THE CAPCO TEAM HAS STAYED INTACT FOR YEARS , WHICH IS A DEPARTURE FROM THE NORM IN THE SPORT OF DRAG RACING .
non-racing accident near Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis a year ago .
His emotional journey to recovery – which included more than a month in a coma , 100- plus days in a burn unit , and having both legs amputated – touched the racing community and again showed the tremendous resolve the brothers have shown throughout their lives .
They talked to Drag Illustrated about what has made their journey so special , paying it back , and their appreciation for Hogan and the finer aspects of nitro racing , while Hogan also dished on the nuances of tuning an 11,000-horsepower machine , man versus machine and what has made this team so special .
of it . I just learned survival skills that I still attribute to my life nowadays , and it taught us how special family is out here . My dad would come out and race and he didn ’ t have a competitive car by any means . He always wanted it to look nice and run to the best of the capabilities that the parts would allow . We went six , seven years sometimes without qualifying at a race , but he wasn ’ t upset . He had a smile pulling into the race because we learned how to enjoy racing for what it is , not just the success part of it . BOBBY LAGANA : Honestly , the most im-
GARY PRITCHETT IS ONE OF MANY GUYS ON THE TEAM WITH ENOUGH EXPERTISE TO TUNE A CAR .
portant thing that is still the same thing that our dad taught us , is basic mechanics and pay attention to detail , and knowing when you can put a team together that all have that same understanding and value of that is when you can succeed . There are so many judgment calls and instinctual things that you have to do as a tuner and when you can have a team like we do here , where you can rely on your guys to talk to you about each section of the car , and talk to you about what they think maybe is going on , it just helps the tuner make a good call .
What were some of those early lessons that your father taught you that had a strong influence on your racing and tuning ?
BOBBY LAGANA : He was a smart guy and could build anything . We would do a lot of match racing and get paid to put on a show , and that money would break him even for the weekend , and then he would run a couple of national events just to represent , but we never , typically , would qualify . But that kind of got the bug in us kids , and as we got older , we started becoming active and understanding the mechanics of the car .
We were just fortunate , the way we grew up with our parents , and our dad , he was a very , very mechanically inclined person . He was a guy that could set up a rear end , and everybody came to him . He would put together a clutch , didn ’ t have all the precision measurement tools , but if you use the tools after he set it up , you would think he had it because everything he did was perfect . So he just taught us to be good mechanics and pay attention to detail , and that ’ s kind of the motto that we live on here at Torrence Racing . DOM LAGANA : Really , forget the racing side
74 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 171