Steve Torrence celebrated the birth of daughter Harper Sloan Sunday by becoming just the seventh driver in Top Fuel drag racing history to win as many as 500 competitive rounds on the NHRA Mission Foods pro tour.
On a 135-degree racetrack at Virginia Motorsports Park, the four-time World Champion managed to finesse his CAPCO Contractors Top Fuel Toyota to a time of 4.010 seconds at 298.34 miles per hour, good enough to get him across the finish line ahead of Justin Ashley in the opening round of the 14th PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals.
Unfortunately, that was as far as the 54-time tour winner would advance in an event in which he had reached the final round in his three most recent appearances.
In round two, against No. 1 qualifier Shawn Langon, he came up .003 of a second short, the margin of victory decided by Langdon’s narrow .078-.086 starting line advantage.
It was an even earlier day for the 41-year-old’s dad and teammate, Billy, who never was able to get the second CAPCO Toyota down the course under power, rendering moot his .029 of a second first round starting line advantage.
The No. 12 qualifier, the elder Torrence was upended by Antron Brown in their first meeting since 2021. Brown won in 3.913 seconds at 318.32 mph; Torrence trailed in 4.121 seconds at 274.44 mph, the latter the car’s fastest speed all weekend.
Despite the loss, Steve will move on to Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, for this week’s 17th Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in fourth place in points, 176 behind pacesetting Doug Kalitta but only 68 behind Ashley, who fell back to third in the standings after a second straight first round loss
Billy Torrence, racing the full tour for the first time in his pro career, is seventh in points with just five races remaining in the regular season, the first of them the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals this week at Norwalk, Ohio.
This story was originally published on June 24, 2024. 
