Drag Illustrated Issue 148, September 2019 | Page 89

UNDER HOGAN'S DIRECTION,
TORRENCE HAD A PERFECT
11-0 FINAL ROUND RECORD
AND WON 24 CONSECUTIVE
ROUNDS IN THE COUNTDOWN
TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP TO
WIN THE 2018 NHRA TOP
FUEL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP,
A PERFORMANCE LEVEL
THE TEXAS DRIVER HAS
MAINTAINED THIS SEASON.
Parts
When the Capco Contractors dragster pulls up
to the starting line, the components are either in
new or like-new condition. This requires a great
deal of planning and an ample budget, but it takes
big variables away from the tuners.
“The biggest part is being able to know the
thing is the same all the time,” says Hogan. “We
are cycling parts constantly and selling them
when they need to be sold. We figured out a long
time ago that there is a lot to that. You get to
making runs and swapping blowers and heads
and shortblocks. Sometimes the parts want to
do right and sometimes they don’t. We found
a lot of that has to do with stuff not being as
nice you think it is – exhaust feeds being down
further than they need to be, etc. A lot of teams
just can’t cycle their stuff the way we do to keep
it basically brand new every time it goes to the
starting line.
“We don’t even put guides or seats in our cylin-
der heads. We sell them before that point. Most
teams can’t do that. Unless you set your program
up to do it that way, you think you can’t afford
it. We’ve done it from the start, and it has really
paid off, especially with the cylinder heads. The
blower cases are perfect. Some teams will get a
backfire and they’ll be tweaked a little bit. We
sell them before it gets to that point. There are
guys in line to buy them, and they’re still good but
not perfect. It really seems to make a difference.”
Planning is paramount when it comes to re-
ceiving parts from vendors and cycling parts out
to other teams in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag
Racing Series and abroad.
“It takes a lot just to plan on having the parts
coming from AJPE, Sonny Bryant, Jesel, RCD,
Aerodine, and all of them,” says Hogan. “You have
September 2019
will be run in 2020, and Billy will start running
from one or two batches that we haven’t gotten
into yet so we’ll be set for next year. It’s not always
me making the calls with how we run the clutch
program — that’s Bobby and Gary [Pritchett]
and they tell me what position the clutch discs
are in, and we go from there.”
culture
to plan way in advance to keep your stuff stock-
piled. You have one ‘oops,’ and you lose everything.
We’ve had injector-to-oil-pans on either car for
whatever reason, and we’ve been able to recover
without being short on parts at all. It’s quite the
undertaking, but they’ve been able to keep up
with it. I only occasionally hear from Billy if the
stack of invoices that goes to the office at one
time is a little too thick.”
One advantage to only having one full-time
team is the ability to control the clutch disc
inventory.
“Our clutch program is so good, because our in-
ventory gradually gets bigger and bigger with one
full-time car,” says Hogan. “The stuff we have now
The phrase “speed brings harmony” is but one
reason why the Capco Contractors team is able
to keep the same people on the road and in the
shop in a grueling profession that often sees a lot
of turnover. The Torrence family of Billy, Kay and
Steve have surrounded themselves with a tight-
knit group and provided an environment where
they can be themselves within the structured
world of Top Fuel racing.
“I don’t [mess] with them — that helps,” Ho-
gan jokes. “They are all well-rounded. We try
to let them do their stuff that they want to do
and be flexible about giving time off if they have
their stuff done. We try to keep everybody happy.
Families come to the races when they can. There
is a good environment. The shop is nice, and we
have nice equipment. Guys who like that kind
of surrounding and environment don’t want to
go somewhere else. They don’t want to go to
a multicar team and have to go to a multicar
team and have to deal with all the politics and
everything. When we run Billy’s car, everybody
wants to outrun each other, but afterwards it’s
all good again.”
“There is no pride or ego on this team,” Lagana
adds. “‘Hogie’ is our crew chief and our leader,
but we don’t talk titles. There is no disconnect
from person to person. It’s an awesome place to
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