{"id":35894,"date":"2021-09-26T23:59:09","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T04:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=35894"},"modified":"2021-09-29T13:06:10","modified_gmt":"2021-09-29T18:06:10","slug":"texas-drag-racers-torrence-enders-score-big-victories-at-nhra-midwest-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/26\/texas-drag-racers-torrence-enders-score-big-victories-at-nhra-midwest-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas drag racers Torrence, Enders score big victories at NHRA Midwest Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio<\/em><\/p>\n

Texas natives Steve Torrence and Erica Enders scored critical victories on Sunday at the Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis.<\/p>\n

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Steve Torrence. 10th Annual NHRA Midwest Nationals. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Torrence, the defending NHRA Top Fuel champion, along with Enders, the defending NHRA Pro Stock champion, both won in their respective classes and made a loud statement that they are prepared to defend their titles as the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series heads to Texas for the NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas on October 7-10.<\/p>\n

In the NHRA Top Fuel final round, Torrence went the distance in 3.736 seconds, 328.78 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Capco Contractors dragster to defeat No. 1 qualifier Mike Salinas, who crossed the finish line at 3.996 seconds, 226.70 mph.  The victory was Torrence\u2019s ninth this season and 49th of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully, I\u2019ve got the best team in the business,\u201d Torrence said.  \u201cWe\u2019ve raced the Countdown together for a lot of years, so we know the drill.  The only thing I need to know is that no matter what everyone else is doing around us, these Capco boys always send me to the line with a car that can win.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Steve Torrence. 10th Annual NHRA Midwest Nationals. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Torrence leads the NHRA Top Fuel points standings by 36 points over Brittany Force.  Torrence\u2019s father, Billy Torrence is ranked third, Mike Salinas is fourth and Justin Ashley is fifth.  Rounding out the top 10 are Leah Pruett, Antron Brown, Shawn Langdon, Clay Millican and Doug Kalitta.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned the last five seasons,\u201d Torrence said, \u201cit\u2019s that you can\u2019t get caught up in the points conversation.  That\u2019ll drive you a little crazy.  The only time the points really matter is at Pomona in November.  Right now, we just have to stay focused and do our jobs.  If we do that, the points will take care of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torrence marched to the final round Sunday by defeating Shawn Langdon, Antron Brown and Josh Hart, who won last weekend, to advance to the final round.  Salinas reached the final round for the second time this season and seventh in his career by defeating Kyle Wurtzel, Tripp Tatum and Leah Pruett.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just me and Brittany out there,\u201d Torrence said.  \u201cYou saw what Mike did this weekend.  They ran great and he drove great.  They\u2019re going to have something to say about who wins before it\u2019s all over.  Antron (Brown) has kicked my butt more often than I want to remember and all these kids, Josh Hart and Justin (Ashley), they\u2019re trying to make a name for themselves, so they\u2019re always dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was Torrence\u2019s first victory since the playoffs began two weeks ago in Reading.  With the victory this now marks the 10th time Torrence has won a Countdown playoff race.  He joins Antron Brown and Tony Schumacher as the only Top Fuel drivers with double digit playoff victories.  Torrence is also aiming for a fourth Top Fuel championship. Should he go on to win the title this season, Torrence would join Schumacher, Don \u201cthe Snake\u201d Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, Bob Glidden, Lee Shepherd and John Force, who all have won four or more consecutive championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be consistent on raceday and go out and do your job,\u201d Torrence said. \u201cSome days you\u2019re better to be lucky than good and that\u2019s where we were at today. We\u2019re pretty confident in our car and our ability to do our jobs. You\u2019ve got to win races on raceday. The continuity of this team, the way we work together, it just makes you better.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Erica Enders. 10th Annual NHRA Midwest Nationals. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

In the NHRA Pro Stock division, Erica Enders defeated Dallas Glenn in the final round to win her fourth race of the season in her Melling Performance\/Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.<\/p>\n

Enders posted a 6.572, 207.24 mph run.  Glenn crossed the stripe in 6.583 at 208.85. His reaction time was .001 and the margin of victory was .002.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an awesome day and St. Louis has just been really good to us,\u201d Enders said. \u201cIt\u2019s always been great to me and we\u2019ve won here quite a bit. I\u2019m grateful to come here and we\u2019ve put ourselves back in striking distance of Greg, and we\u2019ve just got to go to work. We rose to the occasion today as a group and I\u2019m proud of it. It\u2019s going to take a lot of work to compete for this fifth championship, but I think I\u2019ve got the best guys in the world to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enders reached the final round by defeating Bo Butner, Aaron Stanfield and Mason McGaha.  Glenn marched to his fourth final round by defeating Cristian Cuadra, Rodger Brogdon and Chris McGaha.<\/p>\n

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Erica Enders. 10th Annual NHRA Midwest Nationals. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

With the victory (her fifth at St. Louis), Enders now trails Greg Anderson by 17 points in the championship standings. Kyle Koretsky is 80 points back in third, followed by Dallas Glenn in fourth and Aaron Stanfield in fifth. Rounding out the top 10 areTroy Coughlin Jr., Mason McGaha, Chris McGaha, Matt Hartford and Deric Kramer.<\/p>\n

Both Enders and Anderson are seeking their fifth world title. Enders\u2019 victory was also her 33rd career win and third straight at World Wide Technology Raceway.<\/p>\n

Media Center Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Steve Torrence – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Sunday-Steve-Torrence-Madison.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Erica Enders – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Sunday-Erica-Enders-Madison.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio Texas natives Steve Torrence and Erica Enders scored critical victories on Sunday at the Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis. Torrence, the defending NHRA Top Fuel champion, along with Enders, the defending NHRA Pro Stock champion, both won in their respective classes and made a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[46,6,494,50,784],"class_list":["post-35894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhra","tag-erica-enders","tag-nhra","tag-nhra-midwest-nationals","tag-steve-torrence","tag-world-wide-technology-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/346-SteveTorrence-Sunday-Madison.jpg?fit=2200%2C1466&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-9kW","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35894"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35896,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35894\/revisions\/35896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}