Although they socialize together, have raced off road together and genuinely enjoy each other’s company, Antron Brown is no friend of Steve Torrence when the two are on the racetrack.
In a Sunday showdown between the only drivers to have won as many as six times on the all-concrete track at ZMax Dragway, Brown beat Torrence in the opening round of the 16th NHRA Carolina Nationals and, in so doing, dealt a serious blow to the 41-year-old Texan’s hope of winning the Mission Foods Top Fuel championship for the fifth time in seven years.
When qualifying begins Friday for the 28th NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway across the river from St. Louis, Torrence will trail Brown by 130 points and will be 12 points behind fifth place Clay Millican.
If there is a silver lining, it is that the driver of the CAPCO Contractors Top Fuel Toyota has raced in the final round of Midwest Nationals six times in the last seven years and has compiled a 24-3 record with four wins during that span.
“We’ve had success at St. Louis,” Torrence said, “so that’s good. I’m just glad we can go right back to racing and try to put this one behind us. (Sunday’s loss) really stung because we ran a little quicker (than Brown). I just didn’t get it done at the starting line and Antron’s always really good on the lights.”
Sunday’s win was Brown’s 41st in 66 head-to-head meetings with Torrence in a rivalry that began in 2008, four years before Torrence founded his own team after initially racing in other people’s equipment as a hired driver.
The day was only slightly longer for Billy Torrence, driver of the second of the CAPCO Toyotas. After upsetting No. 2 qualifier Shawn Reed in the opening round, the founder and CEO of CAPCO also fell victim to Brown, whose 3.869 at 321.12 mph was good for the win by .029 of a second.
This story was originally published on September 23, 2024. 
