Torrence to Final Round at Dallas

Racing on the track he calls home, four-time World Champion Steve Torrence made his final race of the season a memorable one Sunday, driving his CAPCO Contractors Top Fuel Toyota into the final round of the 40th annual Texas Fall Nationals before dropping a narrow decision to runaway point leader Doug Kalitta.

Although he grabbed a narrow lead at the start, Torrence couldn’t hold off Kalitta, who raced past him in 3.777 seconds at more than 333 miles per hour.

It was the 42-year-old rancher and businessman’s seventh final round appearance in his last 11 visits to the Texas Motorplex and it propelled him from eighth to fourth place in the Mission Foods driver standings.

Nevertheless, with the championship realistically beyond his reach (he trails Kalitta by 228 points), the only driver to have swept the races in the NHRA’s Countdown confirmed that he will not make the trip west for the final two events in the series.

“I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with my wife and the girls (daughters Haven Charli and Harper),” he said.  “They’re growing up so fast and, with the holidays coming up, I don’t want to miss a thing.”

Although he qualified only seventh on the concrete surface on which he set the track record of 3.636 seconds just two years ago, Torrence was solidly on his game on Sunday.  He used his car control skills to recover from an unexpected loss of traction and avoid a first round upset loss to Josh Hart.

He then took out Shawn Reed in round two and got a free pass to the final round when his semifinal opponent, national record holder Brittany Force, was victimized by a mechanical issue that left her car silent after the burnout.

A 56-time tour winner, Torrence raced into the winners’ circle earlier this year at Bristol, Tenn., extending to 13 the number of consecutive seasons in which he has won at least one tour event, the longest active streak in the sport’s signature category.