Torrence to the Semis
Four-Time World Champ Gains Ground in Bid for Fifth World Championship
Flashing the form that powered him to four consecutive Top Fuel World Championships, Steve Torrence took his CAPCO Contractors Top Fuel Toyota to the semifinals of Sunday’s 40th NHRA Reading Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway before dropping a narrow decision to point leader Doug Kalitta.
With wins over Josh Hart and Justin Ashley, the 42-year-old Texan took the first tentative steps toward a fifth series title, moving from ninth to eighth in points after the first of six races comprising the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship.
He and his CAPCO boys will reassemble this weekend at ZMax Dragway in Charlotte, N.C., for the historic 17th running of the NHRA Carolina Nationals which becomes the first Countdown event ever contested in the four-wide format.
“We’re still five round wins behind Doug,” Torrence said, “but we’ve had some success racing four-wide so maybe we can make up some ground at Charlotte. It was great to get in a little rhythm this weekend. We had three solid runs today. We just didn’t quite have enough to get around that Kalitta car.”
Kalitta, the 2023 World Champion, won in 3.812 seconds at a finish line speed of 334.23 miles per hour. Torrence trailed in 3.830 seconds at 330.55 mph. The margin was .028 of a second.
What was most encouraging to the 56-time Mission Foods pro tour winner was the fact that the car and driver both performed well – at the same time.
“We’ve had a spell where, when the car was good, the driver wasn’t, and vice versa,” said the only driver to have won NHRA series championships in both the Top Fuel and Top Alcohol divisions. “Today, everyone was on the same page. I’m hoping that by going right back to work this weekend we can take up where we left off.”
The only driver in any category to have swept the races in the Countdown (2018), Torrence is considered the series’ premier four-wide racer. His six four-wide wins are two more than anyone else in any category.
