Memphis: Antron Brown final report

BROWN LOSES CLOSE EARLY RACE IN MATCO TOOLS CAR AT MEMPHIS MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 28, 2008) -- Antron Brown drove his David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster to a first-round finish Sunday morning at Memphis Motorsports Park falling in a close ...

BROWN LOSES CLOSE EARLY RACE IN MATCO TOOLS CAR AT MEMPHIS

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 28, 2008) -- Antron Brown drove his David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster to a first-round finish Sunday morning at Memphis Motorsports Park falling in a close drag race to two-time champion Larry Dixon. Brown and the Matco Tools team now rank third in the Countdown to 1 standings.

The first-year Top Fuel standout qualified the Matco Tools car ninth at 3.871-seconds on Friday evening at the Memphis track. That pitted Brown against Dixon, the No. 8 qualifier, for the sixth time this season. Dixon got the jump at the start and in a close drag race edged Brown's Matco-backed rail at the 1,000-foot stripe. Brown raced the Matco Tools car to a lap of 3.881 seconds at 307.30 mph as Dixon was slightly quicker at 3.877 at 306.40, the quickest pass of the round, to earn the win in his Don Prudhomme-owned dragster. Brown is now 3-3 against Dixon this season.

"That was a tough one to lose," Brown said. "We have to start qualifying better so we don't draw such at tough car in the first round, but they're all tough. This 1,000-foot racing has everything so close. We actually made out ok with (Larry) Dixon and Cory (McClenathan) losing the second round. With three races left, we have to start going rounds."

The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the third annual Torco Racing Fuels Nationals, Oct. 10-12, at Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie, Va.