Championship Drag Racing

Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals
Denver, Colo.
(July 11-13)

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Driver Profile
Antron Brown
Matco Tools dragster

Brown earns second runner-up finish of season

Denver, Sunday: Antron Brown raced his David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster to his fourth final-round appearance of the season Sunday afternoon at Bandimere Speedway. The two-time Top Fuel winner remains second in the NHRA Top Fuel standings following 13 of 24 races on the 2008 NHRA schedule.

Brown qualified the Matco Tools/Go Fast rail in the No. 4 position for the fourth time this season with an elapsed time of 3.998-seconds on Friday evening at the Denver track. During eliminations he defeated teammate Hot Rod Fuller, veteran racer Bob Vandergriff, Jr., and 30-time Top Fuel winner Cory McClenathan, before falling to five-time series champion Tony Schumacher in the final round.

Matched up against his teammate for the first time this season, the two David Powers Motorsports drivers used solid reaction times as Brown sped the Matco Tools/Valvoline dragster to low elapsed time of the round to score the win. Brown’s Lee Beard-tuned rail clocked a run of 3.995 seconds at 298.21 mph to hold off Fuller’s pass of 4.115 at 277.43 in the Caterpillar dragster.

Brown and the Matco Tools team then met up with the UPS-backed team for the third time this season. Brown used the jump at the start and Beard horsepower to score the wire-to-wire win with a run of 4.259 at 268.92. The Matco car mixed up cylinderS and spun the tires down track, but it was enough to hold off Vandergriff’s run of 4.282 at 261.12. Brown is now 3-0 against the Georgia-based racer this season.

Facing off against McClenathan for the fifth time in 13 races this season, the two Matco Tools drivers put on a great show for the fans at Bandimere Speedway. Brown used a slight starting line advantage in the Matco rail and made it stand to advance to his fourth final round of the season. By virtue of the holeshot, Brown’s 4.245 at 257.73 held off the hard charging FRAM dragster, which clocked a slightly quicker pass of 4.236 at 246.12. Brown now has three holeshot wins this season.

Brown was facing Schumacher for the fifth time this season. It was their second meeting in the final round. Brown edged Schumacher to win the Atlanta in late April. Competing in his fourth career final round at Bandimere Speedway, Brown used another starting line advantage to race the Matco Tools dragster to the early lead, but the bright blue rail lost traction allowing Schumacher to drive by and earn the victory at the Mile-High Nationals. Brown posted a lap of 4.173 at 276.97, while the Alan Johnson-tuned car carded a winning effort of 4.007 at 304.05. Brown is now 2-2 in final rounds this season.

 “Man, that was a tough one to lose, but it was a great weekend for our Matco Tools team,” Brown said. “It’s tough racing up here on the mountain, but Bandimere Speedway is an awesome facility. We wanted to win this one for Lee Beard being his hometown race track and we came close. Tony (Schumacher) and that Army team are awesome. They motivate us to keep working harder and that’s what we’re going to do. It was a great start to the Western Swing and we’re going to try and get one round further at Seattle next Sunday.”


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