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For Immediate Release
Contact: Dave Densmore, denswood@aol.com / 214-244-0008, mobile

 

SECOND WIN NOT IN THE CARDS FOR TORRENCE
Tricky Track, Changing Weather Contribute to Early Elimination at Englishtown

           June 1, 2014 -- When the drag racing season’s first stretch of back-to-back races began three weeks ago at Atlanta Dragway, Steve Torrence thought it would be a good thing because it would enable him and his Capco Contractors Top Fuel team to get into a weekly rhythm.

            It’s a theory the 31-year-old was rethinking Sunday night after finding himself on the sideline after the first round for the second straight week, this time in the 45th annual Toyota Summernationals contested on an Old Bridge Township Raceway Park track on which he had hoped to win for the second time in three years.

            Now, the Texan is glad simply to have survived the first three-in-a-row of the season and is looking forward to a weekend off so he and his crew can sort out their issues before defending their title at the Ford Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol, Tenn., in two weeks.

            “Drag racing is a sport of streaks,” Torrence said.  “Right now, we’re streaking in the wrong direction, but we can fix that.  It’s a long season and we’ve still got a good hot rod.”

            There was no real indication during qualifying that the four-time Top Fuel winner’s red race car would be out of competition after a single round for the second time in as many weeks. 

            After all, Torrence qualified fourth for the third consecutive race and that assured him of lane choice, which seemed like it would be a factor as track conditions changed from minute to minute.

            Unfortunately, it’s an option that was of no help this time out.  On a track that grew hotter as the day progressed, in contrast to the unseasonably cool conditions that prevailed during qualifying, Torrence’s  dragster lost traction before he had gone beyond 330 feet.

            If there was an upside, it was that the former NHRA World Champion in the Top Alcohol Dragster category (2005) left Raceway Park no worse off in points than he was at the start.  He will move on to Bristol in fifth place.

            Last year, Torrence qualified No. 2 at Bristol and then beat No. 1 qualifier Spencer Massey in the final round, 3.871 to 3.894.

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