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BILLY TORRENCE NO. 1 QUALIFIER AT ATLANTA
Team Capco Starts 1-2 in Sunday’s Final Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals

May 1, 2021 -- By a razor-thin margin of .002 of a second, Billy Torrence outdueled son Steve to get the No. 1 starting spot for Sunday’s 38th and final Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Three days after celebrating his 63rd birthday, the founder and CEO of Capco Contractors, Inc., a Texas-based oil and gas pipeline construction and maintenance business, covered the 1,000-foot course in 3.815 seconds at a finish line speed of 323.43 miles per hour to earn his fourth career No. 1, one in each of the last four seasons but his first at Atlanta.

Steve Torrence, the three-time reigning Top Fuel world champion and current Camping World point leader, stopped the timers in 3.817 seconds to lock up the No. 2 starting spot.  It’s the fifth time the Capco Contractors entries have gone 1-2 in qualifying, the second time this season. 

Because only 15 Top Fuel dragsters will compete on Sunday, the elder Torrence will get a bye into the second round.  His son, a 40-time tour winner who most recently hoisted the trophy two weeks ago in the DENSO Spark Plugs Four-Wide Nationals at Las Vegas, will oppose rookie Buddy Hull of Frisco, Texas in his first-round match.

On a day when many of drag racing’s biggest stars had difficulty getting from Point A to Point B under power, Team Capco was typically dominant.

In the first of two qualifying sessions, Steve Torrence was the only driver to reach the finish line under power, recording a time of 3.869 seconds at a speed of 319.98 mph.  The next best time was 4.089 seconds by Mike Salinas.  No other driver crossed the finish line at a speed faster than 231 mph.

Steve earned the first of his 41 career Top Fuel wins at Atlanta in 2012.  He also won the Southern Nationals in 2017 and 2019.  The race was not contested a year ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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