Whether driving or wrenching on a Top Fuel dragster, Dom Lagana loves his NHRA life
CHARLOTTE – Dom Lagana was born into a drag racing family and he feels most at home when he’s at the drag 
strip. That holds true whether he’s driving his family-owned Magic Dry 100% Organic Multi-Purpose Absorbent dragster or turning the wrenches of Billy Torrence’s CAPCO rail. As long as there’s nitro in the air and grease under his nails, Lagana has a smile on his face.
“I know how lucky I am to do what I do,” Lagana said. “No matter if it’s Billy’s car or mine, I’m still working hard trying to get the most out of every run.
“It’s worked out really well because we don’t race a full-time schedule with our family car and Billy doesn’t race a full-time schedule with the second CAPCO car so I make our schedules line up. Either way, I’m having fun and I know I’m where I belong.”
Billy Torrence is the father of Top Fuel points leader Steve Torrence and CAPCO is the Torrence family’s oilfield business. Due to business obligations, Billy only competes at a select number of national events with Lagana serving as a vital member of his crew. When Billy has to miss a race, Lagana pulls his family car out and races himself.
“That’s why you never really see us entered at the same event,” Lagana said. “I feel like my No. 1 job is working on Billy’s car, and I really enjoy racing with Billy and Steve and helping out on both of the CAPCO cars. Plus, I’ve learned a lot working over there. On top of it all, Billy is a racer’s racer. He loves it so much. He wants to win, for sure, but he also makes sure we all have a good time.
“When our car is out, I’m still wrenching on it so I stay very involved either way. There’s a good group of guys working on both cars. There are actually three full-time guys that work on Billy’s car and stay with Billy’s car even when he’s not racing but most of the fly in guys come and help me on my car too. We’re all close and that helps a lot. ”
The 11th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals will be Lagana’s seventh and final race of the season. As always, he’ll benefit from the data collected by Steve’s car and the CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster of teammate Scott Palmer.
“I feel good heading into this race,” Lagana said. “We made a lot of strides at our last race in Reading (Pa.). We posted some really good numbers in qualifying and now that we’ve had a couple of weeks off to prepare and service everything I feel like the car is the closest we’ve had all year.
“Hopefully it’s a little cool out and we can pick up some good numbers. zMax Dragway is a nice facility. It can get a little tricky when it’s warm but when it’s cool out it’s pretty fast. We’ve raced there a lot over the years. I like the area and I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel.”
