Antron Brown drove his Don Schumacher-owned Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster to the provisional No. 9 qualifying position Friday evening at Brainerd International Raceway.
Brown, who enters the 17th race on the 2010 NHRA schedule ranked fifth in the Top Fuel standings, had just one try at the Brainerd track on Friday following afternoon rain showers that canceled one of the two scheduled qualifying sessions. Brown’s Matco Tools/U.S. Army car lost traction and slowed to a lap of 5.106 seconds at 140.23 mph in the right lane at the 29th annual Brainerd race. Brown qualified sixth at B.I.R. last August at 3.947-seconds. Brandon Bernstein was first on Friday at 3.847-seconds.
“We were hoping to get in two runs today, but that rain wouldn’t let it happen and there are no lights at Brainerd,” Brown said. “We just missed it and it didn’t get down the track. It’s going to cool off on Saturday and I know the Matco Tools boys here at DSR will get it right and we’ll make two good runs on Saturday.”
Professional nitro qualifying will resume on Saturday at B.I.R. with sessions scheduled for Noon and 3 p.m. (CT). Top Fuel will run first followed by Funny Car. Brown has four wins and two No. 1 qualifiers in Pro Stock Motorcycle at the Brainerd race. He has five poles this season.
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., consists of six professional NHRA teams: The U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster driven by seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher; the FRAM dragster of Cory McClenathan, and the Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster of Antron Brown. The Funny Car teams are the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge driven by Ron Capps, the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge piloted by Jack Beckman, and the DieHard/shelor.com Dodge driven by Matt Hagan. DSR also manages the Abu Dhabi/Yas Marina Circuit Top Fuel dragster driven by Rod Fuller. Since 1998, Don Schumacher Racing teams have won 145 national events in 278 final rounds and eight world championships.
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