events and become the first father-and-son to face off in multiple Top Fuel finals. Until last year, the only father-son final in Top Fuel history was between the late Scott Kalitta and his dad Connie at Gainesville, Fla., in 1994.
Looking Ahead
Sept. 27 51st Amalie Gatornationals Gainesville, Fla.
Oct. 4 23rd AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals St. Louis, Mo.
Oct. 18 35th AAA Texas Fall Nationals Dallas, Texas
Oct. 25 33rd Mopar Express Lane Spring Nationals Houston, Texas
Nov. 1 20th Dodge Nationals Las Vegas, Nev.
Steve Torrence at the U.S. Nationals
Last year: After qualifying third and beating defending race champion Terry McMillen in round one, Steve lost to Antron Brown in the quarter finals.
The Numbers: 10 starts, no No. 1 starts, 4 finals (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017), 1 win (2017), 16-9 record
The Best: In 2017, after winning the last Traxxas Nitro Shootout on Saturday, Steve beat Ashley Sanford, Antron Brown, Leah Pruett and Kebin Kinsley to win the world’s biggest drag race; has qualified third or
better in six of his last seven appearances.
Track Records Steve’s Best at Lucas Oil Raceway
3.645 seconds by Brittany Force, Aug. 31, 2019 3.656 seconds, Aug. 31, 2019
333.33 mph by Billy Torrence, Aug. 31, 2019 331.12 mph, Aug. 31, 2019
* * * *
Mello Yello Championship Points (after five events)
1. Doug Kalitta, Saline, Mich., Mac Tools dragster 436
2. Steve Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors dragster 353
3. Leah Pruett, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., MOPAR dragster 347
4. Billy Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors dragster 290
5. Justin Ashley, Plainview, N.Y., Strutmasters dragster 283
6. Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., Amalie Intimigator dragster 273
7. Antron Brown, Pittsboro, Ind., Matco Tools dragster 263
8. Clay Millican, Drummonds, Tenn., Parts Plus dragster 240
9. Shawn Langdon, Danville, Ind., Global Electronic Technology dragster 214
10. Brittany Force, Yorba Linda, Calif., Monster/Flav-R-Pak dragster 153
* * * *
Steve Torrence 2020 Race Results
Date Site Qualify Competition Detail Position
2/9 Pomona, CA NA Did Not Participate NA
2/23 Phoenix, AZ 2nd Beat Jim Maroney, Shawn Langdon, Billy Torrence 5th and Doug Kalitta
7/12 Indianapolis, IN 1st Beat Luigi Novelli, Shawn Langdon; lost Billy Torrence 2nd
7/19 Indianapolis, IN 7th Lost to Billy Torrence 4th
8/9 Indianapolis, IN 2nd Beat Luigi Novelli, Justin Ashley, Leah Pruett and 2nd Terry McMillen
-www.torrenceracing.com-
TORRENCE PURSUES ‘HOLY GRAIL’
Mello Yello Series Champ Sends Capco Dragster after Second U.S. Nationals Win
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Whether the NHRA series is four races, as it was in the ‘60s, 24, as it has been throughout most of the Mello Yello era, or only 11, as apparently it will be in this COVID-19 shortened season, the one event every pro and every sportsman racer invariably wants to win more than any other is the U.S. Nationals, contested this week for the 60th consecutive year at Lucas Oil Raceway.
Certainly, it is an event especially meaningful to Steve Torrence, the two-time reigning Mello Yello Top Fuel champion, who won it as a sportsman racer in 2005 (in the Top Alcohol Dragster class) before driving his Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster into the winners’ circle as a pro in 2017.
“It’s the holy grail of drag racing,” he said, “the one that everyone wants to win. You can win a championship, but if you don’t win Indy, your career is not complete.”
Since he is one of the 13 Top Fuel drivers who has won both an NHRA points championship and its biggest single event, one might think the 37-year-old Texan had nothing more to prove. That would be mistake.
“We are racers,” Torrence said of his motivation. “It’s what we do. It brings us happiness. The competition fuels our fire. It has been a very emotional couple of weeks (for our team), but we couldn’t think of anywhere else we’d rather be (this week) than at the U.S. Nationals competing (for bookend win in the world’s most prestigious drag race).”
Even though this is Team Capco’s fourth race in the last two months at Lucas Oil Raceway and despite the fact that it celebrated in the winners’ circle after two of the previous three events, this week definitely is different.
“Even though only a handful of our fans will get a chance to attend in person, there’s still a different atmosphere going into the Nationals,” Torrence said. “It’s the Big Go and if you can’t get excited about the U.S. Nationals then you need to be doing something else.
