Qualified: No. 3 (3.720 E.T. at 326.95 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 3.733 E.T. at 328.06 MPH defeated Justin Ashley 4.060 E.T. at 224.92 MPH
E2: 3.733 E.T. at 322.58 MPH defeated by Steve Torrence 3.710 E.T. at 326.08 MPH
Race Recap:
No other NHRA drag racer has been more successful at World Wide Technology Raceway than Antron Brown. With five St. Louis victories, Brown leads the NHRA pro classes in number of wins at the facility that sits in the shadows of the Gateway Arch. Brown, who debuted the ‘pinked out’ Matco Tools ‘Tools for the Cause’/Global Electronic Technology/Toyota dragster which he will run for the remainder of the season, entered the weekend looking extend his Midwest Nationals win count and breakthrough for his first win of the year. He seeded his 11,000-horsepower machine third for the second consecutive week and faced upstart Justin Ashley in the first round. Against Ashley, Brown took his machine straight down the groove for the win to set up a quarterfinal meeting with buddy Steve Torrence. Brown and Torrence were nearly even leaving the starting line, but Torrence took the early lead and never trailed for the win.
Quotable:
“It was a good race weekend for this Matco Tools team here at St. Louis. We qualified well again. We wanted to go more rounds. The positives are that we got the car leaving better, and it’s performing consistently. (Crew chiefs) Brian (Corradi) and Mark (Oswald) are getting things figured out. We had something break on us that second round. We’re picking at the tune-up, and we just came up short in a great drag race. We’ll get ready for Dallas in a few weeks. We want to qualify well again and stay consistent and go rounds.”