POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 14, 2015) – Antron Brown and his Matco Tools/U.S. Army team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald clinched the NHRA Top Fuel world championship two weeks ago at Las Vegas but they certainly aren’t coasting in the season-finale at Pomona, Calif.
Antron drove the Matco dragster to the No. 1 qualifying position Saturday with a time of 3.721 seconds at 326.71 mph to earn the team’s seventh pole of the season that ties him for a career best to go along with his career-best seven NHRA event titles.
“We’re at the point with our Matco Tools/U.S. Army team that we come and we focus on every race and we treat them all the same. We just want to go out there and compete,” said Antron, who is joined at the Auto Club NHRA Nationals by his family including daughter Arianna on her 14th birthday.
“And the thing that does is that it really puts you in a good position to do good things when the chips are down and the competition gets rough and it’s tough.
“We all agreed that we needed to go for it. We went up there actually thinking we were going to run better than a .72 but the track was so good that it took it all out of the racecar. Tomorrow’s going to be even better, so we just need to make sure we bring enough power and enough clutch and everything else we will need to get into the 3.60s.”
Sunday’s Pomona forecast calls for overcast skies with temperatures in the low 60s. Brown will face former DSR teammate Cory McClenathan in the opening round of the NHRA Mello Yello finale.
TOP FUEL
No. 1 qualifier: Antron Brown (Don Schumacher Racing) 3.721 sec., 326.71 mph
ANTRON BROWN, Matco Tools/U.S. Army
Qualified: No. 1
SUNDAY ELIMINATIONS
First round: BROWN vs. Cory McClenathan
QUALIFYING RESULTS
SATURDAY: 3.755 sec., 322.81 mph, (Session 3); 3.721, 326.71, Session (4)
FRIDAY: 6.261 sec., 103.71 mph, (Session 1); 3.758, 324.90, (Session 2)