Three-time NHRA world champion Antron Brown secured his 60th win in Top Fuel and 76th overall today at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals when he defeated reigning series champ Doug Kalitta in the final round. This is Brown’s second victory of the season and his second win at the iconic Summit Motorsports Park located just outside of Norwalk, Ohio.
The annual Ohio event is considered to be a homecoming race for Brown and the Matco Tools Top Fuel team. Matco’s corporate headquarters are located approximately 75 miles east of the track in Stow, Ohio, and Summit Racing Equipment’s headquarters is located in Tallmadge. Additionally, crew chief Brian Corradi is an Ohio native and the owner of the popular Master’s Pizza restaurant with multiple locations in the Cleveland area, while assistant crew chief Mark Oswald originally hails from Cincinnati.
“To come here to Summit Motorsports Park, this is one of my favorite tracks to race, we have so many Ohio connections on our team” said Brown. “The Bader family and NHRA, we are building new fans. I met so many kids this weekend who had never been to a race before and they were hooked. When you hear that, it shows you what our sport is, we are reaching out and gaining new, young fans. The Bader family knows how to do the outreach and get new fans out here. The crowd today was so special. This is like a hometown race for us. You just look at all of the people involved from this area. That’s part of what makes it so special to win here. It’s just a dream come true.”
The third-year team owner had a fantastic showing throughout qualifying. He had the third-best run of the first session on Friday when he ran 3.805 seconds at 326.08 mph. He made some large improvements in the second pass, laying down a 3.722 at 330.72, the second fastest pass of the heat, earning him an additional two bonus points. But it was his run of 3.717 at 333.33 on Saturday that solidified his No. 3 qualifier position and earned him a round win in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty challenge, defeating Shawn Langdon. He faced Doug Kalitta in the final round of the race-within-a-race which was also the fourth qualifying pass. They had a solid drag race to the finish line, but it was Kalitta who secured the win.
Ohio fans love Antron Brown and they were eager to see him take on No. 14 qualifier Dan Mercier in the first round on Sunday morning. The two Top Fuel machines were neck-and-neck all the way down the track, putting on a stellar performance for the throngs of fans who filled the stands. Brown crossed the finish line first with a run of 3.739 at 316.97 to take the win.
In the quarterfinals, Brown faced Clay Millican. The two launched together with almost identical reaction times off the starting line, but Brown would turn his slight advantage into incremental improvements at every mark along the track to advance to the next round and secure his place in the next Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. In the semifinals, Brown squared off against Justin Ashley, who qualified just ahead of Brown in the No. 2 position. Ashley had problems early in the run and Brown powered the Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel dragster to the 136th final round of his career.
In the final round of competition, Brown got the starting line advantage over Kalitta and he never trailed for the win, clocking a stellar 3.736 at 330.55 to scoop up the victory, which includes a special ice cream scoop trophy unique to this stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour. The win also moved Brown up one spot to fourth in the Top Fuel point standings.
The next competition for the Matco Tools Top Fuel team will be the NHRA Northwest Nationals, July 19-21, at Pacific Raceways, just outside of Seattle.
Qualified: No. 3 (3.717 E.T. at 333.33 mph)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.739 E.T. at 316.97 mph defeated Dan Mercier 3.816 E.T. at 315.34 mph
E2: 3.757 E.T. at 329.50 mph defeated Clay Millican 3.814 E.T. at 325.22 mph
E3: 3.780 E.T. at 326.48 mph defeated Justin Ashley 7.778 E.T. at 77.66 mph
E4: 3.736 E.T. at 330.55 mph defeated Doug Kalitta 3.747 E.T. at 334.65 mph
ABM Communications PR
