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

 

TORRENCE DEFENDS TOP FUEL TITLE AT BRISTOL
Texan Looks to Recapture Early-Season Form in Capco Contractors Dragster

           June 12, 2014 -- Little less than a year after celebrating a victory in the Ford Thunder Valley Nationals, Steve Torrence returns this week to Bristol Dragway where he hopes to repeat as Top Fuel Champion and at the same time stamp his return ticket to the Traxxas Nitro Shootout.

            After first round losses in the two most recent events in the NHRA Mello Yello series, the 31-year-old Texan is anxious to put his Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster back in the kind of groove that sent him to the semifinals in six of the season’s first seven races.

            A former World Champion in the Top Alcohol Dragster class (2005), Torrence will get a boost this week from the presence of his dad, Billy, who will drive a second Capco dragster, acting, in his words, as a “test dummy” for a team that usually does not have the luxury of a multi-car effort.

            “We’re going to try to execute some things on my dad’s car just to see how it works out,” Torrence explained.  “Things we think might just be a little bit better.  It’s my dad coming out to have fun, but the whole purpose is for (that team) to benefit us.”

            A four-time tour winner, Torrence hasn’t celebrated a victory since he was here a year ago.  As a result, he does not yet have a guaranteed starting spot in the $100,000-to-win Traxxas Shootout in which he has been runner-up the last two years. 

            “I’d like to win it again this year to get us back in the Shootout but mainly I’d like to win it because it’s Fathers’ Day,” Torrence said.  “Last year I had to call my dad and tell him about it.  This year, I hope I can give (the trophy) to him in person.”

            Despite his recent struggles, Torrence will start Friday’s qualifying session in fifth place in Mello Yello points.

            “We really do have a good race car,” he said of a Richard Hogan-tuned machine in which he has started fourth or better in each of the last four races.  “I’m not going to get to disheartened about (the two first round exits).  I feel like we still have a hot rod good enough to where we can go out there this week and do at least as good as we were doing (at the start of the season) and win a race.”

            Unlike some of his rivals, Torrence is looking forward to the current four-in-a-row stretch in the NHRA schedule which includes stops in Epping, N.J., Joliet, Ill., and Norwalk, Ohio.

            “Last week, we weren’t racing and I never worked so hard just getting things done around the house,” Torrence said.  “I told Richard, ‘let’s go racing ‘cause I’ve gotta get some rest.

            “I like racing every week, like I’ve said, because you get in a rhythm,” he said.  “You know, I probably should have a goal for these four races but I don’t.  We’re just trying to go rounds at every race we go to and I’m just going to let the rest of it unfold however it does.”

 

 

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