St. Louis: Antron Brown Friday notes

BROWN DRIVES MATCO RAIL TO PROVISIONAL NO. 2 POSITION FRIDAY AT ST. LOUIS

MADISON, Ill. (May 2, 2008) -- Antron Brown, a two-time Top Fuel winner this season, raced his David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster to the No. 2 provisional qualifying position Friday evening at Gateway International Raceway with a run of 4.521 seconds.

Entering the seventh race on the 2008 NHRA schedule as the hottest driver on tour, Brown's bright blue Matco Tools/iLocate GPS rail overpowered the Gateway quarter mile on its first qualifying attempt. The Matco rail posted a time of 5.996 seconds at 144.33 mph. On his second qualifying effort, the Pittsboro, Ind. racer used a Lee Beard tune-up to race the Matco/Valvoline dragster to a performance of 4.521 at 328.86 to finish second in the 16-car order. It was the second quickest and fastest run of the day. Brown's teammate, Rod Fuller, qualified fourth with a time of 4.541 seconds.

"Lee Beard and our Matco crew did a fantastic job tonight of making our dragster really haul tail," Brown said. "It set me back at half track and I held on for the ride and I knew it was a stellar run. It set us deep in the field and we feel real confident going into Saturday. If the conditions are good, we can try and go for that No. 1 spot."

Professional nitro qualifying resumes Saturday afternoon at Gateway with sessions scheduled for 12:30 and 3 p.m. (CT). Brown is a two-time pole winner at the St. Louis race (2001, '04).

-credit: dpm