New Set-Up Gets Another Test This Week at Heartland Motorsports Park
TOPEKA, Kan. – It’s no secret that at the outset, reigning NHRA Top Fuel Champion Steve Torrence was no big fan of a playoff format that adjusts the points at the conclusion of the regular season, thereby placing an enormous premium on the handful of events comprising the Countdown to the Championship.
Steve at Heartland Motorsports Park
Total appearances: 10
Final rounds: 2
Tour victories: 1 (2019)
No. 1 qualifier: 1
Won-Lost record: 15-9
Quickest time: 3.677 seconds, May 20, 2017
Fastest speed: 334.24 mph, May 20, 2018
Track records – 3.660 seconds by Tony Schumacher, May 20, 2017; 334.90 mph by Clay Millican, May 21, 2018.
Total appearances: 10
Final rounds: 2
Tour victories: 1 (2019)
No. 1 qualifier: 1
Won-Lost record: 15-9
Quickest time: 3.677 seconds, May 20, 2017
Fastest speed: 334.24 mph, May 20, 2018
Track records – 3.660 seconds by Tony Schumacher, May 20, 2017; 334.90 mph by Clay Millican, May 21, 2018.
But attitudes change and, on the eve of this week’s 33rd Menard’s Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park, the 39-year-old Texan is hoping that a format that once was his undoing (2017) can be his deliverance in a season in which he is trying to become just the fourth driver in NHRA pro drag racing history to win as many as five consecutive series championships.
“We’re just trying to use the Countdown to our advantage, like Brittany (Force) did (when her 562-point deficit was reduced to 60 for the 2017 playoffs),” he said. “Whether you like the rules or not, if you’re gonna play the game, you have to play by whatever’s there. That’s the lesson we learned.”
A year later, Torrence made history when he swept the Countdown races to win the first of his four straight Top Fuel titles. Now, the question is whether he and his Capco Contractors crew chiefs, Richard Hogan and Bobby Lagana Jr., can make magic once more with a new set-up that has proven to be more challenging than anticipated.
“We’re just using the races before the Countdown to work through some issues,” he said. “We haven’t been the dominant car all season but we’re trying to see if we can be the dominant car the last six races. I feel confident (in the changes we’ve made) even though it hasn’t paid off in wins. I think that you just have to stay the course. You don’t get to be on top of the mountain by not having to overcome obstacles.
Photos by Will Lester
A fired-up Steve Torrence returns to competition this week at the 33rd Menard's Nationals in Topeka, Kan., a race he last won in 2019.
“We’ve got three more races to fine tune everything before we really have to kick it in gear for the Countdown,” said the only driver to have won NHRA championships in both he Top Fuel and Top Alcohol categories. “We’re a solid fourth in points and could gain a spot or two. When Brittany won (her championship), she started sixth.”
Torrence has gone to the semifinals or beyond in his last five appearances in the Menard’s Nationals, winning a family feud with dad Billy to reach the winners’ circle in 2019, the only time he has started the race from No. 1.
While his dad will return to competition this week for the first time since April, there’s no chance the two again will meet in an all-Capco final. That’s because the elder Torrence will eschew the Top Fuel ride in which he has won eight times on the Camping World tour for the Super Comp dragster in which he outlasted a field of 100 to win a Lucas Oil Series points race at Heartland Park last year.
Billy Torrence, who has finished as high as third in Top Fuel points despite never running a full schedule, has been racing NHRA sportsman cars since the 1980s, winning national Super Comp races at Las Vegas, Nev., in 2011 and Atlanta, Ga., in 2016. Among his three runner-up finishes in Super Comp was one at Topeka in 2012.
single nitro qualifying session is scheduled Friday at 7:30 p.m., Texas time, with subsequent rounds at 3 and 6 p.m., Texas time, on Saturday. Eliminations will begin at 10:30 a.m., Texas time, on Sunday. All television coverage of the event will be on FS1 with Texas time qualifying shows at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 12 noon Sunday followed by eliminations at 1 p.m., Texas time, Sunday.
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About Capco Contractors Inc.:
Capco Contractors, Inc. is a family owned-and-operated construction company specializing in the oil and gas industries. A proud American company based in Texas with clients around the world, Capco was founded in 1995 by Billy Torrence and initially operated from a small office and one job-site trailer with a staff of only 12 employees. From those humble beginnings, Capco Contactors, Inc. has developed into a full-service pipeline company, capable of all aspects of pipeline work including site work, creation of compressor stations, mainline pipeline construction and pipeline integrity projects. It employs more than 200 people with main offices in Henderson, Texas.