Steve Torrence and Brainerd International Raceway had a quirky relationship Sunday. 

For years he had tried to win at this Northern Minnesota venue, with no luck (although part-time racer dad Billy in 2018 won the first of his seven Wally trophies here). 

And just as he appeared to be making mistakes that surely would prolong his drought here in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, Steve Torrence won the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. 

Go figure. 

But Kilgore, Texas’ King Kong of Top Fuel was grateful after his final-round defeat of Clay Millican and the Parts Plus/Walmart Dragster that Millican warned had been “deadly consistent” all weekend. 

“It's truly unbelievable to say that this was the only racetrack that we had never won a race at. I did it in alcohol long time ago, but that doesn't count. It's pretty humbling.  I remember just dreaming of winning one race, much less at every racetrack,” Torrence said.

The 47-time winner sealed the deal with a 3.712-second elapsed time at 323.74 mph on the 1,000-foot course against Millican’s 3.729, 320.05. They had identical reaction times (at 0.052 of a second), and Torrence’s margin of victory was .0170 of a second, or about eight feet.
 
Torrence, the No. 2 qualifier, won the first round when Terry Totten left before the Christmas Tree was activated, escaped with a quarterfinal victory against Justin Ashley, and calmed himself down with a semifinal bye run that automatically handed him his 70th career final-round appearance. 

“I did everything I possibly could to screw this up today,” Torrence lamented. 

He said Totten’s mistake on the starting line “caused me to flinch,” resulting in a negative-.138 reaction time. That was still on his mind when he rolled up to face Ashley, who has developed a reputation for being cobra-quick on the Tree. The Capco Contractors Dragster driver hung a .132 light on himself, allowing Ashley to get a big jump on him with a .062. But Torrence was able to catch up with Ashley and pass him as his Davis Motorsports Smart Sanitizer Dragster began to lose power downtrack. It cost Ashley an automatic second trip to the final round in three races and propelled Torrence to what he considered a huge break with a semifinal-round freebie. 

“The Good Lord was looking after my butt,” Torrence said of that run, and he thanked his Richard Hogan- and Bobby Lagana-led crew. 

“I came through when they needed me, but they needed me a little more against Justin Ashley, because that kid’s– I mean, he's the best leaver in the class right now. And I go up there and have a complete brain failure. I see him take off, and I'm like, ‘I guess I should go with him if we're going to try to race to that end.’ Those Capco boys bailed me out again.  Those things happen and when they do you just have to put them behind you and get back in the game.  We got lucky, but we’ll take it and learn from it. 

He said the bye run settled him down and helped him regain his focus. But he said what he’ll remember most about the day is “that I did everything possible to screw it up all the way to the final and I finally got my head out of my butt and drove my race car, because that was a heck of a race against Clay. 

“Those guys are coming on strong right now. Couldn't be more proud of that team. But these Capco boys that continue to just save me when I need it . . . I help them when they need it,” he said. 

“We're at the front and we're staying there. It's just a blessing to be here. I mean, the Good Lord looks after us and blesses us tremendously, and to have this opportunity is truly special. To say that I've won every race on the circuit, I mean, I just remember dreaming of winning one race, and to be here and have the accomplishments that we have is nothing short of the glory of God and the Capco boys, and my mom and dad supporting us, my wife and my little girl, Charli. I think she's my good-luck charm.” 

Immediately after doing a quick interview, he said, referring to Millican, “Now I’m going to over and tackle this hillbilly.” 

Millican, the popular racer from Drummonds, Tenn., has a longstanding friendship with Torrence. After Millican beat Torrence nemesis Brittany Force, the No. 1 qualifier, in the semifinals and Torrence finished his solo pass, the two finalists ran over and hugged each other and laughed at the top end of the track. Clearly, each wanted to win the final, but the respect they showed one another demonstrated just how long the two teams have had a connection. 

Lagana used to run his Twilight Zone Dragster in IHRA competition, where Millican and Kloeber were nearly untouchable and those two dominators helped him with parts and advice and encouragement, helping Lagana gain experience and knowledge and reach his own potential in the sport. 

Lagana said, “Kloeber and Clay have kept us in business years ago. We've been trying to help them out. It's hard not to root for that team. They’re underdogs, but Richard Hogan and the Silver Dollar, they’ll have a drink on us tonight, and I'm sure we'll be heading to The Zoo [Brainerd’s infamous campground that has developed a fun-and-crazy reputation throughout the years]. Why wouldn't you, right? You’re here and it's awesome to see the crowd here. And what a final. It just can't get any better than that. God bless Brainerd and God bless America.” 

The NHRA canceled the 2020 edition of the Lucas Oil Nationals because of coronavirus restrictions, and Torrence joined the crowd of racers expressing elation at being able to come back to the popular Northwoods racetrack. 

Funny Car winner Matt Hagan had said, “I just love seeing all these fans out here. Biggest thing for me was doing a burnout every run and just being able to look up and see all these fans in the stands. It really does give me chill bumps. I mean, I love it and it's awesome to see all you guys out here supporting what we do and supporting our sponsors and just coming out having a good time and living life again. We love you guys,” Hagan said. “Thanks for all you do . . to come out here and spend your hard-earned money to come out and see a show. And that's what we are. We’re showmen. We're here to put on a great show for these fans, and I think we did that today.” 

Torrence agreed: “These fans, you guys are so awesome. Matt hit the nail on the head: We're entertainers. We're in the entertainment industry, whether we like to admit it or not. We're out here racing to put on a show for you guys, and you guys make it so badass to come here, to get to go to The Zoo, to go and hang out with everybody.” 

He was having some fun before the U.S. Nationals comes around in two weeks, reminds everyone of the seven-race Countdown and all the concentration it demands. The Labor Day weekend classic is just two weeks away, and Torrence has been a vocal critic of the NHRA’s policy of resetting points and bunching the top 10 racers much closer together. 

But as he understands his 383-point advantage over (or possibly greater cushion against) Force will dwindle to just 20 points and all the other title-eligible drivers will be spaced just 10 points apart, Torrence – who already had locked in the No. 1 seeding for the playoffs – simply has resigned himself to the notion the situation isn’t going to change. 

“It is what it is,” he said, recognizing that the adjustment “gives more teams a shot at the championship, I guess, and that’s what they’re going for.  We can’t change that.  All we can do is go out and do our job.  If you win the races, the points will take care of themselves.” 

They did Sunday, despite Torrence’s efforts to give away his opportunities. He has won more than 40 percent of the races he has entered since April of 2017 (39 of 89). 

Meanwhile, Force failed Sunday in her bid for back-to-back Top Fuel victories, losing in the semifinals to Clay Millican in a rematch of their Topeka final a week before. But she recorded some stout numbers for the weekend. 

The Monster Energy Dragster driver for John Force Racing set low elapsed time of the meet in the second round of eliminations at 3.672 seconds on the 1,000-foot course. In qualifying No. 1 Saturday, she posted a track-record 334.98-mph speed that is the eight-fastest in class history. She owns six of the top eight speeds in Top Fuel’s 1,000-foot era.  

She said, “We’re still looking into what happened on that last run. It shook really hard, and it wasn’t going to drive through it. It was goingto go into tire smoke. Still trying to figure out what went wrong on the run. Overall, it was a good day. We made a semifinal round appearance. To win this championship, yes, we need to win races, but if we keep hanging in there, going rounds, No. 1 qualifiers, I know we’re still in a good position, it’s in our range. We’re chasing it down. We’re going after that championship.” 

Torrence can worry about that tomorrow. Sunday evening he could treat himself to a visit to The Zoo.