The Brown Bulletin The prerace release of 17-time NHRA winner Antron Brown and the Matco Tools Top Fuel team Contact: Ted Yerzyk, (317) 852-6363 o, or (760) 207-9767 c ted@davidpowersmotorsports.com 28th annual Summit Racing Southern Nationals April 24-27, 2008 Atlanta Dragway Commerce, Ga. Antron Brown on Atlanta “I look forward to going back to the East Coast at Atlanta Dragway. Right now, our team is rolling along and I just want to keep this Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster going rounds. The competition is tough, so it’s always a challenge. We feel fortunate enough to have a pole and two final rounds thus far.” Lee Beard (crew chief) on Atlanta “I like the track and the people. We love staying in Athens, Georgia. We’d like nothing more than to go in there and get our fourth win with our third different driver at Atlanta Dragway. Our goal is to continue to race steady and hope to have a top five placing going into the Countdown.” Brown Atlanta NHRA Notebook Two weeks ago in Las Vegas, Brown qualified his Matco Tools dragster sixth with an elapsed time of 4.600 seconds. He advanced to his 35th career final round and second consecutive Top Fuel final where Brown raced to a runner-up finish to 30-time winner Cory McClenathan. It was the first time that Brown advanced to consecutive final rounds since the Brainerd, Minn. and Memphis, Tenn. races in 2006. Brown enters the sixth race on the 2008 NHRA schedule ranked third in the Top Fuel standings, just seven points behind two-time champion Larry Dixon for second place. Brown earned the pole at the ‘08 season-opener in Pomona, Calif. with a run of 4.495 seconds and became the first driver in NHRA history to earn wins in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle when he won in just his fourth career Top Fuel start (Houston). Brown is a two-time winner at Atlanta Dragway in three career final round appearances. He defeated three-time series champ Matt Hines in 2001 and younger brother, Andrew, in 2006. Brown won from the pole at the Commerce track in ‘06. Brown has won multiple races at five tracks. Brown has qualified for 150 consecutive NHRA events. He hasn’t missed the cut since the Gainesville race in 1998 after being disqualified for bad fuel at his first career race. It is the second longest qualifying streak in the professional ranks (Angelle Sampey—168). Brown became the eighth different driver that crew chief Lee Beard has tuned to the No. 1 qualifying award and 10th different racer Beard has tuned to a win in Top Fuel or Funny Car. Beard has three victories (Cory McClenathan, Whit Bazemore) and two poles (McClenathan, Gary Ormsby) as a crew chief at Atlanta Dragway. 2008 NHRA Top Fuel Standings 1. Tony Schumacher (2) 415 - - - 2. Larry Dixon (1) 380 -35 3. ANTRON BROWN (1) 373 -52 4. Cory McClenathan (1) 328 -87 5. Brandon Bernstein 288 -127 6. Hillary Will 251 -164 7. ROD FULLER 244 -171 8. David Grubnic 232 -183 9. Doug Herbert 226 -189 10. Doug Kalitta 221 -194 11. Morgan Lucas 201 -212 Antron Brown’s Career Results at Atlanta Dragway Year Qualified Finish/Winning Driver 1998 No. 6 First round—Paul Gast 1999 No. 6 Second round—John Smith 2000 No. 3 First round—Rob Short 2001 No. 2 WINNER—def. Matt Hines 2002 No. 3 Second round—John Smith 2003 No. 3 Runner-up—Geno Scali (foul 2004 No. 8 Second round—Angelle Sampey (foul) 2005 No. 3 Second round—Geno Scali 2006 No. 1 WINNER—def. Andrew Hines 2007 No. 10 Second round—Matt Smith (foul) Brown’s Atlanta Schedule Date & Time Event and Location Fri., April 25, 9 a.m. Army Y.E.S. Program, Atlanta Dragway Fri., April 25, 3/6:30 p.m. TF Qualifying 1/2, Atlanta Dragway Sat., April 26, 12:30/3:30 p.m. TF Qualifying 3/4, Atlanta Dragway Sun., April 27, 11 a.m. Final Eliminations, Atlanta Dragway Brown’s Career-Best Performances Top Fuel E.T.—4.495 seconds Pomona, Calif. Feb. 2008 MPH—331.61 mph Pomona, Calif. Feb. 2008 Pro Stock Motorcycle E.T.—6.930 seconds Gainesville, Fla. March 2007 MPH—193.24 mph Englishtown, N.J. May 2002 Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals TV Schedule (ESPN2) Date & Time (ET) Coverage Sat., April 26, 6-8 p.m. Qualifying Highlights Sun., April 27, 11-11:30 a.m. NHRA Race Day Sun., April 27, 7-10 p.m. Final Eliminations Coverage www.matcotools.com www.davidpowersmotorsports.com