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TORRENCE LOSES TO LANGDON’S BEST EVER 3.662
CAPCO Driver Moves Up In Points; Nears Playoff Berth

August 23, 2015 -- Steve Torrence recorded two of the quickest 1,000 foot times of his career Sunday at Brainerd International Raceway but, incredibly, was unable to get his Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster beyond the second round of the 34th annual Lucas Oil Nationals.
 
While Torrence was covering the standard distance in 3.746 seconds in round two, his fifth quickest run as a pro, 2013 World Champion Shawn Langdon was recording the quickest time in drag racing history in the other lane – 3.662 seconds. 

“It was fantasy land out there,” Torrence said.  “Our car ran great but Shawn still was in another zip code.  The conditions all weekend were amazing.  It was something we may not see again for years.

“Bottom line is we did what we came here to do,” said the 32-year-old Texan.  “We qualified well, (No. 4 for the seventh time this season), we won a round, we moved up (from tenth to ninth in Mello Yello points) and we put ourselves in a really good position going into Indy (and the 61st annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals over the Labor Day weekend).”

Torrence actually ran a little quicker in round one at 3.733 seconds (just .001 off his career best)  but, after an uncharacteristically poor reaction time of .136 of a second. he needed every bit of that effort to get past veteran Terry McMillen

“I got a little distracted,” admitted the 2005 NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion, “and I didn’t do my job.  My boys saved my butt on that one.”

Although he was solidly back on his game in round two (.066 reaction time), it made no difference against Langdon who, on a day of upsets, subsequently lost to eventual race winner Richie Crampton in the semifinals. 

“I know that we’re not mathematically in the Countdown,” Torrence said, “but I’m feeling really good about our chances.  We’ve got a good hot rod, good chemistry and momentum.  We’re going back to a race where we’ve been runner-up the last two years and my dad will be out in the second car at Indy so we’ll have a chance to get some extra data.”

With one-and-a-half times the normal points available at the U.S. Nationals, Torrence still believes that he can gain a couple more positions before the points are adjusted for the start of the playoffs.

 

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