Friday night was all about setting records.

Jack Beckman did it in Funny Car. Chris McGaha did it in Pro Stock. And by the time evening settled over the California skyline, it was Antron Brown’s turn.

After watching his Funny Car teammate lay waste to the record books a few moments earlier, Brown lit the wick on his Matco Tools Top Fuel Dragster and blasted to the top of the charts in record-breaking fashion, setting the track elapsed time record and taking the provisional pole at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals Friday at Sonoma Raceway.

Brown ran a 3.707-second elapsed time at 326.95 mph in session two Friday night, the fourth quickest pass in NHRA history and dangerously close to the world record of 3.701 seconds he set back in 2012.

“We were definitely pushing. We knew how good it was out there, but we also knew it was possible to overpower the track,” Brown said. “They shied back a little bit because a lot of cars were overpowering the track and it was getting cooler. We were worrying that if we get way over it and we don’t make it down, then that puts you back in the field. We just wanted to go out there and make a good, quality run and that is what we did.”

“I would hate to see what it really would have run.”

With a number of drivers shaking the tires and aborting runs during the evening session, Brown and crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald dialed the car back just a bit, but still put up a number for the record books. And after watching teammate Beckman put together the quickest pass in Funny Car history earlier in the session, it left Brown and company wondering what could have been.

“We had our best 60 foot time ever and the car was on a really good run. I felt it all the way down the track. She was motoring and I clicked her at the right time,” Brown said. “With a fuel car, you are giving it so much already. When you run a 70 flat, you are getting it. To run a 69 or a 68, you have to have everything lineup perfect.

“We had the 60 foot, but we eased off between 60 and 300, so we missed some ET there. (The record) is definitely out there.”

Behind Brown is Dave Connolly in the C&J Energy Services dragster who blasted from 13th in the order after round one up to second under cooler skies with a 3.713 at 329.10 mph - a new track mile-per-hour record. In third is J.R. Todd with a 3.724 at 328.30 mph, followed by Steve Torrence and Tony Schumacher. 

“It feels good to put that number one up on the board and to be No. 1 here at Sonoma,” Brown said. “This is the time where you are getting ready for the countdown. Denver beat us up really bad, so to come out here and have two great runs, this is just the right way to start Sonoma.

“Our teammate Tony (Schumacher) has been in a class of his own and we just want to get close to him again and this is a great start.”

While Friday’s pass was definitely one for the ages and a crowd pleaser for the fans, Brown is quick to admit it doesn’t help much when it comes to the warmer temperatures that accompany raceday on Sunday. However that doesn’t mean that Friday’s pass was completely useless.

“When you get into the Countdown and you get to a Maple Grove, or you get to a Vegas nighttime, or you get to Pomona in the final round, that run is going to pay dividends,” Brown said. “If we didn’t set the world record in Reading in 2012, we wouldn’t have won the championship. So that run can pay dividends because they can go back to it and use that data to go again. 

“Is it going to help for Sunday? No. It is not going to help this weekend at all. But it will help for the future.”

Brown will look to hold on to the top spot on Saturday with another evening session and more potential records on the menu. He will also look to make up some ground in the championship standings, as he currently sits second behind Schumacher in the 2015 championship.

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