Johnson to remain consultant for Torrence

Steve Torrence, who put up career best performance numbers last year after veteran Alan Johnson came on board as a consultant to crew chief Richard Hogan, has stamped himself as a major contender for the NHRA Mello Yello championship with the announcement that Johnson and Hogan will continue to collaborate on the Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster in 2016.

"A.J. and Richard have worked closely together in the past and are good friends," Torrence said, "so, naturally, I’m very excited that we were able to reach an agreement that will allow them to continue to work together toward the Mello Yello championship."

Torrence won the NHRA World Championship in the Top Alcohol Division in 2005 and has been a Top 10 finisher the last four years in Top Fuel. He is trying to become the first driver ever to win world titles in both the Alcohol and Fuel categories.

Last year, the native Texan won the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Denver, Colo., in July but didn’t hit his performance stride until the Countdown in which he qualified No. 1 at St. Louis before posting career best numbers for 1,000 foot time and speed at the season-ending Auto Club Finals at Pomona, Calif. (3.717 seconds, 329.99 miles per hour).

During the six races comprising the NHRA playoffs, he never failed to qualify in the Top 8 and was runner-up at the AAA Texas Fall Nationals at Dallas, one of two NHRA tour events contested in his home state.

“We’re excited about the new season," said the 32-year-old cancer survivor, “and we can’t wait to get started at Pomona (at the 56th annual Circle K Winternationals, Feb. 11-14). We worked hard in the off season to identify where we needed to improve to get to a point where every week we can challenge Schumacher Racing, which is the 800-pound gorilla of Top Fuel right now."

A five time Top fuel winner, Torrence and his team are focused on reducing their first round losses. Each of the last two seasons, it was a May-June swoon that took the team out of prominent title contention. Both years, after a strong start, Torrence was a first round spectator in five consecutive events. They’ll try to address those issues in pre-season testing at Phoenix.