Torrence Favored in Lucas Oil Winternationals Postponed from February
POMONA, Calif. – Steve Torrence and his Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster have won before at Auto Club Raceway, site this week of the pandemic-delayed 61st annual Lucas Oil Winternationals, but never in the kind of heat expected on Sunday when the talented Texan will try to become just the eighth driver in pro drag racing history to sweep the three races in arduous Western Swing.
“Racing in Pomona in the middle of the summer is an entirely different ball game,” admitted the three-time reigning World Champion and runaway point leader. “We’ve won here in February and November, when it’s a lot cooler, but this weekend it’ll probably be pretty slick and challenging. We don’t have any data on this racetrack in the conditions we expect to see, so it should be pretty interesting.
“Sweeping the Swing is certainly on our minds,” Torrence said, “but it won’t change our normal race strategy. Friday night, our goal is to make a solid, clean and fast run to give us a good starting point. It’s one run at a time, one race at a time.”
Riding a three-race winning streak that has powered him to a 349-point lead in the Camping World driver standings, the 38-year-old cancer survivor is just four round wins away from joining a “clean sweep club” whose current members are Joe Amato, Cory McClenathan, Larry Dixon, Antron Brown and Tony Schumacher in Top Fuel, John Force in Funny Car and Greg Anderson in Pro Stock.
If he gets the job done Sunday, though, Torrence will be the only driver to have swept the Swing in its current, one-off configuration with the delayed Winternationals replacing the COVID-canceled Flav-R-Pac Northwest Nationals at Seattle, Wash.
The sweep nothwithstanding, a Sunday victory also would make him just the third driver in the track’s 61-year history to win races in the winter, the summer and the fall. Force and former Pro Stock champ Jeg Coughlin Jr. accomplished that feat when, after previously winning the Winternationals and season-ending Auto Club Finals, both prevailed in the NHRA’s one-time 50th Anniversary Nationals on July 8, 2001.
Despite all his success, Torrence is taking nothing for granted.
“It hasn’t been easy,” he said of a season in which he has won six of nine events. “Look, we won last week (at Sonoma, Calif.) by .002 of a second over Leah (Pruett). It was almost that close against Brittany (Force) at Norwalk (Ohio) and Charlotte (.014 at the former and .026 at the 4Wide). They’ll all figure it out, but as long as I’ve got Richard Hogan, Bobby Lagana (Jr.) and the Capco Boys behind me, we’re going to be contenders regardless of the conditions.
“The Capco Boys do the work and I’m just the guy who’s blessed with the opportunity to drive,” he said. “My focus is to try and not mess it up. These guys work hard and they love their jobs. You learn a little bit each day and the thing that keeps us going is that we have so much fun when we come to the track.”
Looking Back:
Steve Torrence at the Lucas Oil Winternationals
Year Qualifying Position/Racing Result
2010 Pomona1 6. Lost to Antron Brown
2011 Pomona1 10. Lost to Doug Kalitta
2012 Pomona1 9. Lost to Shawn Langdon
2013 Pomona1 8. Beat Spencer Massey; lost to Tony Schumacher
2014 Pomona1 6. Beat Terry McMillen, Clay Millican; lost to Khalid alBalooshi
2015 Pomona1 5. Beat Troy Buff; lost to Spencer Massey
2016 Pomona1 1. Beat Steve Faria, Morgan Lucas, Richie Crampton and Doug Kalitta
2017 Pomona1 8. Beat Troy Buff; lost to Leah Pritchett
2018 Pomona1 2. Beat Steve Faria; lost to Antron Brown
2019 Pomona1 1. Beat Steve Faria, bye, Mike Salinas; lost to Doug Kalitta
2020 Pomona2 Did Not Compete
Steve’s quickest time: 3.657 seconds, Feb. 9, 2019
Steve’s fastest speed: 333.00 mph, Feb. 11, 2018
Track records – 3.628 seconds by Clay Millican, Feb. 10, 2018; 333.08 mph by Antron Brown, Feb. 9, 2019.
Steve Torrence at the Auto Club Finals (to be contested Nov. 14)
Year Qualifying Position/Racing Result
2006 Pomona2 13. Lost to Melanie Troxel
2008 Pomona2 9. Lost to Rod Fuller
2009 Pomona2 11. Lost to Doug Kalitta
2010 Pomona2 9. Lost to Antron Brown
2012 Pomona2 8. Lost to Bob Vandergriff Jr.
2013 Pomona2 15. Lost to Shawn Langdon
2014 Pomona2 13. Beat Doug Kalitta; lost to J.R. Todd
2015 Pomona2 8. Beat Dave Connolly; lost to Antron Brown
2016 Pomona2 7. Beat Wayne Newby; lost to Shawn Langdon
2017 Pomona2 5. Beat Troy Buff; lost to Antron Brown
2018 Pomona2 2. Beat Cameron Ferre, Billy Torrence, Brittany Force and Tony Schumacher
2019 Pomona2 1. Beat Cameron Ferre, Brittany Force; lost to Richie Crampton
Steve Torrence this season
March 14 at Gainesville, FL 1. Beat Joe Morrison; lost to Josh Hart.
April 18 at Las Vegas, NV 2. WINNER over Doug Kalitta (Clay Millican and Antron Brown)
May 2 at Atlanta, GA 2. Beat Buddy Hull, Justin Ashley, Shawn Langdon; lost to Antron Brown
May 16 at Charlotte, NC 2. WINNER over Brittany Force (Antron Brown and Josh Hart)
May 23 at Houston, TX 1. Beat Mitch King, advanced on earned bye run, beat Clay Millican and Doug Kalitta.
June 13 at Epping, N.H. 4. Beat Clay Millican, Leah Pruett; lost to Mike Salinas
June 27 at Norwalk, OH 1. Beat Shawn Langdon, Leah Pruett, Austin Prock and Brittany Force
July 18 at Denver, CO 2. Beat Rob Passey, bye, Mike Salinas and Joey Haas.
July 25 at Sonoma, CA 2. Beat Cameron Ferre, Doug Kalitta, Antron Brown and Leah Pruett
NHRA CAMPING WORLD TOUR Championship Points
(After 9 of 20 scheduled events)
TOP FUEL
1. Steve Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors dragster 978
2. Antron Brown, Pittsboro, Ind., Matco Tools dragster 629
3. Brittany Force, Yorba Linda, Calif., FLAV-R-PAC/ Monster Energy dragster 564
4. Shawn Langdon, Indianapolis, Ind., DHL/Kalitta Air dragster 460
5. Leah Pruett, Avon, Ind., MOPAR/Pennzoil/Okuma dragster 457
6. Billy Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco Contractors dragster 448
7. Mike Salinas, San Jose, Calif., Scrappers Racing dragster 432
8. Doug Kalitta, Ann Arbor, Mich., Mac Tools/Mobil 1 dragster 420
9. Justin Ashley, Plainview, N.Y., Strutmasters/GuardLab dragster 370
10. Clay Millican, Drummonds, Tenn., Parts Plus dragster 366
Looking Ahead
2021 NHRA Camping World Tour
8-15 Menard’s Nationals Topeka, KS
8-22 Lucas Oil Nationals Brainerd, MN
9-05 Dodge SRT U.S. Nationals Indianapolis, IN
