Torrence wasn’t intimidated with seven-time champion Tony Schumacher and series point leader Spencer Massey on his side of the ladder. When it came time to deal with them, he did.

The first-year team owner from Kilgore, Texas, left the line first and got the win light about six inches in front of Schumacher in the second round. His time was 3.838 seconds at 319.76 mph to 3.809 at 319.75. Torrence’s reaction time was .070-second to .107-second.

Massey, who set NHRA Top Fuel elapsed time and speed records during qualifying did get a .072-.074-second edge and he, too, trailed by about six inches at the finish line. 


Torrence (left) had a chat with drag racing legend Bruce Larson.  (Debbie Gastelu photo)

“It seems so surreal to come out here and do that well,” commented Torrence. “We had some really tough races. We won two races by one thousandth (of a second) against both Schumacher cars and that’s pretty gratifying.” 

When it got down to the finals, Torrence said he was ready. “I was pretty pumped up when I raced Brandon. I knew crew chief Richard Hogan and the guys gave me a good race car and I just wanted to beat the car sitting next to me. 

“I looked up at the scoreboard and saw the 3.80 come on. It took a little bit for the win light to come on beside it. I was saying ‘come on, come on.’” The time was 3.800 seconds at 323.66 mph to 3.807 at 321.04.

“Having the good car that we did made it easy to do. And I had all the confidence that every time I went to the line the car would go down the track.”


(Todd Dziadosz photo)

Brandon Bernstein took one step closer to his first victory as a member of the MAVTV/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster team.

Bernstein finished runner-up to Steve Torrence in the finals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, losing out by a frustrating 9 feet (.0184 seconds).

"It's great. The MAVTV team is doing a whale of a job," Bernstein said. "The guys are just really clicking, and I'm feeling comfortable in the racecar. It's just unfortunate that today wasn't our day. 

"It's been awhile since we've won one of these. It's a tough loss, but a good drag race."

Torrence got a slight edge at the start, but Bernstein had erased that edge by the 330-foot mark. Torrence had a little more kick at the end, running a 3.800-second lap at 323.66 mph to Bernstein's 3.807 at 321.04 mph.

"He was right there with us," Bernstein said. "There's nothing more you can say. Both of us ran great; we just came up on the losing end."

It's the third straight race that Bernstein has reached at least the semifinals, which has allowed the MAVTV car to climb from 11th to seventh in the Full Throttle points in three races. It's also the ninth time Bernstein has finished runner-up since his last victory (Richmond in 2009).

On the way to the final, Bernstein defeated David Grubnic, Shawn Langdon and Clay Millican before facing Torrence.