Torrence Seeking Gateway to the Title

On a track on which he’s won 87 percent of his two-car matches over the last eight seasons, Steve Torrence tries to drive his way back into the championship conversation this week when he sends his CAPCO Contractors Toyota after the Top Fuel title in the 29th edition of the NAPA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway.

While last week’s second round exit from the Carolina 4Wide Nationals wasn’t a step backward for the four-time Mission Foods champion, it wasn’t a leap forward either, especially since the four drivers in the final quad all are ahead of him in points entering this week’s event, the midpoint of the playoffs.

“In the Countdown, you can’t afford to miss opportunities like that,” lamented the only driver to have won series titles in both the Top Fuel and Top Alcohol categories.  “We had a chance to gain a lot of ground last week, but it just didn’t happen.

“The good thing, though, is we’ve got us a dog that’ll hunt,” he said, referring to a race car that last week qualified him in the No. 3 position, equaling his best start this year, a hybrid that on race day was quicker than any other with a winning first quad time of 3.754 seconds.

“We still have the fire to win,” Torrence said, “and these CAPCO boys put a car under me the last two weeks that was as good as any.  We know from experience that if we keep putting ourselves in position, we’re gonna win and St. Louis is a place where we have a lot of confidence.”

That’s not surprising considering that in his last eight starts at the Midwest Nationals, he’s gone to the finals seven times.  Last year, he was runner-up to Tony Schumacher despite a stellar .039 reaction time.  

“We seem like we’re close to getting the car and driver on the same page again,” he said.  “These first two (playoff) races, the car’s been pretty good and so has the driver.  Hoagie and Bobby (crew chiefs Richard Hogan and Bobby Lagana Jr.) have been working really hard on going down the track, which is why last week was so frustrating.  We were in the lane we wanted and smoked the tires.  But this is a new week and a new chance to show everybody we’re not done just yet.”

In a year in which he scaled back his competitive schedule, sitting out four events including the Muckleshoot Casino Northwest Nationals in Seattle, a race in which he was the two-time defending champion, the 56-time tour winner nevertheless extended to 11 the number of consecutive seasons in which he has won at least one tour event by winning the Super Grip Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol, Tenn.  

“We raced full-time for 13 years,” Torrence said, “but we still had to run the pipeline business, which usually meant back to work on Mondays.  Plus, Natalie and I have started a family.  (Missing races) doesn’t mean we don’t still love racing, because we do.  But we had daughters who have interests away from racing – and that’s good.” 

The qualifying phase of the Midwest Nationals begins with a pair of sessions Friday at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., Texas time.  Fields will be set in two final sessions at 12:15 and 3 p.m. Saturday.  Eliminations begin with Top Fuel round one at 11 a.m. Sunday.