"This is an awesome opportunity to showcase our sport of NHRA drag racing and our MAR Matco Tools team to a vast motor sports audience," Brown said. "Dave (Despain) is a cool dude. Like me, we're both bike (motorcycle) guys. I was on his show after we won at Houston last year and it's an honor to be back on Wind Tunnel after the great run we've had out west."

Brown, who has 23 career NHRA wins, is the only driver in NHRA history to win races and lead the standings in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle. The former college track star at Mercer (N.J.) Community College has been arguably the hottest driver on the NHRA tour this season. Brown has a category-best five wins, eight final-round appearances, five No. 1 qualifying awards (poles), six low elasped time of the meet, and seven top speed of the meet. He also clocked the fastest 1,000-foot pass in Top Fuel racing (319.75 mph) at Bristol, Tenn. in May. Last Sunday in Sonoma, Calif., he joined NHRA standouts Joe Amato, Cory McClenathan, Larry Dixon, Tony Schumacher, John Force and Greg Anderson as the only professional racers to win all three of the Western Swing (Denver, Seattle and Sonoma) races. Brown also won at Phoenix and St. Louis this year.

With three races remaining before the Countdown to 1 playoff begins at zMax Dragway at Concord (N.C.), Brown owns a 199-point lead over six-time series champion Tony Schumacher. The next NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event is the 28th annual Lucas Oil Nationals, Aug. 13-16, at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn. Brown is a four-time Pro Stock Motorcycle winner at the Brainerd race.

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, DirecTV, Toyota, SpongeTechR Delivery Systems, Ringer's Gloves, Go Fast! Sports, Goodyear, FRAM, Autolite, Impact! Racing, Connexions Sports and Entertainment, and Forward Sports Marketing (FSM).

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. Visit the Heal Autism Now website for more information about how you can get involved at http://www.healautismnow.org


Courtesy of Ted Yerzyk