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NHRA Northwest Nationals Preview - Antron Brown
23rd annual Northwest Nationals
July 9-11, 2010
Pacific Raceways
Kent, Wash.
Antron Brown on Seattle
"I'm excited to get back to Seattle. It's an awesome city, especially in July. Our DSR Matco Tools team is excited to hit this Western Swing hard. It's a busy three weeks, but the way our Matco Tools dragster is running, we can make up some ground in the standings. Our car has been running really strong and we want to keep that going and build on our momentum heading into the Countdown (to 1)."
Brian Corradi (crew chief) on Seattle
"We're ready to get back to racing. Our Matco team is doing a great job and our car is running really well. It's always exciting to back to a track that you've done well at. We'd like to keep running strong and hopefully head into the Countdown (to 1) ranked in the top three."
Antron Brown Seattle NHRA Notebook
-Two weeks ago at Norwalk, Ohio, Brown qualified his Matco Tools dragster in the No. 2 position for the second time this season at 3.795 seconds. It was Brown's fourth 3.7-second elapsed time this year. On race day, he bested Luigi Novell, Pat Dakin and DSR teammate Cory McClenathan to advance to his fifth final round of the season. Brown fell in a close match to two-time Top Fuel champion and current point's leader Larry Dixon 3.880 to 3.907. On this heels of advancing to his 20th career Top Fuel final round, Brown moved to fourth place in the standings.
-Last July at Pacific Raceways, Brown qualified his Matco Tools car in the No. 10 position at 3.952 seconds at 305.84 mph. It was the only time during the 2009 season that Brown qualified in the bottom half of the field. On race day, he advanced to his sixth final round of the season and defeated seven-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher in a close final round match, 3.983 to 3.990, to earn his third win of the '09 season. Brown went on to become just the fifth Top Fuel driver to sweep the three-race Western Swing. In his two tries at the Seattle race, Brown's average qualifying position is 6.5.
-Brown, who won a category-best six races last season, enters the 14th race on the 2010 NHRA schedule ranked fourth in the Top Fuel standings. He trails two-time champion Larry Dixon by 327 points. Brown has five final-round appearances this season (Gainesville, Charlotte 1, Houston, Englishtown and Norwalk) and four No. 1 qualifiers (Gainesville, Las Vegas 1, Topeka and Bristol). Last year, Brown had 10 finals and seven poles. His average qualifying position in 13 races this year is 4.9.
Antron Brown... Did You Know?
-Brown was a track star at Mercer College in New Jersey competing in the 100 and 200-meters, long jump, and 55-meter indoor. He ran quick enough to qualify for the U.S. Olympic trails in the 100-meters.
-Brown's first team owner was former NFL star cornerback Troy Vincent.
-Brown is the only racer in NHRA history to win races (8 TF/16 PSM) in and lead the standings both Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle.
-Brown's co-crew chief, Mark Oswald, won the 1984 NHRA Winston Funny Car championship. Oswald is one of 14 drivers in NHRA history to have won races in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. He won the Funny Car title at Pacific Raceways in 1990 and earned the No. 1 qualifying award at Seattle in 1992.
-Brown's father, Al, and uncle, Andre, race a Top Sportsman dragster in NHRA Division 1 competition.
