Antron Brown on Brainerd
“Brainerd has been really good to me. I always look forward to going to B.I.R. I’m hoping that can rub off on our Matco Tools team. It’s a real relaxing place. We have a lot of fun at the Zoo and have an easy mindset on race day and just let it happen, and we want to get Lee (Beard) his first win at B.I.R.”
Lee Beard (crew chief) on Brainerd
“We’re in a must win situation. The hotels are so pricey that if we don’t win the race, we lose money. Also, it’s motivating to win there. There are only a few places on tour where I haven’t won and we would love to win at Brainerd. The performance of the Matco Tools car is there, we have to work on our consistency and the decisions that we make on race day and if we can strengthen those areas up, we have a championship caliber team.
Antron Brown Brainerd NHRA Notebook
Two weeks ago in Sonoma, Calif., Brown earned his third pole of the year and 14th No. 1 qualifier of his career with a lap of 3.805 seconds at 316.45 mph at Infineon Raceway. He raced the Matco Tools dragster to the semifinals for the sixth time this season before losing a narrow match to Hillary Will. The Matco Tools rail also recorded low E.T. and top speed of the meet honors.
The first-year Top Fuel racer continues to rank second in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel standings. Brown has two wins (Houston and Atlanta) in four final round appearances this season. He also has three poles (Pomona 1, Englishtown and Sonoma) and has ranked second in the standings since winning at Atlanta in late April.
Last summer at the Brainerd NHRA race, Brown qualified his U.S. Army Suzuki 11th with a run of 7.121 at 187.05. Brown is a four-time Pro Stock Motorcycle winner at the Brainerd NHRA race. He also earned two PSM poles at B.I.R. The Brainerd track is one of five on the NHRA circuit where Brown has scored multiple victories.
Brown has qualified for 160 consecutive NHRA events and hasn’t missed the cut since the Gainesville race in 1998. It is the second longest qualifying streak in the professional ranks (Angelle Sampey—175).
Brown became the eighth different driver that crew chief Lee Beard has tuned to the pole and 10th different racer Beard has tuned to a win in Top Fuel or Funny Car. Beard has never won at B.I.R. He has two poles (1987 and 2001) at the Brainerd NHRA race. Beard has 53 wins and 60 poles in his tuning career.
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