TORRENCE AFTER ANOTHER TITLE (1 Viewer)

Capco Driver Pursuing Fourth Straight NHRA Top Fuel Championship​

READING, Pa. – Two weeks ago, Steve Torrence was so far ahead of his closest pursuers in the race for the Camping World Top Fuel championship that one would have needed binoculars to find second place Brittany Force and maybe the Hubble Space Telescope to locate everyone else.

Photos by Mark Rebilas
INDY CHAMPIONS. After winning last week’s 67th annual U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Steve Torrence and his Capco Contractors teammates go back to work this week at Reading, Pa., where they begin their pursuit of a four straight NHRA Top Fuel championship. From left, Dom Lagana, Natalie Torrence with daughter Charli, Steve, crew chief Richard Hogan, Billy Torrence and “Momma Kay” Torrence.​

After driving his Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster to victory in eight of the 13 races comprising a shortened NHRA regular season, Torrence led Force by 411 points and 10th place Doug Kalitta by a whopping 801.
However, when qualifying for the Mopar Express Lane Nationals begins Friday at Maple Grove Raceway, the three-time reigning series champion’s once massive advantage over Force will have been reduced to a miniscule 20 points. Kalitta, the final qualifier in an expanded Countdown to the Championship (seven races instead of the traditional six), will start just 80 points further back.
Such is life in the era of pencil parity.
Torrence’s feelings about the NHRA Countdown largely mirror those of world No. 1 pro golfer Jon Rahm with regard to the format used to determine the winner of the FedEx Cup, the pro golf equivalent of the Camping World series champion.
“At the end of the day you could win 15 events (during the regular season) and you (only) have a two-shot lead (to start the week at the Tour Championship),” Rahm said. “I understand it’s for TV purposes and excitement and just making it more of a winner-take-all and they (do) give you a two-shot advantage, but over four days that can be gone in two holes.”
Torrence has said basically the same thing about the NHRA playoffs and the way the points are adjusted after the regular season. However, the sport’s dominant driver over the past five seasons has made his peace with the system since it reached out a bit him in 2017 when he lost the title on the final day to Force.

Three-time reigning drag racing world champion Steve Torrence with “Wally” trophy he earned as winner of last week’s 67th annual U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis which sends the Texan into this week’s race at Reading, Pa., and the start of the playoffs with welcome momentum.
​

“That’s just the way it is,” the 48-time pro tour winner said of the Countdown system. “Basically, it penalizes the best teams for being successful, but it gives more teams a chance at the end of the year and that’s obviously what they were going for.”
Although the system stung him in 2017, Torrence came back a year later with an answer for what he considered the inequities in the format. In 2018, he and his Capco Contractors team won all six races in the Countdown, an accomplishment unlikely ever to be duplicated.
Although subsequent titles in 2019 and 2020 were not secured with quite the same flair, they were no less significant.
For Torrence, the 2020 championship was especially memorable because it was won in “old school” fashion with the title determined simply by who earned the most points over the course of the shortened 11-race series with no Countdown and no recalibration of the points.

Steve Torrence executes a burnout in his Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster. Torrence begins his quest for a fourth straight series championship this week at Reading, Pa.
​

Even though he missed the season opener, the Texan earned enough total points over the next 10 events to beat Kalitta to the podium by 193 points.
As a result, the 38-year-old cancer survivor is in position this year to become just the seventh driver in NHRA pro drag racing history to finish atop the standings four straight years. The last to do so was Tony Schumacher, who strung together a Top Fuel record six consecutive titles from 2004 through 2009.
Qualifying begins Friday with a single session at 4:45 p.m., Texas time, followed by Saturday sessions at 12:15 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. Television coverage of final eliminations from 1-4 p.m., Texas time, on Sunday, Sept. 12.

