Steve Torrence’s quest for winning his fifth NHRA Top Fuel world championship is alive and well.

Torrence, who won world titles in 2018-21, arrived at the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., this weekend third in the points standings on the strength of winning at Seattle on July 21.

Torrence is keeping his momentum going as he captured the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot in Brainerd on Friday with a 3.688-second elapsed time at 335.32 mph.

NASCAR legend and first-year Top Fuel driver Tony Stewart clocked an identical 3.688-second time but had a slower mph at 332.18. The difference in speed gave Torrence the nod for the provisional No. 1 spot.

“We have been working on trying to make power,” Torrence said. “At the end of the day, power is speed. A high mph is just an exhibition of power. The conditions  here are different than a lot of places we go, so it is rather difficult to make power here. I was a little surprised to see 68 being low. I figured you could go 65 and 66. The track is good, and the conditions are good, but people are struggling to make the power they want.”

If Torrence keeps the spot through the final two qualifying sessions Saturday, it would be the 40th of his career and third of the season to go with the ones he claimed in Phoenix and Seattle.

“We were wanting to run quicker than 68 and that’s what they gave us,” Torrence said. “We were just a little closer to it than everybody else. We were a half mph better than 'Smoke' [Stewart]. It is pretty cool to see him come out and do as well as he’s done this year. He came out and ran good right there. I told the guys in the truck that 66 is going to probably be low after we ran 68. We went 68 and I knew that Shawn (Langdon) and Doug (Kalitta) would just outrun, but we got lucky.”

Torrence has snared 55 career Top Fuel Wallys, including two in Brainerd in 2021-22.

“This race is just so special and unique in its own,” Torrence said. “Where we're at, the atmosphere, the people, the fans, the owners, just everybody here makes this race really fun and really cool to come to. And this was one of the tracks for years that I didn't win that kept us from actually being able to say, ‘We won every track on the circuit.’ And we finally got it done, and the other track was Houston. And these are two very similar tracks as far as conditions that you race in. When we were able to check those two off of our list, it was pretty special.

“But I love coming here. I won here in Alcohol and made the final a couple times. But that's one here. I won here a couple times now. And so, it's just a special and cool place. But you're right, it does. It sets the tone for the Countdown.”

This weekend also has daddy duties with his 3-year-old daughter Charli.

 

 

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“Charli's here camping out with me this weekend. Mom and Harper at home. So, this is the first dad-daughter race by herself,” Steve said.

Harper is Charli’s sister, and she was born in June. And Steve also is keeping focused on his job at hand at the track.

“The intensity in our camp is pretty much at a high all the time, but it's good. I mean, somebody asked me the other day, they were like, ‘How long have you been racing?' I was like, ‘Oh, a long time.’ So, I've been racing 26 years. I've been racing Top Fuel for 18 years. So, it makes you feel really old. Now, I'm not the young kid out here anymore. I just gravitated to being the old guy.

“But you learn to race in this format, and you take the year as it goes, and you need to be in the top three, top four going into the Countdown (the final six races of the season). And we're there right now. So, you just reassess, and re-attack, and go after it in the next six. But this is a great race. This is always a good one to come and throw down, get ready for Indy, try to win Indy, and kick off the Countdown strong. But intensity, it's starting to ramp up. This race is big. I mean, this is where people solidify their spots and then you just have to defend it going into Indy. But so many things can happen here. I mean, we truly expected to see Tasca go 340 tonight. And I think that they've been looking at since Bradenton.”

Torrence acknowledged he’s been plenty busy on and off the track this year.

“Well, what made it so difficult is you have a car that goes out. And the crazy thing is we're in the process of moving into a new office at Capco. I'm building a new office,” Torrence said. “So, I loaded up all my Wallys the other day and had them in the back of the truck, and I moved them over. Well, then I had them sectioned by year, so like 2012, 2013 had a couple, didn't win in '14, one in '15. And then, '17, I think there was 11. There was 11 of them in '19 or '20. I mean, there was four years there that's at minimum five races a year, six races a year, and then a couple 11-race years where we win.

“And you take a car that does that, and you say, "Okay, well we got to get better.' And that's pretty frustrating. But with that being said, we won a lot of races by not making mistakes. We didn't outrun the guy; we just didn't make the mistake that they did trying to outrun us. And so, we had utilized our race car that we had to the most of its capability and we needed to make it better. You're like, ‘Man, this is a really good race car, and program, and set up, and tune up, and everything that we have, and we're going to throw it on the shelf and build a new one.' And that's what we've done.”

Getting back to contending for a world championship has been a roller-coaster ride but one that has been necessary according to Torrence.

“I mean, I'm telling you man, sometimes it's hard to stay with the girl you brought to the dance when there's a whole bunch of supermodels around there, but you got to do it,” Torrence said. “That's what we did and it's coming to fruition now, I'll say. I don't think that the consistency is where it still needs to be, but you got to stick with those guys and support them. And that's what we've been able to do with Richard (Hogan), and Bobby (Lagana), and everybody. Man, for a while I felt like I was just looking into a black hole. Now, there is a flicker of flame at the end of the tunnel and we're kind of seeing some light to work to. And that makes it all worth it.”