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

 

TORRENCE KEEPS HIS HEAD IN THE GAME
CAPCO Driver Locked in Battle for Playoff Berth

August 6, 2015 -- Entering this week’s 28th annual NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, the most interesting battle for position isn’t the one at the top of the Mello Yello driver standings but rather the one at the cutoff point for the upcoming Countdown to the Championship.

With only three races remaining before the playoff fields are set, Steve Torrence, driver of the Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster, is one of seven drivers battling for the final five starting positions and although he will start this week in eighth place, he has admitted that “we’re not in a safe position, by any means.  We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

What the 32-year-old cancer survivor has been doing is once again establishing his credentials as a legitimate contender for the $500,000 championship that will be decided in the six-race shootout that starts in September at Charlotte, N.C.  Nevertheless, despite his recent resurgence, Torrence is aware that a misstep this week quickly could turn everything upside down.

While he has moved up one position in each of the last three races, his perch on the No. 8 rung is a tenuous one.  He leads J.R. Todd by a single point and former series champion Shawn Langdon by only three.  Those are margins that could evaporate even before racing begins on Sunday.

With available position points and qualifying bonus points, Torrence could start the event as far back as tenth or, given the best circumstances, as high as seventh.  It’s how competitive the Top Fuel division has become. 

“You’ve gotta be in it to win it,” the Texan said of the Countdown, “and there are going to be some good cars that aren’t in.  There’s just 40 points between sixth place and 10th.  Two rounds.  Then you have Clay Millican and Dave Connolly who are No. 11 and No. 12.   So we’re not safe, but we do control our own destiny and you can’t ask for more than that.  We just need to keep taking it one round at a time.”

In the last month, Torrence has made the two quickest 1,000 foot runs of his career (3.734 last month at Chicago and 3.732 last week at Sonoma, Calif.) and he was the winner two weeks ago at Denver.  He believes he and his team have established a great rhythm since they started of the Western Swing. 

“Racing three weeks in a row can keep your head in the game (because) you don’t lose your focus going from one race to the next,” he said.  “My focus and concentration haven’t been where they needed to be, but my guys haven’t faltered and right now we feel like we can line up and beat anybody out there.”

The 2005 Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion is further encouraged by the fact that he has won previously at Pacific Raceways, beating Langdon in the final to win the 2012 Northwest Nationals.

 

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