“You think about all the people who’ve hoisted that Wally trophy at Indy: “Big Daddy” (Don Garlits), Shirley Muldowney, (Don) Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, Antron (Brown), Tony (Schumacher). That’s a Hall of Fame list right there and to be there, too, is really humbling.”
Now, though, he is in position to race to a new plateau. A victory this week would make him just the eighth Top Fuel driver with multiple wins in the U.S. Nationals.
Nevertheless, more than most, he understands the difficulty of such an achievement having himself settled for runner-up honors in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
Bidding this year to become just the third Top Fuel driver to win three consecutive NHRA championships (after Joe Amato and Schumacher), Torrence will roll his car to the starting line for Friday’s first qualifying session trailing Doug Kalitta by 83 points in a season in which the NHRA has suspended its Countdown playoff format.
Although he has won two of the four races he has contested this year including last month’s Dodge Indy Nationals, Torrence has struggled to retain bragging rights within his own pit compound. The only driver to beat him to the finish all year occupies the adjacent pit space.
Dad Billy Torrence, who was runner-up to Kalitta at last year’s U.S. Nationals, beat his son in an all-Capco semifinal at the first of this year’s events at Lucas Oil Raceway (the E3 Spark Plugs Nationals) and in a first round match in the subsequent Lucas Oil Summernationals on the same track.
While the younger Torrence enjoys a 7-4 advantage overall, dad has driven the second Capco entry to victory in four of the last five meetings between the two including an historic final round at last year’s AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals at St. Louis.
The founder and CEO of Capco Contractors, a Texas-based and family-owned pipeline construction company active in the support of drag racing at the Jr. Dragster, sportsman and professional levels, Billy Torrence enters the Nationals in fourth place in points after finishing fifth a year ago.
Between them, the Torrences have won 28 of the last 53 Mello Yello tour events and become the first father-and-son to face off in multiple Top Fuel finals. Until last year, the only father-son final in Top Fuel history was between the late Scott Kalitta and his dad Connie at Gainesville, Fla., in 1994.
Looking Ahead
Sept. 27 51st Amalie Gatornationals Gainesville, Fla.
Oct. 4 23rd AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals St. Louis, Mo.
Oct. 18 35th AAA Texas Fall Nationals Dallas, Texas
Oct. 25 33rd Mopar Express Lane Spring Nationals Houston, Texas
Nov. 1 20th Dodge Nationals Las Vegas, Nev.
Steve Torrence at the U.S. Nationals
Last year: After qualifying third and beating defending race champion Terry McMillen in round one, Steve lost to Antron Brown in the quarter finals.
The Numbers: 10 starts, no No. 1 starts, 4 finals (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017), 1 win (2017), 16-9 record
The Best: In 2017, after winning the last Traxxas Nitro Shootout on Saturday, Steve beat Ashley Sanford, Antron Brown, Leah Pruett and Kebin Kinsley to win the world’s biggest drag race; has qualified third or
better in six of his last seven appearances.
Track Records Steve’s Best at Lucas Oil Raceway
3.645 seconds by Brittany Force, Aug. 31, 2019 3.656 seconds, Aug. 31, 2019
333.33 mph by Billy Torrence, Aug. 31, 2019 331.12 mph, Aug. 31, 2019
* * * *
Mello Yello Championship Points (after five events)
1. Doug Kalitta, Saline, Mich., Mac Tools dragster 436
2. Steve Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors dragster 353
3. Leah Pruett, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., MOPAR dragster 347
4. Billy Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors dragster 290
5. Justin Ashley, Plainview, N.Y., Strutmasters dragster 283
6. Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., Amalie Intimigator dragster 273
7. Antron Brown, Pittsboro, Ind., Matco Tools dragster 263
8. Clay Millican, Drummonds, Tenn., Parts Plus dragster 240
9. Shawn Langdon, Danville, Ind., Global Electronic Technology dragster 214
10. Brittany Force, Yorba Linda, Calif., Monster/Flav-R-Pak dragster 153
* * * *
Steve Torrence 2020 Race Results
Date Site Qualify Competition Detail Position
2/9 Pomona, CA NA Did Not Participate NA
2/23 Phoenix, AZ 2nd Beat Jim Maroney, Shawn Langdon, Billy Torrence 5th and Doug Kalitta
7/12 Indianapolis, IN 1st Beat Luigi Novelli, Shawn Langdon; lost Billy Torrence 2nd
7/19 Indianapolis, IN 7th Lost to Billy Torrence 4th
8/9 Indianapolis, IN 2nd Beat Luigi Novelli, Justin Ashley, Leah Pruett and 2nd Terry McMillen
-www.torrenceracing.com-
