NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Longtime Southern California racer Val Torres Sr. found himself in the midst of an incredible battle as the 2024 season came to a close. Coming into the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, four drivers had a shot at the Super Gas world championship, and in one of the most compelling storylines of the season, the fight for the title came down to the final round under the lights in Pomona. Ultimately, Torres stood his ground on home turf against some of the best in the country to earn his first world championship in an emotion-tipped season closer. 

“The final race, starting with third round, it came up in my mind all day,” said Torres. “I’d try to eliminate the thoughts about the world championship and just try to win one round at a time, just think about winning the Wally in Pomona. Sometimes it would hit me that I was racing for a world championship, and I’d straight away switch over to what I had to do with the opponent I was racing. I didn’t want to let the pressure get to me, and fortunately, it didn’t.”  

Dialing into what it takes to win a race is a skill that Torres has polished over the years. At 66 years of age, he fondly recollects his first taste of drag racing and watching his brothers race in 1963. Torres got his own license at 16 and started racing as well, and he took it to legendary Orange County Int’l Raceway. He raced somewhat casually until 1985, when he first dipped into Super Gas, and nearly four decades later, his scorecard includes 10 national event wins across two categories and seven Pacific Division championships (four in Super Gas and three in Super Comp). It now also includes a NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series world championship. 

The season started on a strong note with victory in the second race of the Pacific Division doubleheader in Phoenix, and Torres stayed even-keeled through the spring and summer. He collected points for quarterfinal and semifinal performances at national and divisional events, and later in the season, he turned up the wick. At the Division 7 race at Bakersfield’s Famoso Dragstrip, he saw the inside of the winner’s circle once more – as well as a strong glimmer of hope.  

“It was another double, and I won the second race,” he recalled. “Now we’re really thinking I could do it. I was feeling good, and the car is real deadly – it’s right on. It’s just, [as] the driver, there are points I kind of overthink it. ‘Oh, what if I lose?’ I just had to put it out of my mind and out of sight. ‘There is no way I can lose. I have to win.’ ”  

Torres shook off the bother of early exits at the Las Vegas national and divisional events, and he carried the can’t-lose attitude to In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip to close out the season.

So many things fell in his favor in Pomona, Torres couldn’t help but give a nod to divine intervention. It started early when in the first round, Roger Kato turned it red by -.006, and the scene replicated in round two when three-time Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals Super Gas winner Bo Butner red-lighted by -.002. In both rounds, Torres was a steady .010. 

That led to a weighty third round of eliminations, and at 9:32 a.m. under a clear blue sky and warming midmorning sun, Torres clicked off a third consecutive .010 light next to four-time world champion Luke Bogacki, who had battled back and forth with East Coast racer Keith Mayers for the lead while Torres steadily climbed, just out of sight. He came into full view, however, with a dead-on 9.909 to Bogacki’s .013 reaction and breakout 9.889. Bogacki was still in the hunt, though at a serious disadvantage; he was tied with Mayers at 613 points.  

Mayers took the lead when Brad Pierce turned it red by -.003 in the quarterfinals, and Torres was building steam and continued chugging along. Kris Whitfield beat Evan Kowalski in the fourth round and knocked him out of championship contention, and Torres kept his name in the game by surviving a double breakout with Robert Naber. That set up a pivotal series of events, including a semifinal meeting with Mayers, who was writing a story of his own driving a borrowed ride from fellow Super Gas campaigner Pete Bothe, whom he had never met before the race. 

“When Keith went around Luke, I had to take him out in the semi’s and win the final,” recalled Torres. “Even if Keith hadn’t gone around Luke, I would have had to win the race to win the championship. I thought about the guys before that had to win Pomona to win the championship, and I thought, ‘I can do it. This is my track. Just take it one round at a time.’ ” 

In the semifinals, Torres launched on a .008 next to Mayers’ .022, and while his opponent broke out by .036, Torres was 9.951 to move ahead to the final. There, he was faced with multitime, multiclass national event winner Whitfield. The scenario was clear: If Torres managed to defeat Whitfield and win the race, he would tie Mayers in points but win the championship on the tiebreaker (head-to-head competition). 

Whitfield had a better reaction time but took too much stripe, and the win light flashed in Torres’ lane. The deed was done. 

“We left, and I know he sets up hot, quick, so we’re coming down past a thousand [foot mark], and I’m like, ‘He’s not backing into me, he’s not backing into me.’ He was still ahead of me, so I kept staring at that win light down the top end of the guardrail, and it finally came on. The emotions came into me; I just ripped up my face shield and started yelling all the way through the shutdown area and around the curve. It was so great. It didn’t really hit me, but I started tearing up. I still can’t really believe it, but I see the trophy. I guess I’m still on that high.” 

Torres was filled with gratitude after accomplishing the tremendous feat. 

“I’d like to thank The Lord Jesus Christ; my wife, Rita; crew chief and son Gabriel and wife Jackie; Val Jr. and wife Tiffany; grandkids Madelyn, Katelyn, Valentino Guy, Gabriel II; my parents, who watched from above; in-laws Art and Mary Sanchez; friends and family watching and texting support,” he said, as well as, “The original car owner Bob Duncan; Phil and Tony Mandella and PMR Race Cars; Advanced Product Design; Joe Hesley and Hughes Performance; Kevin Kleinweber; Mickey Thompson tires; Mike Jetson Fabrications; Tony Giardino; Mike and Barabar Cornelius and family; the Zavala family; the Galati family; NHRA; Lucas Oil; Safety Safari; Racers for Chris; Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson for supporting the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip; and my fellow racers from the Pro Gas Association and NHRA.”

Read more 2024 NHRA world champion profiles