The co-tuners on the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster driven by Antron Brown watched the rest of the field run, made a few minor changes and then celebrated holding onto the top spot they had grabbed earlier in the day.

“That last run, I looked at Brian and Mark and they just wanted to get down the race track,” said Brown, describing his final qualifying run. “They wanted to get a nice mild tune up for tomorrow because you never know what tomorrow will bring. You can’t run things like low 80’s every run. We saw the Al Anabi car light it up in front of us, so we went back and made a few changes and ran an 87 which was really respectable. The co-tuners on the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster driven by Antron Brown watched the rest of the field run, made a few minor changes and then celebrated holding onto the top spot they had grabbed earlier in the day.

“That last run, I looked at Brian and Mark and they just wanted to get down the race track,” said Brown, describing his final qualifying run. “They wanted to get a nice mild tune up for tomorrow because you never know what tomorrow will bring. You can’t run things like low 80’s every run. We saw the Al Anabi car light it up in front of us, so we went back and made a few changes and ran an 87 which was really respectable.

“We need to run consistent tomorrow in order to win rounds. Basically that’s what we are getting set up for; so we know we have a run in the bank where we can jack it up if we need to. The good deal is we got the Matco Tools dragster down the race track every run this weekend and we did it at a decent time every run, second quickest and then number one. It was a good outing and we’re pretty geared up for tomorrow.”

Sunday will bring on the real pressure.  Earlier run times will present a new set of challenges for the Top Fuel field.

“I think with the conditions tomorrow, it’s going to be cool and we’re going to be the first ones on the race track; the only thing I’m happy about being in the upper echelon qualifying is we don’t have to be one of the first ones to go down the track. That’s definitely a good plus where we can just sit back and watch what happens.

“I think we’ll be running an hour and a half earlier than we did before. It’s going to be cooler we’re going to have more horsepower. It’s going to be another Disneyland out there for the crew chiefs. You have to be careful not to get too aggressive so you smoke the tires 200 feet down. The driver has to be on his game and hit the tree right. It’s a typical race day. I’m game for it.”

THERE IS SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR GOING A TO B - On Friday afternoon, several drivers complained of a weakness in the center of the racetrack, saying the car would lose traction at a critical point in the run. By Saturday afternoon, drivers had an entirely different opinion. This time is was more then win than the surface prep causing them trouble.

Given the conditions, being able to get down the track smoothly was rewarded with fast times and fast speeds.

“The track was good,” Antron Brown said when asked about the supposed issues with rubber on the surface. “We just had a track that was real tricky, Gainesville, that we just came off of. I think the Angel Brothers, the owner of the track, did a real good job by grinding the middle of the track. It is a lot smoother. You’re always going to feel that transition but they’ve done a good job.

It was a great job but I don’t think it was the track that was bothering everybody. It was that the transition was in the exact same spot as where the wind was coming in at. It got a hold of me real good when I hit the transition with the back end of the car and the wind hit it at the same time and it pulled me to the centerline. I think it was the wind more than the rubber on the track. They did great prep work where you saw everybody going A to B.”