As Steve Torrence sat inside his Capco Contractors Dragster, champing at the bit to grab a seventh Top Fuel trophy this season and 23rd overall, the drama unexpectedly and shockingly became even more intense Sunday at Gateway Motorsports Park.

Directly in front of him, in the same left lane, Funny Car winner Robert Hight’s violent engine explosion and fiery, wall-banging accident ratcheted the tension. Perhaps for Torrence it triggered memories of his own vicious wreck at Dallas last fall, the one that destroyed the best dragster he said he ever had, the crash that helped derail his championship-in-waiting, the one that shaped the very disposition he already had been displaying all weekend.

Torrence already was intense. He had been laser-focused during the entire AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, even before.

“Like Braveheart, I’m just going in swinging, chopping, trying to kill everybody,” he said only partially joking.

That’s his mentality right now. He came into the Countdown as the No. 1 seed and wanted to wipe out any opposition, anything that stood in his way. That fierceness propelled him to the No. 1 qualifying position, as he grabbed it away from closest rival Clay Millican. And here he was, sitting just a few feet away from Millican and his Parts Plus/Great Clips/Strutmaster Dragster, knowing Millican’s resolve is what earned him six consecutive IHRA Top Fuel titles.

Moreover, Torrence’s longtime crew chief Richard Hogan was just hours away from checking into The Cleveland Clinic for heart surgery Tuesday. Torrence, who suffered a heart attack himself recently as an unwanted side effect to the chemotherapy he underwent in battling cancer as a teenager, understood the gravity of that. So he carried the weight of his world on his shoulders as he climbed from his car during the Safety Safari’s handling of Hight’s incident then back into the cockpit and tried to refocus.

But he was able to push everything from his mind except beating Millican to the finish line. He did that with a better reaction time than Millican’s (.043 seconds to .083) and a 3.770-second elapsed time at 323.66 mph to the happy-but-scrappy Tennessean’s 3.798, 320.28. The margin of victory on the 1,000-foot course at Madison, Ill., officially was 0.0685 seconds, about 32 feet. The more significant gap is the one opened up in the standings. He increased his points lead from 50 over Millican and Tony Schumacher to 70 over Millican and 121 over now-third-seeded Schumacher with four races to play out.

“First and foremost – all the glory goes to God. We ran the table on ‘em. We showed ‘em how it’s done,” Torrence said immediately after recording his second straight Countdown to the Championship triumph in as many playoff races so far.

“This is going to be a really hard-fought war, and I couldn’t have a better group of guys to be backing me up. I put my faith in them, and they give me a race car every time. I’m blessed and fortunate to be part of that team,” he said. “I’m very confident going forward. This is all we could’ve asked for to start the Countdown.

“Clay and Grubby [Millican crew chief Dave Grubnic] are running really hard. And that’s who I think right now we’re going to have to go toe to toe with for this championship,” Torrence said. “Bad’s when you’re capable of beating the baddest, and right now we’re doing pretty good.”

After all, Millican has qualified No. 1 eight times this year, set low elapsed time at nine races, and clocked top speed of the meet at seven events – all class bests.

Torrence said Grubnic and Millican and crew “have turned that car around to where it’s way more consistent than it was. They’re going to be a contender. They’re going to be tough to deal with. We’ve got to get these points early and try to get ahead with the luck of the draw for Pomona. And you get points and half. However that crap works, I mean, you’ve got to get as many of ‘em as possible early.

The Kilgore, Texas, native has led the points for the past 19 races, thanks to victories at Phoenix, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Richmond, Epping, and Reading. But this repeat triumph at the suburban St. Louis racetrack marks the first time all year he has won from the top-qualifying position. It also slides him onto the class’ all-time top-10 winning list.

Torrence dedicated his victory to Hogan – “the lifeblood of this team,” he called him – and said, “Our hearts and prayers are with him. This one’s for Hoagie.” Celebrating on the podium with him Sunday were Tanner Gray (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

To reach his 37th career final-round appearance, Torrence eliminated Bill Litton and Mike Salinas, then put Leah Pritchett on the trailer and probably his own clutch man Gary Pritchett – Leah’s husband – on the couch.

“Very seldom do I win races,” Torrence said. “It’s the team and the race car I’m in. I just drive the car. I did my job and took off on time today. My comfort level in the car is very high right now, and I go up there and just drive. You don’t think about anything. When you’re able to drive that car, it makes you look good.”

As for Hight’s situation, Torrence took it in stride. Initially he discussed the long and short of it: “These things blow up, catch on fire, run into things.” A bit later he said he knows what Hight is experiencing because it happened to him in almost the same manner about one year ago. “I’ve been there. I’m thankful The Good Lord has His hand over him and kept him safe. Congrats to Robert for winning. That’s a pretty spectacular way to win: blow up, catch on fire, cross the finish line, and still win. He’s not here to do the interviews, but that’s pretty awesome. But it doesn’t affect you. That’s what we do. We drive Top Fuel cars. They catch on fire, they blow up, stuff falls off, you hit things. It’s just part of it. We know the risk when we get in ‘em, and NHRA has a great safety program. I’d rather have a wreck in this thing than I would in my pick-up, drivin’ down the highway.”

Millican was racing in his third final of the season and 12th in his NHRA career. He advanced to the final past Shawn Reed, Antron Brown, and surprise semifinalist Pat Dakin (who stunned Billy Torrence and Tony Schumacher, relishing his spoiler role).

Using a name Millican often calls himself, Torrence said to his determined foe at the top end of the track, “Good job, Hillbilly.”

But Torrence knows this is just a reprieve. This isn’t the last he’ll see of the Drummonds, Tenn., native who was the back-to-back winner at Topeka and Chicago. He just wants to make sure he won’t be hearing the Tennessee anthem “Rocky Top.” He prefers “The Eyes Of Texas Are Upon You.”

The eyes of Texas will be upon these Mello Yello Drag Racing Series drivers in two weeks at the Texas Motorplex at Ennis, just south of Dallas.