Coming off a welcome victory last week at Seattle, Wash., one that ended an agonizing 20-race winless streak, Steve Torrence is beginning to get that feeling again, the one that carried him to four straight world championships and an unprecedented 2018 sweep of the races in the NHRA\u2019s Countdown to the Championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With renewed confidence in the mechanical changes made to his CAPCO Contractors Top Fuel Toyota after the 2021 season by crew chiefs Richard Hogan and Bobby Lagana Jr., the 41- year-old Texan\u2019s comfort level is at a two-year high entering this week\u2019s 36th DENSO Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were dominant, when we were winning all those championships, we could go down any racetrack in any condition and make a competitive run,\u201d said the 55-time pro tour winner, \u201cbut everybody caught up (performance-wise) and we needed to make changes to stay ahead of the curve.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately (the transition to a new combination) was harder than we expected.\u00a0 We lost our edge,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve had flashes (of our old form), but it wasn\u2019t until last week when we got that black hat (awarded to Mission Foods event winners), that I felt like we were really close.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Seattle win propelled him into third place in the driver standings just three races before points are adjusted for the Countdown.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve struggled (over the last three seasons),\u201d Torrence admitted, \u201cbut, at the end of the day, we\u2019ve been there when we needed to be there.\u00a0We could\u2019ve won the championship last year (when he finished second to Doug Kalitta after leading the points into the season\u2019s final event), but we didn\u2019t have the driver to do it.\u00a0We had the car; didn\u2019t have the driver. I know I have to step up my game if we\u2019re going to win this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although he has not yet put together a win streak like those he enjoyed in his four championship seasons (five wins in a row in one stretch, six in a row in another), he has regained a bit of the swagger he believes is essential for success.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about confidence,\u201d Torrence said.\u00a0\u201cWhen your car is running the numbers and running consistent, it just makes you a better driver.\u00a0You look at (Funny Car point leader) Austin Prock.\u00a0Right now, that team has the whole package.\u00a0I kind of see some of the cockiness and drive and fire of myself in (Prock) and I think it\u2019s great for the sport because if you don\u2019t believe in yourself, it\u2019s hard for anyone else to believe in you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, he knows that one win does not a championship make.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve put ourselves in a hole of our own creation,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cI think we\u2019re beginning to see some light, but I hope it starts getting brighter pretty quickly because it\u2019s been dark for about a year and a half, two years, now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before he launches his bid for a third victory in the Sonoma Nationals, Torrence will race Saturday in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, in which he will oppose point leader Doug Kalitta, with the winner advancing to face either Shawn Langdon or Clay Millican for bonus money and Countdown points.<\/p>\n
Qualifying begins Friday with Texas time sessions at 7:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m.\u00a0 Saturday\u2019s qualifying sessions, each one concluding with rounds of the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, are at 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m., Texas time.\u00a0Final eliminations begin Sunday at 12:30 p.m., Texas time.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on July 25, 2024. <\/p>\n
The post S. Torrence Rides Momentum into NHRA Sonoma Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Coming off a welcome victory last week at Seattle, Wash., one that ended an agonizing 20-race winless streak, Steve Torrence is beginning to get that feeling again, the one that carried him to four straight world championships and an unprecedented 2018 sweep of the races in the NHRA\u2019s Countdown to the Championship.\u00a0 With renewed confidence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}