Lead by team owner Dexter Tuttle, the Color Fast Top Fuel Dragster team has only raced twice this
season but already driver Steve Torrence is turning heads in the grandstands and in the pits. After
a respectable outing in Dallas, the team continues to impress and went all the way to the semifinal
round at the 22nd annual O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals presented by Pennzoil.
Torrence qualified twelfth with a 3.91 at 307 MPH which set up a first round duel with Midwest
veteran driver Pat Danken. Torrence left first and never looked back as Dankin went up in smoke.
Torrence recorded a solid 3.92 at 305 MPH to advance to round two. In the second round the
competition didn't get any easier as Torrence faced Cory McClenathan. Once again Torrence was out
of the gate first with a 0.086 to McClenathan's 0.101. Torrence was on a mission and got to the
stripe first with his best run of the weekend, a sizzling 3.88 at 305 MPH. Cory Mac's engine let go
in a spectacular ball of fire but still ran a 4.19 in a valiant effort.
In the semifinal round Torrence faced Morgan Lucas driving the Gieco car. Lucas was out first with
a 0.053 reaction time to Torrence's close 0.066. Lucas stepped it up and kept the lead all the way
to the finish line in a race to close to call from the starting line. Lucas won the round with a
3.84 at 308 MPH to Torrence's very competitive 3.86 at 308 MPH.
While it was a very tough defeat for the Colorfast team, they demonstrated through consistency and
a very good team effort that they will be a tough team to beat the rest of the season.
