Four-time series champion Steve Torrence is missing his fourth race in 13 events this season.
Dad Billy Torrence making comeback in dragster son drove to victory in June at Bristol.
Demanding jobs in oil-and-gas industry, Steve’s two young daughters the family’s focus today.
The Torrence Racing Capco Dragster that won at Tennessee’s Bristol Dragway in June will be back on the track at Minnesota’s Brainerd International Raceway this weekend for the Lucas Oil Nationals—but Steve Torrence won’t be driving it.
His father, Billy, will be behind the wheel.
Team spokesman Dave Densmore said the four-time series champion son “just decided to let his dad have a shot. He'll be back for Indy and the Countdown. This will be the new program. Sometimes Steve will drive. Sometimes Billy will drive. Sometimes they'll just take the weekend off to do something else.”
Steve Torrence already has skipped the Phoenix and Sonoma races, both of which he had won twice, as well as the Seattle race, where he was the winner last year. He’s currently sixth in the Top Fuel standings. He only needs to finish in the top 10, so put him down as a lock for the six-race playoffs in the Top Fuel class.
Billy Torrence, an eight-time winner, hasn’t raced in nine months, not since completing a 20-event 2024 campaign last November. He’ll be competing in the Super Comp class this weekend, as well.
“You’ve got to take advantage when you have the chance,” he said of his return to the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series and the sportsman-level Lucas Oil Series. “I haven’t done any kind of racing this year, so I’m excited to get back into it.”
Billy Torrence, 67, is the founder and CEO of CAPCO Contractors, a family-owned company near Kilgore, Texas, that once again this year will invest more than a million man-hours in the construction and maintenance of international oil-and-gas pipelines. Steve Torrence, 42, works for the family business and often reminds everyone that he has to be back at work Monday morning, sometimes digging in the trenches.
The 2018 trip to Brainerd paid off for Billy Torrence: in his 27th Top Fuel start, he earned his first No. 1 start, reached the final round for the first time, and claimed his first victory, using a hole shot to defeat Antron Brown.
Today, the elder Torrence said his concerns have shifted.
“We have a great team put together, a great car,” he told nhra.com. “We have all the right parts and pieces. You know, we raced full time for 13 seasons. We still love racing, but it’s not our priority. [Steve and I] both have full-time jobs that are very demanding, plus now we’ve got two little granddaughters.
"Priorities change. We’ve got a really good group that we’re going to try to keep together so that we can race when we want to.”
Qualifying is set for Friday and Saturday, with eliminations Sunday.
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