Toyota Gazoo Racing North America NHRA Pomona Post-Race Report – 03.23.24

CAPPS AND TORRENCE LEAD TOYOTA AFTER SHORTENED POMONA QUALIFYING
Toyota seeking Top Fuel three-peat on Sunday

POMONA, Calif. (March 23, 2024) – After a rain-shortened qualifying at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, Ron Capps was the highest-qualifying Toyota driver by claiming the second qualifying spot in Funny Car for the NHRA Winternationals. Capps and Matt Hagan had identical 3.893 elapsed times during Saturday evening’s session, but Hagan’s 330 mph speed resulted in him capturing the top position. With his strong run, Capps is in an ideal position to claim his fifth career Winternationals victory tomorrow, his first at the annual event since 2021. 

In Top Fuel, Billy Torrence led the Toyota contingent with the third position heading into Sunday’s elimination rounds. The Texan was atop the Top Fuel leaderboard after the lone Friday session, but his 3.745 elapsed time was eclipsed by Brittany Force thanks to improved track conditions Saturday evening. Torrence’s son, Steve, was the next highest Top Fuel racer with the fourth position.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals
In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip
Race 2 of 20

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

*= Non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

RON CAPPS, NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car

FC Qualifying Result: 2nd

Can you take us through qualifying and what you’re looking forward to tomorrow?

“Boy, another crazy, crazy day! I mean anytime we have weather, there’s a lot of standing around, a lot of anticipation. We have the most loyal fans. I’m sure any driver tells you that in any series, but it’s unbelievable how long our fans stayed around to see what we got at Pomona dragstrip – a historic dragstrip, an epic 64th annual race. To get one more shot at qualifying like we did, when the sun was going down, there’s nothing like driving this GR Supra down Pomona dragway on a Saturday night like that and running a 3.893 to the number one spot. We did get bumped on speed, that was probably me shutting the car off a little early down there. But we know we have a great race car and I’m excited about tomorrow. This is obviously a home track for me. A lot of friends and family are here. But we sure want to see if we can double up with my Toyota teammates there in COTA (Circuit of the Americas) and celebrate with Toyota Sunday night.”

BILLY TORRENCE, CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Torrence Racing

TF Qualifying Result: 3rd

How would you describe your qualifying effort over the two rounds?

“Yeah, we made a good pass there yesterday, trying a new setup in the car. Then, we tried something else today, and it just didn’t hang on. It was running well, but we just overpowered the track a little bit. I think we’ll have a good race car for tomorrow, though.”

About Toyota 

Toyota (NYSE:TM), creator of the Prius hybrid and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota and Lexus brands, and directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America (more than 49,000 in the U.S.).

Over the past 65 years, Toyota has assembled nearly 45 million cars and trucks in North America at the company’s 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, the company’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

Through our more than 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.), Toyota sold more than 2.4 million cars and trucks (more than 2.1 million in the U.S.) in 2022, of which, nearly one quarter were electrified vehicles (full battery, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell).