TORRENCE TOPS FIELD, SETS TRACK SPEED RECORD ON ‘THE MOUNTAIN’

Written by Larry Crum, photo by Richard Brady    Sat, 2019-07-20 08:00

 

There wasn’t a lot to get excited about in either of the nitro classes Friday at Bandimere Speedway as the track known as “The Mountain” proved too tough to tame for many of the world’s best drag racers.

And then along came Steve Torrence.

Dominating the NHRA Mello Yello Tour like few before him, Torrence woke the crowd Friday with a pass light years ahead of second place Leah Pritchett all while setting a new track speed record at the 40th annual Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals presented by Pennzoil.

With few able to find the right setup at the tricky facility outside of Denver, Torrence laid down a 3.787-second pass at 330.31 mph in the Capco Contractors dragster in the next-to-last pair to easily claim the provisional top spot.

“I expected to go out and run well or smoke the tires,” Torrence said. “I knew the tuneup was going to be pretty aggressive and we were far back in the pack, so I saw quite a few cars not make it down. Then I saw Richard (Hogan) come back, get into the box and make some adjustments. I felt confident we would go down, but I didn’t know how quick and definitely not how fast. I don’t think you expect to go 330 on the mountain, ever. So to be able to go out and do that is very impressive.

“It shows what kind of handle and what kind of tuneup these guys have on the car and right now they are just hitting the nail on the head every time. I am confident, but you want to stay humble and remember that we still have a long way to go.”

It his time holds, it will be Torrence’s third No. 1 qualifier of the season and first at Denver since 2016.

Pritchett qualified second on Friday with a distant 3.839 at 321.35 mph and Antron Brown was third with a 3.863 at 308.92 mph. Jordan Vandergriff (3.864) and Scott Palmer (3.867) rounded out the top five.

Already staking claim to his own spot in NHRA history with his recent performance, Torrence now sets his sights on a new task as he tries to continue his streak of seven wins in the last eight races with a sweep of the famous Western Swing. Torrence last won at Bandimere Speedway in 2015 as he tries to sweep the three-race western stretch in Top Fuel for the first time since Antron Brown in 2009.

“We’ve been able to accomplish a lot in a very short period of time and I am just very thankful and grateful to do it. It would be a momentus point in my career to be able to sweep the swing,” Torrence said. “But you have to win all three of them and we are just starting. What makes it so difficult is that this track is so different than anything we race on throughout the year. You come here with a whole different setup and game plan then what you typically do. So we will try to endure here and if we can be fortunate enough to get to the final round and get a win then we can talk about it.”

 

 
Categories: 
:::::: News ::::::