Steve Torrence has conquered cancer.

He has survived a heart attack.

He has beaten some of the toughest NHRA Top Fuel racers the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series has to line up against him. And in the final round Sunday at the NHRA Toyota Nationals, he defeated one of the rising stars like himself, Kalitta Motorsport’s JR Todd.

His winning 3.734-second elapsed time at 323.81 mph in the Capco Contractors / Rio Ammunition Dragster on the 1,000-foot course at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway elevated him to second place.

“The Capco guys have really stayed focused and stayed driven and done what it took to overcome just some bad luck and a couple screw-ups on my part,” Torrence said. “But, you know, we got a really good team. We got a championship-caliber team, I believe.

“We came into this deal at the first of the season, knowing that we were going to have to race Antron [Brown] for the championship. He has been the most dominant [driver] the last few years,” he said. “Antron’s a brother of mine. And he won a championship – we were able to seal the deal for him.”

That was noble of him, considering Brown beat him in the previous final round, at Dallas. By the end of the first round, only Brown and Doug Kalitta were eligible to win the series title. Australian Wayne Newby had a chance to slow down Brown’s title march in the quarterfinal but lost. All Brown needed to do to win his third crown was have Kalitta drop out. Torrence took care of that for his friend, nicking Kalitta in their Round 2 showdown by a mere two-thousandths of a second.

“And thank God I didn’t have to race [Brown] in the final, because the odds of getting over him are tough. But I snuck over to Brittany’s pit, got some of that Monster [Energy Drink] before the final round and was able to get a light on JR,” Torrence said, alluding to the fact he and Force share tuning consultant Alan Johnson.

“It’s been a good weekend altogether,” Torrence said. “We kind of struggled the first few races of the Countdown and dropped the ball. We had to turn it on and come up here and try to do some good. We went to the final at Dallas, and that guy [Brown] stole my dadgum cowboy hat. So, I come here and I wanted to take a picture with them pretty girls [the Las Vegas Showgirls].”

He said he has learned through this up-and-down season to appreciate the opportunity he has.

“You know, I’ve gone out and really beat myself up and tried hard to be better and do this and do that,” Torrence said. “And you’ve got to kind of just take a step back and realize this is a job, but this is like playing a professional sport. You play professional baseball, you play professional football, or you drag race professionally. We’re getting to live what most people dream about.

“And so,” he said, “I had that heart attack, and I redirected my focus. I said, ‘You know, I’m going to have fun and enjoy the opportunity that I’ve been given.’ And I think that it’s [helped] in my driving, and just overall for the team. We’re having fun. That’s what I told them this morning. I said, ‘We got a good hot rod. And we did all right during qualifying. But hell, let’s go have a good time today.’ We had a good time every round, and them lights kept coming on.”

Todd, driving the SealMaster Dragster, challenged Torrence with a 3.762-second, 321.96-mph pass in his third final-round appearance at this event. (He reached the final in 2006 and 2014.)

"Tough way to end a strong day for the SealMaster Toyota team,” he said. “We wanted to pick up the win with all of these great Toyota people on site, but it was not our day. Look forward to Pomona and hopefully ending this season on a strong note."

He eliminated No. 3-ranked Shawn Langdon, top qualifier Clay Millican, and newly crowned repeat champion Antron Brown. But Torrence used a .041-second reaction time to end Todd’s strong showing. Todd launched in a respectable .061 of a second.

Torrence knows winning the finale – on the same track where he won the season opener – won’t be easy.

“You know, it’s tough out here. These guys are bad-to-the-bone hot rod guys, and we’re out here competing with the best in the business,” he said. “We just keep our head down, focus, and try to go rounds and see where we stand on that stage. We ain’t going to be in that No. 1 spot, but we can damn sure try to be No. 2.

“This Capco team has really persevered. That’s the biggest thing,” Torrence said. “Richard Hogan, Bobby Lagana, and all those boys have worked many, many hours to get us to where we’re at. You know, we’re just a family run team out here, and we’re competing with the big dogs. And you know, we’re stacking some of those Schumacher trailers and Kalitta cars on the trailer, and that’s what we’re out here to do. And be competitive and race at the fullest capacity we can.”

Mission accomplished Sunday.