Denver: Antron Brown Friday report

ANTRON BROWN GRABS PROVISIONAL POLE FRIDAY AT DENVER

MORRISON, Colo. (July 23, 2010) - Antron Brown raced his Don Schumacher-owned Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position Friday evening at Bandimere Speedway. The defending event champion of the Denver raced used an elapsed time of 3.961-seconds to pace the field on the opening day of qualifying for the 31st annual Mile-High Nationals.

Brown, who enters the 15th race on the 2010 NHRA schedule ranked fourth in the Top Fuel standings, lost traction on his first qualifying attempt at the Denver-area track. Brown's Matco Tools/U.S. Army car dropped a cylinder at the hit of the throttle as the 24-time NHRA winner coasted to a lap of 7.274 seconds at 92.62 mph. Brown then used a tune-up from crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald to power the Matco-backed rail to the top of the pack with a pass of 3.961 at 286.19. The Matco team earned three bonus points for being the quickest car of the second qualifying session. Brown qualified No. 1 at the Denver race last July and has four poles this season.

"The track was really good out there for that night run," Brown said. "We had to step it up to get down the track and into the show. Our goal was to make a good run to put us in a position to run better on Saturday because it's supposed to be cooler tomorrow. The car really took off after the 330 (foot mark) and then dropped a hole (cylinder) and lost the blower belt. It was on track to run a low 3.90 if it didn't shut off around 700-feet. We got the No. 1 spot on Saturday last year, so I think you'll see a lot of cars run better. I'd be surprised if that number held."

Professional nitro qualifying will resume on Saturday at Bandimere Speedway with sessions scheduled for 2:30 and 5 p.m. (MT). Top Fuel will run first followed by Funny Car. Brown earned the pole at the Mile-High Nationals last year at 3.862-seconds and has two career poles at Bandimere Speedway.

-source: dsr