BROWNSBURG, Ind. (July 22, 2014) – Antron Brown won the most important race he and his Matco Tools Top Fuel team faced on Sunday in the mile-high altitude of Bandimere Speedway near Denver.
He was paired with points-leader Doug Kalitta in the opening round and Antron’s quicker reaction time at the starting line enabled his Don Schumacher Racing dragster to overcome Kalitta’s quicker elapsed time.
The hole-shot win by Antron, the 15th such win in his Top Fuel career, allowed the Matco team to get within 25 points of Kalitta but a loss in the second round prevented them from cutting deeper into Kalitta’s lead. Each round-win in eliminations is worth 20 points so Brown could have taken the points lead had he advanced to the championship round.
“Gaining those 20 points was big,” said Antron, who last led the points chase after the sixth event of the year near Houston. “Yeah, it would have been nice to get the lead back but Mark and Brian have a plan and we’re on course to get there.”
Four Mello Yello events remain before NHRA resets the points for the top-10 in the six-race Countdown for the Championship playoff.
That’s the big picture, but Antron and the Matco Tools team focus only on the next race down the track. And that will be Friday when qualifying begins for the Sonoma NHRA Nationals north of San Francisco and they go for their category-best sixth title of the season in 15 events.
“We ran strong on the mountain (at Bandimere) and that’s the toughest race of the year for our boys,” he said. “It’s the only time all year we race in mile-high altitude; that was tough our Matco dragster and our guys. It was hot too.”
The Mello Yello series returns to sea level this weekend at Sonoma, which is the second stop of three races in three weeks on the “Western Swing,” which Antron swept in 2009 with wins at Denver, Sonoma and the finale near Seattle.
Antron has won three titles at Sonoma in five championship round appearances.
Antron Brown, Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster
Last event Denver (July 20): Qualified No. 6; lost in quarterfinals to Larry Dixon
A year ago at Sonoma: Qualified No. 7; lost in semifinals to Shawn Langdon
Career at Sonoma: Wins 3 (2012, 2011, 2009); Runner-ups 2 (PSM-2006, 2004); Poles 1 (2008)
Pts Events Titles Rup Semi Qtr 1st rd Poles DNQ Win/Loss
2014 2nd 14 5 1 3 2 3 0 0 30-9
CAREER 300 46 39 61 84 67 36 3 506-251
Best Time, Speed: 3.701*/** sec. (10- 8-12, Reading, Pa.); 328.78 mph (10-8-12, Reading)
* Quickest ever/** NHRA record
NHRA MELLO YELLO STANDINGS
(Official after 14 of 24 events; DSR drivers in CAPS)
TOP FUEL
driver (wins) pts behind
1. Doug Kalitta (1) 1,162 —-
2. ANTRON BROWN (5) 1,137 -25
3. Shawn Langdon (1) 973 -189
4. TONY SCHUMACHER (2) 830 -332
5. Steve Torrence 814 -348
6. SPENCER MASSEY (2) 811 -351
7. Brittany Force 783 -379
8. J.R. Todd (1) 705 -457
9. Khalid alBalooshi (1) 685 -477
10. Richie Crampton (1) 678 -484