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Steve Torrence took a wire-to-wire victory at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey Sunday, winning the Top Fuel class in the 47th annual NHRA Summernationals by driving his Capco Contractors/Rio Ammunition Top Fuel dragster past the U.S. Army racer of eight-time series champion Tony Schumacher in the final round.
“This is huge,” Torrence said. “This was a tough race. Smoking tires, a pedal-fest (drivers feathering the throttle to try and regain traction). Down there at the end, my car shuts off before the finish line. I could tell it had holes out (cylinders that no longer were firing), and it wasn’t wanting to go anywhere. It knocked the supercharger drive belt off so I’m trying to Flintstone it to get it to the end and somehow we managed to squeak in there ahead of Schumacher.”
Meanwhile, Angelle Sampey raced to her first Pro Stock Motorcycle victory since 2007. Ron Capps won in Funny Car, and Greg Anderson in Pro Stock in the 10th NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event of the season.
Sampey powered her Star Racing Buell to a 6.876-second pass at 194.41 mph to defeat Jerry Savoie’s 6.928 at 177.21 on his Savoie’s Alligator Farm Suzuki. The win was her first since 2007 in Houston and 42nd of her career.
Capps picked up his second consecutive victory and third of the season with a 3.954 at 316.90 in his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T by defeating Jack Beckman’s 7.894 at 85.05 in his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T in the final round. Capps took over the points lead with the victory.
In Pro Stock, Anderson won his fifth victory of the season, 83rd of his career, and seventh at Englishtown with a 6.610 at 210.93 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro over teammate Jason Line, who red-lighted. Anderson has raced to seven final-round appearances so far this season.
Anderson’s win continues the Ken Black Racing domination of the season. He and Line have won all 10 of the events so far. Line holds the points lead with Anderson in second, and their KB Racing teammate Bo Butner is third.
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing will continue, June 17-20, with the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol.
