Like father, like son.

The dynamic duo of Billy and Steve Torrence continued to showcase their prowess at the onset of the 2024 NHRA season Friday at the iconic In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. Commanding the opening round of qualifying at the 64th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals, the Torrences claimed the top spots on the track.

Friday’s successes continued what has already been a tremendous start for the Capco Contractors team, as both drivers qualified in the top half of the field and met in a thrilling semifinal just two weeks ago in Gainesville, Fla. In Pomona, the pair again surged to the front of the pack, with the seasoned veteran pulling ahead and securing the provisional pole position.

“I was very impressed with that run,” Billy said. “I thought that we could make a good run on the track. The boys worked really hard on the setup that we are running right now. I really thought Steve would sneak around me there and pick our pocket, but he just barely missed us.”

Billy paced the Top Fuel field Friday with a 3.745-second pass at 330.47 mph behind the wheel of his Capco Contractors dragster, just holding off a hard-charging Steve Torrence in the final pairing at 3.750 at 328.30 mph.

“We have a good set-up,” Torrence said. “They took a solid year and a half to develop a whole new setup and Richard (Hogan) and Bobby (Lagana) and Joe Barlam and Jason McCulloch, they are all working really well together. We’ve got a lot of new boys on my team and a lot of new parts.”

Brittany Force slotted in behind the Torrences in third with a 3.783 at 330.39 mph, while Shawn Langdon (3.788) and Antron Brown (3.807) rounded out the top five.

While there are subtle differences, Torrence said that overall the two cars are running closely together, resulting in close battles on the track.

“I think performance wise, both cars are really, really close,” Torrence said. “The parameters for the clutch management and all of that stuff, there will be some differences in that, but one click here and one click there, they are very close.”

If his time holds Saturday, it will be Torrence’s sixth career No. 1 qualifier as a Top Fuel competitor.