The Brown Bulletin The prerace release of 16-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 21st annual O’Reilly Spring Nationals March 28-30, 2008 Houston Raceway Park Baytown, Texas Antron Brown on Houston “Our Matco Tools dragster is running great, we just have to get passed this second round jinx. Lee (Beard) has the car haulin’ in qualifying. He’s done well at Houston, so I think this could be the race where we go some rounds on race day.” Lee Beard (crew chief) on Houston “We’re excited to go to a track we’ve been successful at in the past. We’re hoping that Houston is the breakout race for us and we can help give Antron (Brown) his first win as a Top Fuel driver.” Brown Houston Notebook Brown enters the fourth race on the 24-race 2008 NHRA schedule ranked fifth in the Top Fuel standings with 167 points. He earned the pole at the season-opening Winternationals, the 12th of his career, and hasn’t qualified lower than fifth this season. Brown has advanced to the quarterfinals at each of the first three races. Brown qualified sixth at Houston Raceway Park last spring with a pass of 7.043 seconds at 190.67 mph on his Suzuki. He advanced to the second round before fouling out against Tom Bradford. In 10 career races at Houston Raceway Park, Brown has an average qualifying position of 3.8 on his Suzukis. He earned the pole at the Baytown track in 2001 with a run of 7.167, 187.23. Brown has qualified for 148 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—167). Brown became the eighth different driver that crew chief Lee Beard has tuned to the pole award. It was Beard’s 56th No. 1 qualifier. Beard is a two-time winner at Houston Raceway Park: 1993 (Ed McCulloch) and 1989 (Gary Ormsby). He also has five poles at the Baytown track with four different drivers (Whit Bazemore, Kenny Bernstein, McCulloch and Ormsby). Brown’s team owner David Powers is a Houston resident. 2008 NHRA Top Fuel Standings 1. Tony Schumacher (2) 305 - - - 2. Larry Dixon (1) 253 -52 3. Brandon Bernstein 183 -122 4. Rod Fuller 175 -130 5. ANTRON BROWN 167 -138 David Grubnic 167 -138 7. Hillary Will 162 -143 8. Cory McClenathan 159 -146 9. Morgan Lucas 117 -118 10. Doug Herbert 116 -119 11. J.R. Todd 98 -207 Antron Brown’s Career Results at Houston Raceway Park Year Qualified Finish/Winning Driver 1998 No. 9 Second round—John Smith 1999 No. 3 Second round—Tony Mullen 2000 No. 2 First round—Joe DeSantis 2001 No. 1 Semifinals—Angelle Sampey 2002 No. 3 Second round—Craig Treble (foul) 2003 No. 7 Semifinals—Craig Treble 2004 No. 2 Runner-up—Karen Stoffer 2005 No. 3 First round—Craig Treble 2006 No. 2 Second round—Andrew Hines (foul) 2007 No. 6 Second round—Tom Bradford (foul) Brown’s Houston Schedule Date & Time Event and Location Wed., March 26, 5-8 p.m. NHRA Fan Fest—San Jacinto Mall Fri., March 28, 8:30 a.m. Army Y.E.S. Program, Houston Raceway Park Fri., March 28, 3/6 p.m. TF Qualifying 1/2, Houston Raceway Park Sat., March 29, Noon/3 p.m. TF Qualifying 3/4, Houston Raceway Park Sun., March 30, 11 a.m. Final Eliminations, Houston Raceway Park 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 O’Reilly Spring Nationals TV Schedule (ESPN2) Date & Time (ET) Coverage Sat., March 29, 4:30-5p.m. Qualifying Highlights Sat., March 29, 10-11 p.m. Qualifying Highlights Sun., March 30, 11-11:30 a.m. NHRA Race Day Sun., March 30, 4:30-7 p.m. Final Eliminations Coverage www.matcotools.com www.davidpowersmotorsports.com