NHRA national events are not won on Friday night, but it can definitely set the tone for the weekend.

With that in mind, Steve Torrence made a statement in his family owned Capco Top Fuel dragster at the Arizona Nationals in Phoenix. Torrence clocked a 3.678-second elapsed time at 336.23 mph to take provisional No. 1 spot at Firebird Motorsports Park.

“We have been working on those the last two years of making the car quicker and making the car faster, and that’s just ultimately power,” Torrence said. “MPH is nothing but power, so to go 336 and we have made some 337-mph runs in testing, but that may be quickest out here in competition, I don’t know, but the car was really smooth. When it left it went down through there. It ran 296 -- almost 297 -- at halftrack, and normally when it is running hard like that you can feel it. I would have said we were running 70 flat or a 72, it was just a nice, smooth, clean run all the way down through there and I saw the 67 and that was quicker than I thought it would be.”  

If Torrence keeps the No. 1 spot through Saturday, it will be his first of the season and 38th of his career, which is highlighted by NHRA Top Fuel world championships from 2018-21.

Torrence has won three times in Phoenix (2017, 2019 and 2021) and has a chance for another after the track -- which was thought be closing in 2023 – is back on the NHRA national event schedule in 2024.

“I thought we would never be back here,” Torrence said. “I enjoy racing here. I enjoy the facility. I enjoy the people. It is always fun to come here. So, to go out and run well on Friday is a big deal for us. To qualify and run well on Friday gives you a better platform to start work for the setup for Saturday and Sunday. I’m glad to be back. This is a cool place that we thought we would never come to again and now it at least one more chance here.”

Torrence has shown glimpses of good things this season qualifying second and fourth in Gainesville and Pomona. He made it to the semis at the Gatornationals and lost in the second round in Pomona.

“We have had some things, a couple of little gremlins, that have bit us at Gainesville and at Pomona where you smoke the tires at the hit,” Torrence said, “We have some stuff going on that we are working on to find and try to identify and isolate. We have made some big steps on that through the last week and a half, so I feel like hopefully we figured some of those problems out.

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"I think that the car is better than it has ever been. The consistency is not as good as it has been before, and it is coming there. That’s what we won championships on is consistency, but you ultimately needed to be quicker and faster as well. Now, we have developed that, we just have to get back to that consistent race car we had for four or five years.

“I definitely think this is the quickest race car I have ever been in. I feel like we can set the national record in the right conditions. I feel like this car is that strong right now. There’s a couple of cars that can do it, and I don’t think we have been one of those cars. I feel like I’m one of those cars now.”

Torrence took a moment to talk about what it feels like to be in the cockpit with his dragster clocking certain elapsed times.

“There’s a difference in a 65 and a 67 and a 69,” Torrence said. “There’s a difference in the way the car feels. If you have only been 75 and you go 72, you feel like you just rode the space shuttle. The quicker you go, the faster it feels. There are bigger differences in a 65 to 68 than there is in an 80 to and 85. You just realize the ET and the speed more by just the way the car feels. It was so smooth (Friday) in the way everything was applied and the way the car was running. The difficulty in replicating that just goes back to mastering all the mechanical parts and pieces that you have to duplicate that.

“At the end of the day, it is all the same parts and pieces and sometimes things in the clutch change, but it is the guys who put this thing together over and over and once they get it all figured out you can do it pretty consistently.”

Torrence also is happy that his father, Billy, is currently one of his toughest competitors. Billy, who is planning to run a full Top Fuel schedule for the first time in his career, arrived in Phoenix second in the points standings after losing in the finals in Gainesville and falling in the semis in Pomona.

“I’m excited that he’s out here, and he does a good job,” Steve said. “That’s a proven set of crew chiefs over there and kind of newer crew we have assembled, and they are all doing a really good job. I think he just needs to get some more lap time and more experience. He has done a good job in the past, but he would race two or three races and then sit out four or five or so. He has never had the opportunity to drive one of these things week in and week out, and that’s what it takes to be better. I think the car will do well and as he gets more comfortable and confident in it, he will do better as well.”