Tony Schumacher gave Steve Torrence a hearty embrace Sunday afternoon at Atlanta Dragway after their final-round showdown at the Summit Southern Nationals.

It almost seemed less of a congratulatory hug than it did a welcome. Schumacher put his frustration aside and seemed to welcome Torrence to the elite level of the National Hot Rod Association’s Top Fuel class that has exalted him, injured him a decade ago, tested his mettle on innumerable occasions, and at the moment confounded him.

As Larry Dixon watched Torrence and Schumacher pull to the starting line, the three-time champion correctly remarked that “on paper, this looks like David versus Goliath” but assured the fans that was a deceptive notion.

To some not used to hearing Torrence’s name as much as Schumacher’s through the years, this pairing might have looked like a mismatch.

Schumacher was seeking his 68th victory, Torrence his first.

Schumacher was making his 114th final-round appearance, Torrence his first.

Schumacher was racing in his fourth final of the season in the U.S. Army Dragster. Torrence was driving in only the 10th race with his family-owned Capco Contractors Inc. Dragster.

Schumacher had the deep resources that multi-team, personnel-heavy Don Schumacher Racing could offer. Torrence had a talented and loyal brain trust and crew, but he could count them almost on one hand. Moreover, Torrence’s team — brand-new in every respect, down to the tools and shop floor mats they had to buy when they formed just about one year ago, after this very event — still was breaking into its routine.

All they really had in common was that neither ever had won at “Georgia’s House of Speed.”

But Torrence, drag racing’s “Little Engine That Could,” drove his car to the line like he had been there 1,000 times. And he had no reason to be scared. He was the No. 2 qualifier that weekend to Schumacher’s No. 1.

They launched, and Torrence had a far easier time of earning his first victory than he had imagined. His 3.893-second pass at 320.66 mph on the 1,000-foot course was plenty quick and fast and more than enough to hold off Schumacher, who smoked the tires early and finished with a 4.913, 169.44 showing.

Torrence, who turned just 29 years old April 17, didn’t even seem quite sure what to do or say or where to stand when he climbed from his Capco Contractors Dragster at the top end.  He did tell Schumacher, 42, that he had been watching him race for 20 years. And still, Schumacher was gracious.

Truly, Torrence didn’t spend much time practicing a big winner’s speech. He was too busy assembling his dream team and making sure they and he were prepared to compete and behave professionally. And after all, it was just one year ago, at this very race, that Torrence drove his last race for Dexter Tuttle, then announced he was stepping from the cockpit just long enough to prepare his Brad Hadman-built dragster the right way and hit the ground running.

He did that at Dallas last September and raced at Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Image courtesy: NHRA/National Dragster

“I like controlling my own destiny,” Torrence said, remembering his days at the racetrack with dad Billy, who was in Atlanta to share the moment with his son who had beaten cancer as a teenager. “Growing up, I wanted to drive a Top Fuel dragster, just to drive one.”

He said he wasn’t sure he ever would, “let alone have a family-owned team. Now I’m out here doing this — winning races and living my dream because of him and because of all the guys that have worked their tails off every day at Capco Contractors. They got us out here. To be able to go to the shop in Indy [Brownsburg, Ind.] and say, ‘This is all our stuff’ . . . nothin’ beats that.”

Well, winning does.

“This was one unbelievable weekend,” Torrence said after denying Schumacher a chance to snap his winless streak at 29 races and finally master the muggy mysteries of Atlanta Drag way — which had heated up to nearly 140 degrees in temperatures that topped 90 degrees. He said it would take awhile for the sense of accomplishment to sink in.

“[Crew chief] Richard Hogan, Bryan Shipman, and everyone on this whole team worked their tails off. It was hot and the track was hot – but it was good. It was a tricky situation and my guys prevailed, and we got that win for Capco and Torrence Racing. I could not be happier.

“I never in my wildest dreams would have expected to be here as a family-owned, one-car team and come out here and run the way we are,” he said.

On closer examination, Torrence was not a long shot. He was the No. 2 qualifier, slower only to Schumacher’s track-record 3.815-second elapsed time but the only other Top Fuel driver in qualifying to turn a 320-plus-mph pass. Besides, Torrence had qualified first at Charlotte and second at Houston (and third at Phoenix, back in February). So he already had served notice that he was going to be the threat he had hoped to be.

“We set out this year to be competitive, be able to run well and do the best we possibly could,” Torrence said. “We brought the car out for three races last year, and it ran fairly well. And then we came out this year and ran well, and we felt we had a competitive car.”

He was right. That’s why he scrambled the dynamics of the Top Fuel class that has seen Don Schumacher Racing’s Spencer Massey and Antron Brown and Morgan Lucas dominate the first six races.

This victory validated Torrence, the kid from Kilgore, Texas, and Hogan, who last won with Melanie Troxel in a dragster. Torrence heads to Topeka for the May 18-20 Dollar General Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka in fifth place in the standings.

Schumacher, salved by gaining the points lead, saw his perturbing winless streak extend to 30 races.

“There’s a lot of racing left, and we’re not going to settle for being runner-up all of the time,” Schumacher said. “We will bring home some trophies this year.

“It’s always a good thing to be leading the points,” he said. “But to be honest, it would have been better to be leaving here with the points lead and a win. People say you can’t have your cake and eat it, too, but I’m one person who wants that in the worst way.

“We’re going to keep fighting,” Schumacher said. “This is not over by a long shot.”

He and crew chief Mike Green and the team remained Monday at Atlanta  to test a new version of the Army Dragster. “If all goes well, we will roll it out in Topeka in two weeks. I have full confidence that wins are right around the corner for the U.S. Army team.”

That would be the positive news. The unpleasant news is that he just discovered he has one more serious contender for championship to deal with in Steve Torrence.