NHRA COUNTDOWN ERA (2007-2021)
Biggest regular season leads lost to the NHRA pencil
1. 558 points by Steve Torrence, Top Fuel, 2019
2. 467 points by Tony Schumacher, Top Fuel, 2008
+3. 411 by Steve Torrence, Top Fuel, 2021
*4. 328 points by Mike Edwards, Pro Stock, 2010
5. 280 points by Larry Dixon, Top Fuel, 2010
6. 244 points by Andrew Hines, Pro Stock Motorcycle, 2019
*7. 221 points by Mike Edwards, Pro Stock, 2013
*8. 215 points by Mike Neff, Funny Car, 2011
9. 215 points by Shawn Langdon, Top Fuel, 2013
*10. 210 points by Courtney Force, Funny Car, 2018
*Did Not Win series championship
+Outcome pending

Looking Back
Steve Torrence at the Mopar Express Lane Nationals
Year Qualifying Position/Racing Result
2010 Reading 10. Lost to Shawn Langdon
2012 Reading 10. Lost to Antron Brown
2013 Reading DNQ
2014 Reading 8. Beat Larry Dixon; lost to Tony Schumacher
2015 Reading 7. Lost to Larry Dixon
2016 Reading 8. Beat Tony Schumacher; lost to Leah Pritchett
2017 Reading 3. Beat Terry Haddock, Leah Pritchett, Dom Lagana; lost to Brittany
Force.
2018 Reading 4. Beat Bill Litton, Mike Salinas, Clay Millican and Tony Schumacher
2019 Reading 8. Lost to Clay Millican
2020 Reading Event Not Contested
Steve’s quickest time: 3.691 seconds, Oct. 2, 2016; Steve’s fastest speed: 330.88 mph, Sept. 14, 2018
Track records – 3.623 by Brittany Force, Sept. 14, 2019; 334.15 mph by Shawn Langdon, Oct. 8, 2012.

Steve Torrence this season
March 14/Gainesville, FL 1. Beat Joe Morrison; lost to Josh Hart.
April 18/Las Vegas, NV 2. Four-Wide WINNER over Doug Kalitta, Clay Millican and
Antron Brown
May 2/Atlanta, GA 2. Beat Buddy Hull, Justin Ashley, Shawn Langdon; lost to Antron
Brown
May 16/Charlotte, NC 2. Four-Wide WINNER over Brittany Force, Antron Brown and
Josh Hart
May 23/Houston, TX 1. Beat Mitch King, bye, beat Clay Millican and Doug Kalitta.
June 13/Epping, N.H. 4. Beat Clay Millican, Leah Pruett; lost to Mike Salinas
June 27/Norwalk, OH 1. Beat Shawn Langdon, Leah Pruett, Austin Prock and
Brittany Force
July 18/Denver, CO 2. Beat Rob Passey, bye, Mike Salinas and Joey Haas.
July 25/Sonoma, CA 2. Beat Cameron Ferre, Doug Kalitta, Antron Brown and Leah
Pruett
Aug. 1/Pomona, CA 4. Lost to Antron Brown.
Aug. 15/Topeka, KS 4. Beat Leah Pruett, Justin Ashley; lost to Brittany Force
Aug. 22/Brainerd, MN 2. Beat Terry Totten, Justin Ashley, bye and Clay Millican
Sept. 5/Indianapolis, IN 2. Beat Antron Brown, Greg Carrillo, Billy Torrence and
Brittany Force

NHRA CAMPING WORLD TOUR Championship Points
(Points adjusted for the Countdown after 13 of 20 events)

TOP FUEL
1. Steve Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors dragster 2100
2. Brittany Force, Yorba Linda, Calif., FLAV-R-PAC/ Monster Energy dragster 2080
3. Antron Brown, Pittsboro, Ind., Matco Tools dragster 2070
4. Leah Pruett, Avon, Ind., Sparkling Ice Spiked Seltzer dragster 2060
5. Shawn Langdon, Indianapolis, Ind., DHL/Kalitta Air dragster 2050
6. Mike Salinas, San Jose, Calif., Scrappers Racing dragster 2040
7. Justin Ashley, Plainview, N.Y., Strutmasters/GuardLab dragster 2030
8. Billy Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors dragster 2020
9. Clay Millican, Drummonds, Tenn., Parts Plus dragster 2010
10. Doug Kalitta, Ann Arbor, Mich., Mac Tools/Mobil 1 dragster 2000

Looking Ahead
2021 NHRA Camping World Tour Countdown to the Championship
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