Antron Brown raced his Mike Ashley-owned Toyota/Matco Tools dragter to the third fastest speed in
1,000-foot racing at 318.99 mph en route to earning the provisional No. 2 qualifying Friday evening
at Memphis Motorsports Park.
Brown enters the third race in the Countdown to 1 ranked fourth in the NHRA Top Fuel standings
trailing Tony Schumacher by 65 points. On his first try at the Memphis strip, Brown used a tune-up
from crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald to power the Toyota/Matco Tools dragster to a lap of
3.900 seconds at 312.50. It was the second quickest pass of the session earning Brown two bonus
points. On Friday's second qualifying effort, Brown blasted to a lap of 3.836 at 318.99 to post the
second quickest pass of the day. The run earned the MAR team another two bonus points. Larry Dixon,
who earned the provisional pole at 3.810-seconds, also ran 318.99 mph. Brown is the only driver to
exceed 319 mph at 319.75 (Bristol) and 319.22 (Indianpolis).
"Those were two awesome runs for this MAR Matco Tools team," Brown said. "This was great for Toyota
and Matco (Tools) and it's great to get things back on track. Our car hauled today on both runs.
This is good for our team. We need to get it going again and start going some rounds in the
Countdown (to 1). We're not out of this deal yet. And we got four bonus points today and believe
me, we're counting those bonus points."
Professional nitro qualifying is scheduled for 12:30 and 3:15 p.m. (CT) on Saturday afternoon at
Memphis Motorsports Park. Top Fuel will run first followed by Funny Car. Last year, Brown qualified
the Matco Tools car ninth at the Memphis race at 3.871-seconds. He won the Pro Stock Motorcycle
title at Memphis Motorsports Park in 2004.
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
