Exceedingly hot air temperatures and a tricky concrete surface proved to be Steve Torrence’s undoing Sunday as the four-time Top Fuel World Champion fell to Clay Millican in the semifinal round of the 39th Texas FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex.
It was a disappointing result for the 41-year-old Texan, but one made somewhat more palatable by the fact that he moved from fifth to fourth in the driver standings with two races remaining in the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship. When qualifying for the 24th Ford Performance Nationals begins Nov. 3 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Torrence will trail pacesetting Justin Ashley by 91 points.
The saving grace for the 55-time tour winner may be the fact that in the season finale, the Nov. 15-17 In-N-Out Burger Finals at Pomona, Calif., racers will have the opportunity to earn one-and-a-half times as many points as in any other playoff event.
“This was a tough one,” Torrence acknowledged after his CAPCO Contractors Top Fuel Toyota lost traction and slowed to 222 miles per hour in the loss.
“I tried to pedal it (feather the throttle to regain traction), but there was no catching Clay,” he said. “The CAPCO boys gave me a good hot rod, but the Motorplex is a hard track to drive, and it’s even harder when it’s as hot as it was today. The door was open, though.”
Indeed, when pre-race point leader Antron Brown and reigning series champion Doug Kalitta both were ousted in the first round, it presented an opportunity that only Ashley, the eventual race winner, was able to fully grasp.
The No. 3 qualifier for an event in which he had been a finalist six of the last nine years, Torrence took out Krista Baldwin in round one and outpaced his dad, Billy Torrence, in an all-CAPCO, all-Toyota quarterfinal before falling to Millican.
This story was originally published on October 14, 2024. 
