On Friday, Brainerd International Raceway was one of three tracks on which four-time Top Fuel World Champion Steve Torrence had never started a Mission Foods drag race from the No. 1 qualifying position.
However, when racing begins Sunday in the 42nd Lucas Oil Nationals, the 41-year-old Texan can scratch that task off his “to do” list after sending his CAPCO Contractors Top Fuel Toyota down the concrete-and-asphalt in 3.688 seconds at 335.32 miles per hour to edge racing legend Tony Stewart for the No. 1 spot.
Stewart, who excelled in stock car, Indy Car and sprint car racing before finding his niche in drag racing, also ran 3.688 in qualifying but missed his first No. 1 start on the top speed tiebreaker (332.18 mph).
It is Torrence’s 40th career No. 1, his second in the last three races, and it stamped his CAPCO team as the one to beat Sunday in the next-to-last race before points are adjusted for the start of the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship.
His reward for besting the field is a two-for-one first round match with debuting rookie Ida Zetterstrom, the former FIA European Top Fuel champion who is racing as teammate to Tony Schumacher. If he can get past her, he’ll get a bye into the semifinals in his bid for his third win in four years at the Lucas Oil Nationals.
Meanwhile, dad Billy, who took the “other” CAPCO car to the winners’ circle in 2018, qualified solidly in the No. 7 position and will start his title bid with a first-round duel with former boat drag racing champion Shawn Reed.
This story was originally published on August 18, 2024. 
