ENNIS, Texas – NHRA Top Fuel drag racer Antron Brown has quickly become a dominate force on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series circuit this season.
The 40-year old racer from Chesterfield, N.J., who drives the Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, is on a roll and is aiming for his third victory in four Countdown to the Championship on Sunday at the AAA Texas Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.
“We’ve been racing good in the Countdown but we haven’t been getting those qualifying points like we need to,” Brown said. “A lot of these teams have been racking up on us. To come here and to qualify the way we have has been phenomenal. We just hope that can carry over to race day. That’s where all the points are at. Right now, I couldn’t be happier for my whole team.”
Brown, who enters Sunday’s final round eliminations with a 90-point lead in the standings over his teammate Doug Kalitta, will face Chris Karamesines in the opening round at 11 a.m.
On Friday night Brown raced to the top of the qualifying leaderboard when he posted a blistering 3.682-second, 330.55 mph pass, which were both record-breaking performances.
“It was an incredible run,” said Brown, who has won five of the last nine Countdown to the Championship playoff races, which includes three of six last year and two of three to date this season with victories at Charlotte and Reading. “That was a crucial point right there for us in this run for a championship. It got us some more quality points and it put us in the No. 1 spot so far. That car never stopped pulling. It was a little edgy in the beginning and then it was just hauling the mail.”
Brown has won six races or more five times in the last six seasons. The only other two other Top Fuel drivers that have been able to accomplish that during that span are Del Worsham (2011) and Shawn Langdon.
“When you make a run like that it was a crucial point right there for us in the run for the championship,” Brown said. “It gives us some more quality points and it puts us in the number one spot.
“My hats off and I am just blessed to be on this incredible team with Brian Corradi, Mark Oswald, Brad Mason and all these Matco Tool and U.S. Army boys. They went to work and coming in after the Reading race we snuck that one out and then we come in here and bring a performance like that to Dallas.”
Brown said that he knew the ideal weather conditions were going to produce some record-breaking performances on Friday night.
“We saw the weather coming in and we knew that it was going to be calm, cool and brisk tonight and you have to go out there with a bang,” Brown said. “Everybody had their stuff set on kill. That just shows you the quality of cars that we have out here and how tough it is getting to make that run right here and get back up to the top of field was definitely a run that we needed for sure and I couldn’t have been more proud of my team.”
Brown has led the championship standings since winning in mid-July in Chicago. That streak includes nine straight races and each one of the Countdown events.
“Even though that we have a little bit of a point lead it could be gone at the end of this weekend,” Brown said. “That is what is so crucial about it. Right now we have a little over 80 points. If we lose first round and Doug (Kalitta) wins the race then we are back at ground zero with two races left to race and eight rounds of racing.
“Our main focus is to go out and grab every round that we can and try to leave here with the points lead. We are in a great spot right now but we could be in a better spot than where we were last year going into Vegas and that’s our goal right now.”
If Brown wins on Sunday it will be his 30th career victory for an average of six per year. Only one other driver (Shawn Langdon, 2013) has won as many as six races in a season during that time span. Brown, who won his NHRA Top Fuel championship in 2012, has won 29 times over the past five seasons.
“Sometimes I pinch myself and think that all of this success just can’t be happening,” Brown said. “My whole career in this sport has been a dream. To be able to do what I am doing and to have this success I have had over the last eight years has been phenomenal. I pinch myself every day because it is a true blessing to be doing what I am doing.”
