Qualified: No. 11 (3.810 E.T. at 306.60 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 3.777 E.T. at 323.43 MPH defeated Doug Kalitta 3.830 E.T. at 316.82 MPH
E2: 4.151 E.T. at 241.15 MPH defeated by Tony Schumacher 3.817 E.T. at 323.89 MPH
Race Recap:
Antron Brown and Doug Kalitta met in competition for the 53rd time during round one of the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals. Behind the wheel of the Matco Tools ‘Tools for the Cause’/U.S. Army dragster, Brown was quick on the throttle and used his starting line advantage coupled with a solid 3.777-second run to extend his round win record to 31-22 against Kalitta.
Brown drew teammate Tony Schumacher in round two and once again, Brown was first out of the gate. Unfortunately for the three-time Top Fuel world champion, Schumacher was able to overtake Brown’s lead by the 200-foot mark and drive away with the round win when Brown’s machine hazed the tires at the 330.
Brown leaves Texas ranked fifth in the Countdown to the Championship point standings.
Quotable:
“It wasn’t the day we wanted. We started off in E1 the way we wanted to, but we’re just going through the second round blues right now. We went out there and it got through the clutch too much and it dropped a hole. Then the clutch caught up with the engine and it just spun the tires. We’ve just got to keep working hard. We know we are right on the cusp of some great things, but we just have to make it happen right now. We have three races left in the Countdown to the Championship. We’re sitting solid in fifth place, but that’s not where we want to be. We want to be in the top three. We still have a shot for that. Our main focus is just to go back and regroup and we have to come out swinging in Charlotte next weekend. We can’t race scared, we just have to go out there and throw it down.”