Pomona II: Antron Brown final report

ANTRON BROWN WINS SEASON-FINALE AT POMONA

POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 15, 2009) - Antron Brown won his category-best sixth race of the 2009 NHRA season Sunday afternoon at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. The win was his first in Top Fuel under new team owner Don Schumacher. It was the 24th career win for the Matco Tools flagship driver who finished third in the Countdown to 1 standings.

A day after qualifying the Matco Tools dragster in the No. 4 position for the second time this season (Sonoma, Calif.), Brown defeatead European racer Urs Erbacher, second-generation racer Brandon Bernstein, seven-time champion Tony Schumacher, and Rookie of the Year front-runner Spencer Massey to earn his eighth career Top Fuel win.

Squaring off against Erbacher for the second time at Pomona Raceway, Brown scored a wire-to-wire win in the Matco Tools rail. Brown used a tune-up from crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald to race the Matco Tools/Valvoline car to the second quickest lap of the round at 3.824 seconds at 317.19 mph. Erbacher's orange dragster lost traction and slowed to a run of 8.865-seconds. Brown's speed was the fastest of the opening round and he is now 2-0 against Erbacher. Their only two matches have come at the Pomona track (Pomona 1 2008). It was Brown's 305th career round win.

Racing the Budweiser car for the ninth time this season, Brown won the rubber match against Bernstein. The Matco Tools flagship driver raced to a lap of 3.856 at 314.90 to hold off Bernstein's run of 3.903 at 309.77. Brown is now 5-4 against Bernstein this season and 7-6 in 13 career races. The win was Brown's 85th career Top Fuel round win.

In the semifinals, Brown matched-up with the newly crowned 2009 NHRA Top Fuel champion. It was the eighth meeting between the Matco Tools and U.S. Army cars this season. Brown got the jump at the start in the Matco Tools/DirecTV car as Brown scored the wire-to-wire win. Brown posted a lap of 3.822 at 316.67 to edge "the Sarge's" pass of 3.830 at 315.49. Brown is now 6-2 against the U.S. Army team this season. It was the 50th round win of the season for the Matco Tools team.

Facing off against Massey for the sixth time this season, Brown earned his sixth win of 2009, the most in Top Fuel. The Matco Tools driver used an .032 of-a-second reaction time and a lap of 3.801 at 316.90 to post the win light in the left lane at Auto Club Raceway. Massey fouled at the start handing the win to Brown and the Matco/Toyota team. Brown is now 3-3 against Massey this year and 1-1 in final rounds.

"We stepped it up for that final round against Spencer (Massey)," Brown said. "That's a really strong team over there in Snake's camp with Todd (Smith) and Donnie (Bender). We just wanted to go from A to B and not smoke the tires. We were shooting for a 3.79 or (3).80. That was an awesome run.

"We're already looking forward to next season with DSR and the Matco Tools team. This was a career year for me. Next year we'll tackle the Countdown (to 1) a little different. We had some parts issues and didn't plan on running so many rounds before the Countdown. Being at DSR will make a big difference. With Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler from the FRAM car and Lee Beard and Mike Green on that U.S. Army car, there are a lot of resources. We had three cars in the top four this year and next year should be just as strong."

The 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season begins Feb. 11-14, 2010, with the 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

-credit: dsr