TORRENCE CLAIMS FIRST VICTORY OF THE SEASON
Capps earns a final round appearance at Brainerd
BRAINERD, Minn. (August 21, 2022) – Steve Torrence drove to his first victory of the season at Brainerd International Raceway on Sunday evening, besting Tony Schumacher in the final round. It was Torrence’s second consecutive win at Brainerd. In Funny Car, Ron Capps advanced to the final, where he came up just short to Bob Tasca.
It was a strong day for Team Toyota as eight of the nine Toyota-supported teams won their first round matchups.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series
Brainerd International Raceway
Race 15 of 22
TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINISHING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Final Result | Round-by-Round |
| Steve Torrence | Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Winner | W. 3.755 v. 5.286(M. Salinas) W. 4.945 v. 5.335(A. Brown) W. 5.400 v. 10.392(B. Force) W. 3.866 v. 3.942(T. Schumacher) |
| Justin Ashley | Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Semi-Finals | W. 3.720 v. 3.817(K. Baldwin) W. 3.726 v. 3.807(S. Langdon) L. 4.936 v. 4.336(T. Schumacher) |
| Antron Brown | Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Second Round | W. 3.688 v. 3.721(C. Millican) L. 5.335 v. 4.945(S. Torrence |
| Billy Torrence | Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Second Round | W. 4.050 v. 4.480(A. Prock) L. 4.586 v. 4.394(B. Force) |
| Shawn Langdon | CMR Roofing & Construction Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Second Round | W. 3.760 v. 3.822(L. Pruett) L. 3.807 v. 3.726(J. Ashley) |
| Doug Kalitta | Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | First Round | L. 5.349 v. 3.940(T. Schumacher) |
TOYOTA FUNNY CAR FINISHING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Final Result | Round-by-Round |
| Ron Capps | NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | Finalist | W. 3.931 v. 4.022(J. Force) W. 8.539 to No Run(B. Bode) W. 3.955 v. Foul(A. DeJoria) L. 4.007 v. 3.945(B. Tasca) |
| Alexis DeJoria | Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | Semi-Finals | W. 3.967 v. 4.241(B. Alexander) W. 5.712 v. 6.187(M. Hagan) L. Foul v. 3.955(R. Capps) |
| J.R. Todd | DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | Second Round | W. 3.898 v. 4.637(J. Campbell) L. 4.451 v. 4.356(R. Hight) |
TOYOTA QUOTES
STEVE TORRENCE, Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Torrence Racing
Final Result: Winner
What does a race like today mean to you?
“A day like today is one that you are most proud of as a driver because when everything goes good, you just need to do your job and drive straight, leave on time and not make mistakes. It’s days like today when the car doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do – and that is where we need to earn our keep. Richard Hogan and Bobby Lagana (crew chiefs), they didn’t go up any lap trying to smoke the tires and that is just the cards that we were dealt. I did an okay job of getting it down through there – better than the opponent in the other lane and was able to come out victorious today. Those are days that you cherish. You remember those days more than those when you drove it to the end, and everything went great. I will remember this race for a long time. It takes a lot of experience at doing that to become good at it, and I don’t have a lot of experience. I’ve had a pretty good, solid race car that just goes a-to-b, so today, I learned some lessons. I did a good job by accident in the second round, and then made a mistake in the third round, but was able to recover and get the car back going. Final round against Tony (Schumacher), but typically Tony goes in fast, so I went in fast and then he kind of made me sit there for a minute. I was a little behind. I was .080 on the tree. That is my worst light of the day, but we left together. I could tell that we were going okay and then I saw his car kind of marching around half track. I saw him wheel out, and I’m thinking, not again. Then it slid back, and I thought okay, it might have turned our way. Definitely a totally different race track than the past two days. People were coming in here running .66 or .64 and a handful of .60s everywhere, and it just totally turns around and becomes hot and greasy and just whoever could get it down through there from a-to-b with making the least mistakes. Good day. It will be one that I remember for a while.”
RON CAPPS, NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Ron Capps Motorsports
Final Result: Finalist
How was your race?
“This whole weekend here at Brainerd was a lot of adversity. We always talk about Brainerd being intricate in a championship run because we’re into the playoff and the Countdown (to the Championship) in just a couple of races. The thing about Brainerd is that it has such a great track surface and when conditions are great, you can throw anything at it as we saw in qualifying, and when it’s hot out like race day today, you have to be savvy and that’s what Guido (Dean Antonelli) and (John) Medlen and our entire NAPA AutoCare group did all day long. We almost won and that would have been fantastic. This was a great, feel-good weekend for our team. You have to be Countdown ready at Brainerd and I don’t care where you are in the points, you need to be ready for the playoffs. We needed this. We’re going to Indy, and I’ve never won that race. We have a great Toyota race car and a lot of confidence. For me as a driver, to get to drive this NAPA GR Supra, I can’t wait to get there to I.R.P.”
About Toyota
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