TORRENCE’S TABLES-TURNING TOP FUEL WIN AT DENVER
Top Fuel pilot Steve Torrence picked a great time to win his first NHRA Top Fuel Wally in two years.
Coming into the Mopar NHRA Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, Torrence was sitting squarely on the Countdown to the Championship bump spot, just 16 points from being pushed to the wrong side of the cut line by Clay Millican.
“You think about points and coming into this weekend we were going to try to focus on every lap during qualifying and during eliminations because we need those extra points,” Torrence said. “We need the bonus points for qualifying and we need to go rounds.
“Number 10 is not a comfortable spot. I don’t know where we’re at right now but we’re definitely better off than we were coming into this weekend.”
Torrence qualified fourth and was able to knock off Jenna Haddock in the first round. He then handled Richie Crampton in the second round to set up a semifinal match-up against Larry Dixon.
With his car running consistently, Torrence and his team kept things pretty much the same all day. After his worst run of eliminations against Crampton, a 3.946 at 303.64, he came on strong against Dixon by running a 3.902 at 318.09 with a .058 light to top Dixon’s .081-induced 3.948 at 312.57.
This set up a final against Tony Schumacher, the driver Torrence defeated the only other time he raced him in the final which, coincidently, gave him his first career win.
The run for the Wally was tight, but Torrence was able to emerge victorious by about six inches. His razor-thin margin of victory was one one-thousandth of a second. Torrence clocked a 3.925 at 319.37 with an .061 reaction time to top Schumacher’s 3.940 at 305.03 with a .047 reaction time.
“That final round was tough,” Torrence said. “I could see him out there for a little bit driving back around him and when the light came on I was thanking the Good Lord because we needed that win.
“It was a tough day all day and it’s been way too long since we’ve gotten to the winner's circle. We have a great team and what we’ve been doing is not representative of the team we’ve got. We’re coming back around, digging deep and keeping our heads in the game.
“I’m getting confidence in myself getting back in the car, driving well.”
Torrence knew he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes in the final.
“You’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game when you’re racing any of those DSR cars,” he said. “They are tough competitors. I like Tony and have watched him race for years. I got my first win against Tony and to do it here on the mountain is unbelievable.”
Torrence said one of the biggest reasons his team was able to come out on top was because they didn’t over-think things.
“We ran really well here last year. We put that tune-up on the shelf, brought it back out here and it did well again,” he said. “I think that’s what we’re going to stick with in the future.
“As a driver I tried to focus and get my head in the game. I haven’t been doing my job as well as I should and this is a big confidence booster for me and my team.”
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