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SECOND ROUND EXIT FOR CAPCO/RIO DRAGSTER
Texan Leads Top Fuel Qualifiers at Nhra 4Wide Nationals

April 24, 2016 -- Steve Torrence ended a string of frustrating first round exits Sunday but, for the second straight event, his Capco Contractors/Rio Ammo Top Fuel dragster couldn’t capitalize on a No. 1 start and was on the sidelines when pseudo-teammate Brittany Force won the seventh annual NHRA 4Wide Nationals presented by Lowes Foods at zMAX Dragway.

No. 1 for the third time in five races this season, Torrence appeared fully capable of advancing to the 4Wide finals for the second straight year after unloading a 3.744 second, 326.71 mile per hour effort in the first round that almost duplicated his best qualifying effort (3.736, 326.48 mph).

However, his bid unraveled in the second quad when his 10,000 horsepower dragster lost traction and fell back while Doug Kalitta and Clay Millican advanced with times of 3.777 and 3.787 seconds, respectively.

“I’ll just be glad to get back to the normal routine,” Torrence said, “racing two-by-two.  The four-wide gets a lot of media traction because it’s different, but even though we were runner-up last year to Antron (Brown) and even though we’ve qualified No. 1 two of the last five years, it’s never going to be one of my favorites. 

“We’ll just regroup and get ready to go back to Texas (for next week’s 29th annual NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway in Houston).  We’re a Texas team with Texas sponsors and I know we’re going to have a lot of people rooting for us.”

Despite his frustration, Torrence only lost one position in Mello Yello points.   He’ll start the qualifying phase Friday at Houston in fifth place, still well-positioned for a run at the $500,000 championship.

 

 

 

 

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