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

 

IS CHICAGO TORRENCE’S KIND OF TOWN?
CAPCO Driver Trying to Make Up Ground in Points Race

July 9, 2015 -- It’s crunch time this week for Steve Torrence and his Capco Contractors team as they enter the 18th annual Lucas Oil Route 66 Nationals trying to play catch up in the battle for a berth in the NHRA Mello Yello playoffs.

            A title contender a year ago when he finished a career best sixth in the Top Fuel driver standings, Torrence is in the midst of one of those “almost” seasons in which he has been oh so close to the winners’ circle but never in it.

            He gets another opportunity this week on a Route 66 Raceway track on which he was runner-up to former series champion Antron Brown three years ago.

            A four-time tour winner and former Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion (2005), Torrence has had one of the best cars in the category this year but has little to show for it.  Nevertheless, he feels good about his chances at Route 66, one of three tour venues on which he has won at least 60 percent of his two-car matches.

            An avid outdoorsman and hunter who has spent days in the wilderness waiting for one shot, the 32-year-old Texan understands better than most the need for patience.  Nevertheless, he admits that even his is wearing a little thin.  After all, it’s been more than two years and 50 races since he last celebrated an NHRA victory.

            “It makes you realize how hard it is to win a Wally,” Torrence said, referring to the winners’ trophies that are named for the late NHRA founder, Wally Parks. 

            “We’ve run six of our 10 quickest ETs this season and look where we are,” he said.  “Last week at Norwalk (Ohio), we had a car that was good enough to win like we have had most of the season.  Our first five runs, we averaged 3.78 seconds, but then we lost lane choice to Doug (No. 1 qualifier and eventual race winner Doug Kalitta), smoked the tires and that was it.

            “The competition is so good right now that you can’t make a single mistake because if you do whoever’s in the other lane is going to send you home,” he said.  “There are more good cars out here right now than I’ve ever seen and, yeah, it’s great to be competitive, but we don’t want to just be competitive, we want to win.”

            With just six races before the playoff field is set, Torrence is 11th in the driver standings, 30 points (two rounds) behind Clay Millican.

 

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