Antron Brown, the defending event champion of the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals, qualified his Mike Ashley-owned Matco Tools dragster in the provisional No.3 qualifying position Friday evening at Atlanta Dragway.
Brown enters the sixth race on the 2009 NHRA schedule ranked second in the Top Fuel standings, trailing six-time series champion Tony Schumacher by 18 points. On his opening qualifying attempt of the weekend, Brown outpaced Schumacher to post the second quickest run of the session. The 19-time NHRA winner used a tune-up from crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald to power the Matco Tools dragster to a lap of 3.869 seconds at 310.13 mph. Only 17-time winner Brandon Bernstein was quicker at 3.866-seconds. On his second qualifying lap, the three-time Atlanta Dragway winner’s bright blue Matco car overpowered the track and slowed to a pass of 6.964 at 84.55. Brown finished in the provisional No.3 qualifying spot, while Bernstein was second. Morgan Lucas earned the provisional pole at 3.844-seconds.
“We’re marching forward here at Atlanta with this Matco Tools team,” Brown said. “We had a great Friday and ended up third. We’ll have some good weather out here on Saturday and our plan is to come out and make two good runs and go for that No.1 spot and get ready for race day.”
Professional nitro qualifying resumes with sessions scheduled on Saturday afternoon at Atlanta Dragway with Top Fuel followed by Funny Car. Brown qualified ninth last season at the Atlanta race at 4.635-seconds. He defeated Schumacher in the final round and also has two Pro Stock Motorcycle wins at the Southern Nationals.
Headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., Mike Ashley Racing fields the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster driven by Antron Brown. MAR proudly represents racing partners Matco Tools, Lend America, Toyota, DataDot USA, Ringer’s Gloves, Goodyear, FRAM, Autolite, Suzuki, and Forward Sports Marketing.
Mike Ashley Racing supports Autism Awareness through their support of the Hyperbaric Therapy Center. A 2007 Centers for Disease Control report found that 1 in 150 children in America today have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and an estimated 1.5 million Americans and their families are now affected. Autism is a national health crisis, and Mike Ashley Racing is working to help educate the public about ways they can get involved.
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