If you don't want the brutal truth, then don't ask Steve Torrence a question. Furthermore, don't ask his opinion on a sensitive subject when he's just experienced one of the more devastating losses in his racing career. 

“It is what it is,” Torrence said.  “I know why they do it.  I know they want as many teams racing for the championship at the end as possible but, as a racer, I don’t like it.  I never have.  

“They stuck a mic in my face after we lost and asked me how I felt,” he said of his post-race remarks.  “How did they think I felt?  I was thinking about my guys and how hard they worked to get us in a position to win the whole thing.  I was thinking and about all the things we overcame and about all the skeptics who said we couldn’t be competitive at the top level.  

“I was frustrated and pissed off and said what I thought instead of what was politically correct and, because of that, I got beat up on social media.  You don’t like some of the things that are said about you but, in the big picture, it’s not a big deal.  I’m still going to speak my mind.”

Torrence might have extreme disdain for the system which he believes can be exploited, but there's nothing but admiration for Brittany Force and her Monster Energy Top Fuel team which drove away with the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series championship. 

Force won three of the six Countdown events including the season-ending Auto Club Finals.

“Brittany and that Monster team played the Countdown game better than everyone else,” Torrence said.  “That’s the bottom line.  So, while I’ll tip my new cowboy hat to them, I want ‘em to know that we’re going to be coming after them again in 2018.”

Torrence, on the other hand, blistered the regular season by scoring first in final rounds (10), first in victories (eight), first in round wins (56) and first, for the second straight year, in qualifying bonus points (104).  He was second in average qualifying position (behind the Mac Tools team of Doug Kalitta) and tied for second in average driver reaction time (Torrence and Antron Brown posted averages of .060; Shawn Langdon .059)

Torrence earned qualifying bonus points in a category best 23 of 24 events, failed to advance out of the first round just once and extended to 55 the number of consecutive races in which it has qualified a car in the top half of the field, best in either of the fuel categories.

“My guys gave me a race car that could win in any condition,” Torrence marveled, “and you can’t ask for any more than that.  We’re family.  We win as a team and we lose as a team.  We may fight among ourselves but when it comes down to it, I know they’ve got my back and they know I’ve got theirs.  I couldn’t be prouder of what we accomplished together.”

Torrence's hit parade included a double-up performance at Indianapolis, Ind., where he won both the Traxxas Nitro Shootout and the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, won the regular season championship and was the point leader after 10 of the 24 races and never worse than third after winning the Southern Nationals at Atlanta on May 7.

All the statistics and accolades in the world won’t alter the fact that Torrence will begin the season with the No. 2 on the wing of his race car instead of No. 1 

“That’s just more motivation for me and my guys,” said the cancer-and-heart attack survivor.  “All we know to do is just work harder.” 

 Not once did Torrence waver in the fact his crew was the determining factor in the success which included 55 round wins. 

“We had a great season, we had a lot of fun and we learned some hard lessons,” concluded the 16-time NHRA pro tour winner and former Top Alcohol Dragster world champion.  “We’ll be back.”