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For Immediate Release
Contact: Dave Densmore, denswood@aol.com / 214-244-0008, mobile

 

TORRENCE RENEWS PURSUIT OF ELUSIVE VICTORY
Capco Contractors Dragster Tries to Ride Consistency Back Into Winners’ Circle

February 5, 2015 -- Steve Torrence, who in 2014 was the best driver who never won a Mello Yello tour event, tries to end the longest victory drought of his pro career this week when he sends his 330 mile-an-hour Capco Contractors dragster after the Top Fuel championship in the 55th annual Circle K Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

            Last year, the 31-year-old Texan finished a career-best sixth in points in one of the most competitive seasons in Top Fuel history.  However, the rub always will be that, with just three more round wins, he could have finished second.  Furthermore, with as many race wins as he had in 2012, he could have been the first driver ever to win NHRA series championships in both the alcohol and fuel divisions.

            Coulda.  Woulda.  Shoulda.

            In a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately sport like drag racing, everyone starts Friday with a clean slate.  Surprisingly, that’s just fine with Torrence, the NHRA’s 2005 Top Alcohol Dragster Champion. 

            “We raced hard last year and we proved that as a family racing team, going up against the Schumachers and the Kalittas and everyone else, we have the people and the parts to race for a championship.  What we didn’t have was racing luck, but it’s been my experience that all of that evens out over the long run.  At least I hope it does.”

            Torrence started his 2014 title bid with a strong showing at the Winternationals, a race in which he reached the semifinals, the first of five consecutive penultimate appearances that propelled him as high as No. 2 in points.  

            He’s looking for a similarly strong start this week on a track on which he hasn’t reached the winners’ circle in either Alcohol or Top Fuel in his career.

            A cancer survivor whose passion for racing is equaled only by his passion for the outdoors and for hunting big game with gun or bow-and-arrow, Torrence will start just his fifth full season in Top Fuel at the wheel of the same car with which he finished 2014.

            “We’re excited.  We’re ready to get back on the track,” Torrence said.  “The only trophies I’ve had lately are hunting trophies.  Hopefully, we can put some more Wallys in the trophy case this year.

 

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