NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Steve Torrence continued his amazing success at four-wide events by winning for the fifth time in the last six events, giving his mother a birthday present and a new plaything for new daughter Haven.

Torrence, who won four-wide titles in Charlotte in 2017, 2018, and 2019 and won the Las Vegas four-wides in 2018, powered the Capco Contractors machine to his 41st career win to make “Momma Kay’s” birthday even more special and to his first win as a new father less than two weeks after he and wife Natalie welcomed daughter Haven Charlie to the world.

In the final, Torrence was locked in a tight battle with Doug Kalitta until Kalitta’s engine went sour, allowing Torrence to eke by for the win, 3.823 to 3.866. Kalitta was not only gunning for his first four-wide win but also the 50th win of his storied career. Clay Millican finished third with a 3.914 and Antron Brown fourth.

“There’s nothing better than being a dad, and happy birthday to my mom, and we had Dom Lagana standing on the starting line with me. There’s a lot of cool stuff that happened today,” Torrence said. “I’m taking my little girl home her very first Wally. We had to work hard to get it done today, but we got it done and I’m proud of it.”

Torrence won both of his pre-final quads – the only one of the four Pro winners to do so – finishing ahead of Leah Pruett, Greg Carrillo, and Cameron Ferre in round one with a 3.75, then beating Kalitta on a 3.77 to 3.76 holeshot in the semifinals, where both finished ahead of Pruett and Shawn Langdon.

Kalitta reached the semifinals by winning his first quad, edging teammate Langdon, 3.751 to 3.756, and finishing ahead of Troy Buff and Rob Passey.