By Mike Haag

ENNIS, Texas – Defending NHRA Top Fuel champion Steve Torrence is a man on a mission in the battle for the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship.

Steve Torrence. Photo courtesy of the NHRA

Torrence, a four-time NHRA Top Fuel champion, enters this weekend’s Texas NHRA Fall Nationals trailing points leader Justin Ashley by 14 points in the championship standings.

“We’ve done really well here, but so has Justin,” Torrence said.  “And no way this is just a two-horse race.  “Plus, there are a lot of potential spoilers who can jump up and bite you in any round.  It’ll be like going through a mine field.”

Torrence is one of 16 NHRA Top Fuel drivers who will compete in the elimination rounds that began at 11 a.m. Sunday at Texas Motorplex.

Steve Torrence. NHRA photo

After four rounds of qualifying, Torrence qualified sixth and will face Shawn Langdon in the opening round. The race will be the fourth of six races in the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship.

After a season of misfortunes and the mechanical issues, Torrence appears to have rebounded since the Countdown started.

“This has really not been our greatest season up to this point and it feels like things may have turned around a little bit,” Torrence said. “The car’s performance is definitely there and as a driver that just gives you a lot of confidence going into it.”

Steve Torrence. Photo courtesy of the NHRA

The 39-year-old driver is fresh off a victory two weeks ago at St. Louis. The win was only his second this season and the win moved him from a season-worst fifth in points to second in the standings.

“Being able to capitalize on some of the things that transpired Sunday in St. Louis was huge for us,” Torrence said. “We needed that and we’re carrying that momentum going into Dallas. We’ve had a lot of success at Dallas and been able to run well there. I think the track conditions are going to trend to be a little hotter than what we saw in St. Louis which we you know are a little more difficult to navigate for the crew chiefs.”

Steve Torrence. Photo courtesy of the NHRA

Besides Ashley and Torrence, Brittany Force, Mike Salinas, Antron Brown, Joshua Hart and Doug Kalitta are all in contention for the title. Only 88 points separate the top seven drivers in the standings. With another points race at Las Vegas in two weeks and with points and a half available at the season finale in Pomona, any of the top seven drivers have a shot at winning the championship.

“There’s three races left and there’s five or six or seven cars that are right in the thick of everything and it’s going to be the battle to try to get that championship won,” Torrence said. “I mean at the end of the day we can only do what we do and you got to have some luck and you got to have some things like what happened in St. Louis go your way to keep that momentum going and that’s what we’re working towards.”

Steve Torrence. NHRA photo

Torrence has a storied history at the Texas Motorplex. He has reached the Top Fuel final in five of his last seven starts on the all-concrete track. Two of his 53 career wins were here when he won in both 2018 and 2020. It was in 2018 when he became the only driver in history to win all six playoff races.

In addition, Torrence and his dad (Billy) raced sportsman cars at the track and in 2005, driving a Top Alcohol Dragster, he won a pair of events at the Motorplex. He also won a regional race along with the Fall Nationals, which led to him winning the Lucas Oil World Championship.  He remains the only driver to have won NHRA titles in both the Top Fuel and Top Alcohol divisions.

Steve Torrence. NHRA photo

“It’s easy to triumph in victory but when you’re struggling it really makes you get down and dirty and figure out what you gotta do, who you are and where your team stands,” Torrence said. “Each one of the Capco boys really just stood up tall, held ground and done the best we could to make it to this point. “

Torrence added, “I said in St. Louis that I’ve never been a big fan of the Countdown. I’m still not a fan of the Countdown and at this point we should all be racing for a second because Brittany has been so dominant this year. But that’s the world we live in so we have a shot at it and we’re going to see if we can get it to stick and see what we can do.”

If Torrence wins a fifth championship he will join John Force, Bob Glidden and Tony Schumacher as the only pro drivers who have won five straight championships.