Some NHRA Drivers Don’t Agree With Billy Torrence’s ‘Loser Appreciation Program’ Label

• NHRA Top Fuel racer Billy Torrence is the No. 3 ranked driver in his class.

• After not running a full schedule in 2019 the NHRA created what some call the “The Billy Torrence Rule.”

• Some racers contend the NHRA doesn’t need a Countdown.

NHRA Top Fuel racer Billy Torrence, the No. 3 ranked driver in his class and most recent winner in the Camping World Drag Racing Series, this week called the Countdown to the Championship system “The Loser Appreciation Program.”

The sanctioning body bent the rules to allow more racers beyond the top 10 to become eligible for the six-race (and this year the seven-race) “playoff.” They did so in response to Torrence’s achievement of qualifying for the 2019 Countdown after competing in just 10 of the 18 regular-season events. In those 10 events, he won twice in four final rounds; in the Countdown, he won twice and finished fifth in the final standings.

Fellow Top Fueler Mike Salinas skipped three races that same year, qualified fifth for the Countdown, and ended up No. 7. In Pro Stock, Erica Enders sat out two mid-summer races in 2014, and it paid off with the first of her four championships. So Torrence isn’t the only one not to run a full schedule and still make the Countdown and excel. Still, the new, more lenient rule, is referred to by insiders as “The Billy Torrence Rule.”

Maybe the sport’s executives figured they had to act after Steve Torrence asked at the time, “How’s it going to look if my dad goes out and wins the championship and he raced 16 of the 24 races?” The scenario wasn’t far-fetched. Steve Torrence contended that the Countdown sprint offers “zero incentive to go out and race all of the races and try to do well. Ultimately, all you have to do is skate into the top 10 and race really hard for six.”

The Torrences – and others – contend that the NHRA decision-makers have caved into the “Everybody gets a trophy for showing up” practice.

“I agree with him,” Top Fuel rookie Josh Hart said. “If you’re not worthy of making the top 10, you shouldn’t just automatically be in it.”

Hart, 11th in the standings but not in the Countdown, easily would have been title-eligible, had he not sat out two races this summer when some of his crew members became ill with RSV, a respiratory virus that can mimic COVID. It was his choice not to race unless the team could compete as a unit, and he takes responsibility for the decision: “I’m very loyal . . . Got to make hard choices.” He said that includes managing one’s racing program by setting goals and figuring out how to make them happen. “Every one of us has the same opportunity as [dominator Steve Torrence and Billy Torrence]. It’s up to us to capitalize on it.”

One purpose of the Countdown and its points-adjustment ritual to bunch the top 10 for more drama was to avoid any insurmountable margins for the leader. Billy Torrence’s contention is “That’s just the way it rolls. I always liked it when [Funny Car’s] John Force had it locked up by Dallas. I don’t care if it’s us or the Kalittas or the Forces or Josh Hart or whoever – if they have walked the walk, let ’em talk the talk.”