Like an oasis in a competitive desert, World Wide Technology Raceway looms large this week for Steve Torrence and a CAPCO Contractors race team thirsting for a little high-performance redemption for their Top Fuel Toyota.
Idling in sixth place in the Mission Foods driver standings, Torrence is hoping to take another drink from the well at the NHRA Midwest Nationals, a race he has tapped for four wins and two runner-up finishes since 2016.
“We’ve taken a couple of missteps the last two races,” said the 41-year-old Texan. “We need to get this thing out of neutral and start winning some rounds.”
At no track is that more likely to happen for the four-time World Champion than at WWTR where he has compiled a 24-3 record in his last seven starts.
“Hoagie (crew chief Richard Hogan), Bobby (Lagana Jr.) and these CAPCO boys have got things figured out with the car,” Torrence said. “The driver’s the one that needs to step it up this week.”
Indeed, the 55-time pro tour winner can ill afford to give up more ground to point leader Antron Brown, to whom he lost in the first round last week at Charlotte, N.C.
In fact, when qualifying begins Friday, he will trail his friend and rival by 130 points with just this race and three more in which to make up the deficit.
“There’s still a lot of racing ahead,” Torrence said, “but we’ve got to start catching some win lights and making up some ground, especially at these next two races, here and the Motorplex, where we’ve had a lot of success in the past.”
Torrence’s Midwest Nationals success includes victories over Brown the last three times they met. Significantly, on two of those occasions, the 41-year-old Texan went on to hoist the Wally trophy.
A former World Champion in the Top Alcohol Dragster class (2005), Torrence is not alone in welcoming the pro tour’s return to WWTR. His dad, Billy, also enters the race with high hopes, having won the 2019 Midwest Nationals in an all-CAPCO final round.
The elder Torrence, founder and president of CAPCO, the Texas-based, family-owned oil-and-gas pipeline construction and maintenance business, is nearing the end of his first full season on the pro tour still looking for his first win of the year and ninth of his Top Fuel career.
Friday qualifying sessions at 5:30 and 8 p.m., Texas time, will establish a provisional lineup. Qualifying at 1 and 3:30 p.m. Saturday will set the field. Single elimination finals will begin at 11 a.m., Texas time, Sunday.
This story was originally published on September 25, 2024. 
