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

 

TORRENCE RUNNER-UP AT 4WIDE NATIONALS
Capco Driver Moves Up in Mello Yello Points Race

March 29 2015 -- It wasn’t a win, but Sunday’s runner-up finish in the NHRA 4Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway was just what Steve Torrence needed to get his Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster back into the hunt for the Mello Yello Championship.

            After sliding back to 10th place following consecutive first round losses, the 31-year-old Texan right the ship with his best ever performance in his least favorite event.

            “It was a decent weekend,” beamed the four-time tour winner after dropping a narrow decision to former world champ Antron Brown in the four-across final round, “and a good morale booster for the boys, for the whole team, really.  It wasn’t pretty, but sometimes you just have to get ‘er done and not worry about style points.”

Although he qualified only 12th in preliminaries cut in half by weather, Torrence won the first quad at 3.799 seconds over Doug Kalitta, Spencer Massey and Canadian Ike Maier, bettering his qualifying number by almost .04 of a second. 

            Things got really interesting in the second quad.  First, Top Fuel rookie Dave Connolly suffered a violent engine explosion.  Then, one by one, the three other drivers lost traction.  Brown ultimately managed to get to the finish line first in a pedestrian 5.817 seconds while Torrence limped through for the second transfer spot in 6.019 seconds.

            “That second round was pretty fun,” Torrence said.  “It was a driver’s race.  I don’t know what it looked like on TV but it was pretty fun from where I was sitting.”

            Torrence’s effort enabled him to leapfrog Larry Dixon, J.R. Todd and Brittany Force and get back to seventh place in the driver standings. 

            “That was important,” said the cancer survivor and 2005 Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion.  “You can’t lose contact with the guys at the top.  Last year at this time, I think we were third or maybe fourth in points so we still have work to do.  So, we’ll get back, regroup and head out west.” 

            In five previous appearances in the 4Wide, Torrence had advanced beyond the first round just twice and never had made the “final four.”

 

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