![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/nhra-0201216-1501.jpg?resize=300%2C200\")
The Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster on acceleration at season-opening Winternationals. (Photo by Mark Rebilas)<\/p><\/div>\n
Johnson, who as crew chief or team owner won NHRA Top Fuel Championships with five different drivers, hasn\u2019t made any major changes since coming on board last fall.\u00a0 What he has done is instill a new confidence in a Capco Contractors crew carefully assembled by Torrence over the last five seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s taken a couple of years to get the guys we have,\u201d Torrence said. \u201cLike any business, your success is going to depend on the people you have around you and I feel like we have one of the best crews out there.\u00a0 (Crew chief) Richard Hogan, (car chief) Bobby Lagana, (clutch specialist) Gary Pritchett, all the guys.\u00a0 They put a great car under me every week.\u00a0 I\u2019m just the guy who\u2019s lucky enough to drive it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old cancer survivor drove it well enough two weeks ago to win the season-opening Circle K Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., just a week after an eye-opening performance in pre-season testing on the same Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park track on which he competes this weekend.<\/p>\n
![\"Alan](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/nhra-0201316-1194.jpg?resize=300%2C200\")
Alan Johnson, left, discusses tune-up strategies on the Capco Contractors dragster with crew chief Richard Hogan, center. (Photo by Mark Rebilas)<\/p><\/div>\n
According to Torrence, Johnson\u2019s genius has been in drawing Hogan out of his comfort zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cA.J. is a good fit for us,\u201d Torrence said.\u00a0 \u201cHe and Hogan have always been friends and worked good together.\u00a0 They respect each other and since Alan got here, we\u2019ve gone from being a 3.75 car to a 3.70 car.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s because he\u2019s given Hogan another set of eyes and the confidence to be a little more aggressive when conditions are right.\u00a0 He\u2019s always in his ear and it\u2019s paid big dividends so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
A former NHRA World Champion in the Lucas Oil Series where he won the 2005 Top Alcohol Dragster title, Torrence has won six times since moving up to Top Fuel but has yet to finish better than sixth in Mello Yello points.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s aiming much higher this season. \u00a0At the Winternationals, he marked one item off his drag racing bucket list when he won from the No. 1 qualifying position.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t done that since his days in Top Alcohol.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, as pleased as he has been with the car\u2019s performance (including a career best 3.703 second qualifying run at Pomona), he\u2019s been downright giddy about its high speed consistency for which he gives loads of credit to a new chassis built at the shop of Top Fuel rival Morgan Lucas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve made 17 laps (1,000 foot sprints) and have gone down the track every run but one,\u201d he said, \u201cand that one I think we just got a little greedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a hot rod that\u2019s pretty bad to the bone right now and we\u2019re just going to continue to do what we do,\u201d Torrence said. \u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s racing our own race, racing the lane and getting as many of the little points (qualifying bonus points awarded to the three quickest drivers in each session) as we can.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe picked up a lot of them at Pomona (eight of a possible 12) and we\u2019re gonna try to do that again this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bolstered by the addition of Rio Ammo as a major associate sponsor, the continued moral support of the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation and Johnson\u2019s quiet guidance, Torrence admittedly is more optimistic this year than ever before.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, he\u2019s racing right now in a Top Fuel class that is more competitive than it has been since the 1970s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat just makes it sweeter when you have success,\u201d Torrence said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re still just a family race team.\u00a0 I was back in the office (he works at Capco, a Texas-based pipeline construction business) the day after Pomona trying to lay some pipe and make enough money to buy us some more nitro.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Steve](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/tra02B_2223.jpg?resize=247%2C300\")
Steve Torrence in his work clothes. (Photo by Mark Rebilas)<\/p><\/div>\n
Steve\u2019s history at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park:<\/strong><\/p>\n Last year: After qualifying seventh, Steve lost in the first round to Brittany Force.<\/p>\n Starts\/Final Rounds\/Wins: 5\/0\/0<\/p>\n Steve\u2019s quickest time at Wild Horse Pass: 3.758 seconds, Feb. 21, 2014<\/p>\n Steve\u2019s fastest speed at Wild Horse Pass: 325.85 mph, Feb. 21, 2015<\/p>\n Won-Lost record: 7-5<\/p>\n Steve\u2019s best moment(s) at Wild Horse Pass: Trips to the semifinals in 2010, 2011 and 2014.<\/p>\n Track records:\u00a0 3.722 seconds by Tony Schumacher, Feb. 20, 2015; 329.91 mph by Tony Schumacher, Feb. 24, 2013.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Courtesy Dave Densmore PHOENIX, Ariz. \u2013 The fact that Steve Torrence rolls into this week\u2019s 32nd annual CARQUEST Nationals as the Top Fuel point leader has everything to do with legendary crew chief Alan Johnson\u2019s contributions as consultant to his race team \u2013 but not for the reasons one might imagine. Johnson, who as crew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,6,50],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhra","tag-drag-racing","tag-nhra","tag-steve-torrence"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/nhra-0201216-1501.jpg?fit=1000%2C667","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-41","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}