Sophomore Top Fuel Driver Ready to Get 2009 Underway …

For Antron Brown, the season-opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, CA., couldn’t arrive soon enough. Now that it’s here,
the sophomore Top Fuel driver of the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster doesn’t have as many butterflies as he has relief.

An off-season of uncertainty has been replaced with a 24-race tour of virtually untapped potential. Those close to the situation say the foray to the top of the testing charts during the National Time Trials in Phoenix, Az., was just scratching the surface for the revived organization. Sophomore Top Fuel Driver Ready to Get 2009 Underway …

For Antron Brown, the season-opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, CA., couldn’t arrive soon enough. Now that it’s here,
the sophomore Top Fuel driver of the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster doesn’t have as many butterflies as he has relief.

An off-season of uncertainty has been replaced with a 24-race tour of virtually untapped potential. Those close to the situation say the foray to the top of the testing charts during the National Time Trials in Phoenix, Az., was just scratching the surface for the revived organization.

Brown and the Matco Tools team clocked the quickest performance of 2009 preseason testing with a run of 3.781 seconds at 316.45 mph. It was the second quickest 1,000-foot elapsed time ever recorded; Schumacher holds the record at 3.771 seconds. The quickest time Brown carded up to that point was 3.803 seconds at the Richmond, Va. race in October.

“I'm so excited to get the 2009 season started. Full Throttle is the new series sponsor and our Matco dragster was running on Full Throttle at testing with that 3.78,” Brown said. “It's been a crazy off-season, but our team is really coming together with Brian (Corradi) and Mark (Oswald) calling the shots. I really think we're going to surprise some people with our race team here at MAR and why not by having a strong first race at Pomona?"

Last season, Brown made a seamless transition from the Pro Stock Motorcycle class to Top Fuel. The 18-time NHRA winner became the first in NHRA history to win races in both Top Fuel and PSM by winning in his fourth career Top Fuel start at Houston. He won two races (Houston and Atlanta) in five final round appearances, along with earning three poles, en route to a top five finish in the Countdown to the Championship standings. The Matco Tools dragster also clocked low E.T. of the meet twice and top speed of the meet three times in 2008.

Despite the successes, the end of the 2008 season saw Brown and the Matco team move to new exclusive team ownership under former DPM team co-owner Tim Buckley. Just weeks before testing was to commence, the team was sold to Long Island, N.Y., mortgage banker Mike Ashley.

Ashley’s preference of tuners Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald ensured Brown would have the duo, long known for the Funny Car wrench prowess, calling the tuning shots. They, like Brown, had undergone their own uncertainty after having been released by R2B2 Motorsports just days before Christmas.

Pomona offers everyone involved the opportunity to prove themselves as a new team.

"We're looking forward to getting back in the mix of racing,” Corradi said. “It's been a long off season and we're ready to race. We'll take things one run at a time. We're still learning how to run this dragster. It's great to be working with Matco Tools and Antron Brown. We know how the motor runs, but we'll have to see how the track conditions are before we make the final call. We're excited to go racing at Pomona."

They should be. Along with pacing the Top Fuel field at the 2008 Winternationals, Brown is a three-time finalist at the historic Pomona drag strip.