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Antron Brown Suffers Rare Early Loss at Sonoma
Antron Brown and his Don Schumacher-owned Matco Tools/U.S. Army team suffered a rare first round loss Sunday morning at Infineon Raceway. The 24-time NHRA winner still ranks fourth in the 2010 NHRA Top Fuel standings.
A day after racing to the No. 2 qualifying position for the third time this season with a Friday afternoon pass of 3.863-seconds, Brown was paired up against Terry McMillen for the second time this season. Brown got the jump at the start in his bright blue Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster, but soon lost traction and slowed to a lap of 4.906 seconds at 184.67 mph. McMillen's car also lost traction, but further down track as he drove to the win with an effort of 4.785 at 240.85. Brown is now 1-1 against McMillen this season and has a mark of 24-15 in 39 rounds in 2010.
"We dropped a hole (cylinder) at the step and that caused the car to go into weak shake," Brown said. "When's the last time we dropped a hole at the step? That's a bummer. Our Matco Tools/U.S. Army car here at DSR has been running so great. I feel bad for all our Matco Tools distributors and guests here at Sonoma this weekend. We had an awesome cheering section and wanted to do well for them. We'll keep our heads high and head to Denver next weekend and try to get back to the final round at Bandimere (Speedway)."
The next NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event is the 31st annual Mopar Mile-High Nationals, July 23-25, at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo. near Denver. Brown is the defending event champion of the Mile-High Nationals and a five-time finalist at the Denver race.
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., consists of six professional NHRA teams: The U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster driven by seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher; the FRAM dragster of Cory McClenathan, and the Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster of Antron Brown. The Funny Car teams are the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge driven by Ron Capps, the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge piloted by Jack Beckman, and the DieHard/shelor.com Dodge driven by Matt Hagan. DSR also manages the Abu Dhabi/Yas Marina Circuit Top Fuel dragster driven by Rod Fuller. Since 1998, Don Schumacher Racing teams have won 145 national events in 278 final rounds and eight world championships.
