GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 11, 2012) – Antron Brown’s quickest to react to the green light on the NHRA “Christmas tree” starting system has been one of his attributes.
While he reacted pretty quickly to start his second round race Sunday in the NHRA Tire Kingdom Gatornationals presented by NAPAFilters.com, his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher was a bit quicker.
Although Brown’s time in the Matco Tools Top Fuel Dragster was quicker, Schumacher’s reaction time was two-hundredths of a second better which allowed the U.S. Army driver to get to the finish line first.
“We went up there to do what we do and Tony and that U.S. Army team just stepped up,” said Brown. Schumacher, the seven-time Top Fuel world champion, is still waiting to see if he’ll have a ticket to the final round. Racing activity was halted due to rain after the second round. Action will resume Monday at 10 a.m. ET.
“We knew it was going to be a good race. They’re all good races, especially when you run that Army dragster. You’re going to win races and lose races as a team and they were just better today. It was a great race against a great team and you can’t win every time. We’ve done well against them and you know it’s going to even out.”
Brown holds a career advantage of 19-13 in races against Schumacher. The only other time they met this year was three weeks ago in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event near Phoenix when Brown beat him in the championship round.
“We’ll regroup and come back strong in (Las) Vegas with the Aaron’s Lucky Dog on the side of our car along with Matco Tools. We went to the final round three times with Aaron’s colors last year, so it’s exciting to see the Lucky Dog again. You strive to win as many rounds as you can and that’s what we want to do again starting at Vegas.”
NEXT UP
The next NHRA event is March 30-April 1 for the 13th annual SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
TOP FUEL
Event winner: TBD
Antron Brown, Matco Tools dragster
Qualified: No. 7
Round 1: BROWN (3.813, 315.56) def. Dave Grubnic (5.841, 105.30)
Round 2: Tony Schumacher (3.795, 322.65) def. BROWN (3.789, 318.62)
About Matco Tools
Matco Tools manufactures, distributes and services premium quality automotive equipment, tools, and tool storage for the professional technician. The company has more than 60 years of national brand experience in the automotive equipment industry and a vast product line of more than 13,000 of the highest quality, innovative tools and accessories. The company’s franchise offering has no franchise, royalty, or advertising fees. Initial corporate and ongoing local training create and build outstanding value for the franchisee’s business. For more information on Matco Tools products or franchise opportunities, visit www.matcotools.com.
About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., consists of seven professional NHRA teams: in Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the FRAM/Prestone dragster of Spencer Massey and the Matco Tools dragster of Antron Brown; and in Funny Car, 2011 NHRA Funny Car champion Matt Hagan in the Aaron’s Dream Machine/Mopar Dodge Charger R/T, Valvoline NextGen Dodge piloted by Jack Beckman, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge of Ron Capps and the Service Central Dodge of Johnny Gray. DSR has won 176 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships.