TORRENCE, CAPPS REACH FINALS IN TOYOTA U.S. NATIONALS
Toyota extends final round streak to 37 in a row
INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 2, 2024) – Steve Torrence and his CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster came up just short of another Wally Trophy Monday afternoon at the Toyota U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. The four-time Top Fuel world champion was seeking his 56th career victory and third at “The Big Go,” but fell settled for second to Clay Millican. The finals appearance by Torrence was his second of the season, to go along with his win in Seattle. Justin Ashley was the other Toyota Top Fuel Dragster to advance out of the first round Monday.
In Funny Car, Ron Capps also reached the final round, his fourth consecutive final at the U.S. Nationals, the 150th finals in his legendary career, as he sought a historic threepeat in Indianapolis. He fell to Austin Prock in the finals by just 0.005 seconds at the stripe and ended the weekend runner-up. Alexis DeJoria made the second round, while J.R. Todd was eliminated by Capps in round one Monday morning.
The finals appearances by Torrence and Capps on Monday mark 37 consecutive NHRA event final rounds now for Toyota in either Top Fuel and/or Funny Car.
As the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series heads into its Countdown to the Championship, all six Toyota Top Fuel Dragsters and all three GR Supra Funny Cars will be a part of the six-race postseason, having a shot at the world championship. The Countdown to the Championship begins at Maple Grove Raceway in two weeks, with eliminations on Sunday, Sept. 17, at 2 p.m. EST on FOX.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
Indianapolis Raceway Park
Toyota U.S. Nationals
Race 14 of 20
TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINISHING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Final Result | Round-by-Round |
| Steve Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Finalist | W (3.702) v. B. Torrence (11.766) W (3.742) v. I. Zetterstrom (3.797) W (3.769) v. T. Stewart (9.625) L (4.317) v. C. Millican (3.792) |
| Justin Ashley | SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Second Round | W (3.735) v. D. Mercier (3.759) L (7.881) v. T. Stewart (3.747) |
| Antron Brown | Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | First Round | L (4.181) v. C. Millican (3.695) |
| Billy Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | First Round | L (3.702) v. S. Torrence (11.766) |
| Shawn Langdon | Applied Innovations Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | First Round | L (3.726) v. B. Force (3.700) |
TOYOTA FUNNY CAR FINISHING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Final Result | Round-by-Round |
| Ron Capps | NAPA Auto Care Army Tribute Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | Finalist | W (3.946) v. J. Todd (5.373) W (3.943) v. B. Hull (4.028) W (4.315) v. J. Beckman (7.691) L (3.935 v. A. Prock (3.885) |
| Alexis DeJoria | Bandero CaféToyota GR Supra Funny Car | Second Round | W (3.886) v. M. Hagan (4.225) L (3.876) v. A. Prock (3.879 – holeshot) |
| J.R. Todd | DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | First Round | L (5.373) v. R. Capps (3.946) |
*= Non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
STEVE TORRENCE, CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Torrence Racing
TF Final Result: Finalist
How was your day today, reaching the Top Fuel finals?
“Great day, great weekend for the CAPCO Contractors Toyota Dragster. Would’ve been our third win here (U.S. Nationals) and I think this was my fourth or fifth final, or maybe more. Congrats to Clay Millican and that whole team. They work really hard. We had a parts failure there in the final. I think if that didn’t happen, we would’ve won, but that’s just not the way it fell. I think we moved up a spot (in the points standings) going into the Countdown, which is very valuable for us. We have a good race car right now and I’m looking forward to going into the Countdown.”
RON CAPPS, NAPA Auto Care Army Tribute Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Ron Capps Motorsports
FC Final Result: Finalist
Take us through your day and weekend at the Toyota U.S. Nationals.
“You know, Indy is already so big. It just (pause), it’s already a lot and to do what we did, we did something similar last year with the Hot Wheels car. You know this race, right before I was staging for the finals, I was thinking about how big this race (is) and to me, it’s just as big as a world championship at Pomona in November staging the car to win a whole season’s championship. The weekend was a little up and down. But having Snake (Don Prudhomme) here, this car and to have the fans come over constantly saying how the great the car was. Having Toyota put the car on display and having the fans get a chance to get an autograph from Snake was really cool. We lost out on Sunday (in the Pep Boys All Star Callout), but remembered we did the same last year so we focused on Monday. We had some really tough rounds early on in the day and we knew Austin Prock and those guys would be tough in the finals. We had the right lane, which is a disadvantage in the Funny Cars for sure. Guido (Dean Antonelli, crew chief) did such a great job tuning our Toyota GR Supra down the right lane, and we went 331mph which is a pretty big deal. I got a lot of text messages from corporate at NAPA and our people at Toyota, which is cool as it was live on FOX. We gave it a run for its money. Really proud right now but bummed as well. In a few hours here, that’ll wear off and we got to the final round.”
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