There’s no question Steve Torrence has a passion for drag racing – his four NHRA Top Fuel world championships are evidence to that fact.

However, the Kilgore, Texas, driver does have a passion for a sport outside the dragstrip – rodeo.

“This is just awesome opportunity to go outside the motorsports industry and into something I have a real passion for and that’s the Western industry,” Torrence said on the latest Chute Bosses podcast, the podcast of the PRCA.

Torrence has dabbled in team roping – as a header – the past several years.

“I didn’t get involved in the whole Western world until later in life,” Torrence said. “To be honest, I have been afraid of animals. Big horses think on their own, they don’t have a key, they don’t run on gas, there’s no shutoff switch, no parachute. I decided one day, seven or eight years ago, I had a buddy, Richard Durham (a team roping heeler) who has been to the (NFR) and he was a good friend of mine in high school. I have been around the team roping my whole life just not too into the horse side of things.

“I decided one day, I’m going to team rope. I’m going to buy a horse and learn to team rope and I’m going to do it. I have had some of the best times with my buddies doing that. I think if your athletic in any kind of way and slow everything down like we do in the race cars that it gives you an opportunity to go out and do well. I’m making up for lost time right now.”

Torrence’s rodeo ties have enabled to rub shoulders with some of best cowboys in the PRCA.

“American Hat Company is a partner of my mind and I have been able to meet a lot of different cowboys and cowgirls through that partnership and relationship,” Torrence said. “I’ve met guys like JB Mauney, Sage Kimzey, Trevor (Brazile), Tuf (Cooper) some of the greats of the industry I have been able to befriend and bring them out to the drag races and show them around what we actually do.”

The cowboys – Kimzey and bareback rider Tilden Hooper had a memorable trip to the dragstrip as guests of Torrence.

“They came out to the Texas Motorplex a couple of years and before they got there, I don’t think they knew what they were in store for,” Torrence said. “We got them on the starting line and here they are in nice shirts and starched jeans and buckles and boots and cowboy hats and people thought they were a fish out of water. When we hit the gas and made the run, they were high-flying all my guys and they were saying it was the coolest thing we have ever seen.

“They were saying how crazy I was to (drive a Top Fuel dragster) and that’s coming from guys who ride bucking stock and roughstock. It has been a really neat dynamic to show other athletes what we do and being able to experience what they do. I’ve gone to the Finals (the NFR) a couple of different times the last few years and being behind the scenes and seeing what is going on and seeing the things those athletes overcome, the injuries. You don’t really see that in drag racing. (Rodeo) is the epitome of cowboy up and doing what it takes. I have had a blast seeing that, witnessing that, and being involved in that and it is just an eye-opening experience for me.”