>>BACK
For Immediate Release
Contact: Dave Densmore, denswood@aol.com / 214-244-0008, mobile
TORRENCE TAKES FIRST STEP IN 2015 TITLE CHASE
Texan out in second round at Circle K Winternationals
February 8, 2015 -- Steve Torrence turned back Troy Buff in the first round of Sunday’s 55th annual Circle K Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway and, as a result, will move to Phoenix two weeks hence in seventh place in Mello Yello Top Fuel points.
Even though he was ousted by fellow Texan Spencer Massey in a 3.808-3.821 second round, the 31-year-old Torrence by no means was discouraged with the performance of his Capco Contractors team in the first of the 24 races in the NHRA series.
“We made two solid runs in qualifying and two in eliminations,” Torrence said. “We just weren’t quite quick enough against Spencer. It’s tough out there. There are no easy outs in Top Fuel but we know we’re in the game. We’ll just go back and look at the data and get ready for Phoenix.”
The four-time NHRA tour winner qualified fifth (3.751 seconds at 327.27 miles per hour) behind the quickest 1,000 foot clocking in drag racing history (Shawn Langdon’s 3.700). In round one, he threw a 3.774 at 324.05 mph at Buff. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite good enough for lane choice against Massey, who managed to forge a 7-6 edge in the career series.
“It wasn’t as good as last year,” Torrence said, referring to his trip to the semifinals at the 2014 Winternationals, “but I think we have that kind of energy. If we could have avoided just a couple of stumbles last year, we could have finished second or third without winning a race. That’s stout.”
The tour now moves to Wild Horse Pass Raceway Park where Torrence also reached the semifinals last year.
“We’ve gone to the semifinals three times at Phoenix in five races,” said the 2005 NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion. “That gives us a lot of confidence. We just need to go in there and close the deal.”
# # #
 |
