Antron Brown, a five-time winner this season and the most recent winner on tour, raced his Mike
Ashley-owned Matco Tools dragster to the provisional No. 5 qualifying position Friday evening at
Brainerd International Raceway. The 23-time NHRA winner used an elapsed time of 3.947-seconds on
Friday evening at B.I.R. to finish fifth in the order.
Coming off his historic sweep of the three Western Swing events (Denver, Seattle and Sonoma,
Calif.), Brown enters the 16th race on the 2009 NHRA schedule with a 199-point lead over six-time
series champion Tony Schumacher. On Friday's first qualifying attempt, the Matco Tools/Toyota
dragster lost traction and slowed to a lap of 4.787 seconds at 156.65 mph. On Friday's second
attempt, the former college track star at Mercer (N.J.) Community College, used a tune-up from
co-crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald to power the bright blue Matco Tools/DirecTV car to a
pass of 3.947 at 304.46 to claim the provisional No. 5 qualifying position. Brown has qualified
fifth three times this season.
"That was a good run here at B.I.R.," Brown said. "The hot weather got us on that first pass, but
we rebounded with a good lap. We could have run a little better, but it's all good with our MAR
Matco Tools team. It was hot and we have a good handle on this hot weather. Now we can work on the
race day set-up and try and keep our strong run going at a track where we've had a lot of success
in the past."
Professional nitro qualifying is scheduled for Noon and 3 p.m. (CT) on Saturday afternoon at
Brainerd International Raceway. Top Fuel will run first followed by Funny Car. Brown, a four-time
Pro Stock Motorcycle winner at B.I.R., qualified the Matco Tools dragster in the No. 7 position
last August at 3.929-seconds.
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 Systerms, 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
