Antron Brown on Richmond
"We're heading into Richmond and we want to go out there and
qualify well. We want to qualify in the top five and get a good starting
spot. We need to do well and go some rounds for all of our Matco Tools
distributors and get back to second in the standings."
Lee Beard (crew chief) on Richmond
"We need to start qualifying better. That's been our biggest
problem at the last two races. We feel we have a good handle on the
tune-up of the Matco Tools car and we want to make the right calls on
race day and have a strong showing to improve in the Countdown (to 1)
standings."
Antron Brown Richmond NHRA Notebook
Two weeks ago at Memphis Motorsports Park, Brown qualified his Matco
Tools dragster in the No. 9 position at 3.871 seconds. The pitted him
against No. 8 qualifier and two-time series
champion Larry Dixon. Dixon earned the narrow win posting the quickest
lap of the round at 3.877 seconds to Brown's run of 3.881 in the
Matco Tools dragster. It was just Brown's fourth opening-round loss
of the season.
Brown has made a seamless transition from the Pro Stock Motorcycle class
to Top Fuel this season. The 18-time NHRA winner became the first racer
in NHRA history to win races in both Top Fuel and PSM by winning in his
fourth career Top Fuel start (Houston). Brown has two wins in five final
rounds this season, along with three poles. He also clocked low E.T. of
the meet twice and top speed of the meet three times this year.
The Pro Stock Motorcycle category has not competed at Virginia
Motorsports Park since Brown's rookie season of 1998. In his only
appearance a the Richmond race, Brown qualified his
Suzuki in the No. 11 position and advanced to the semifinals where he
fell to three-time champion Angelle Sampey.
Brown has qualified for 166 consecutive NHRA events and hasn't missed
the cut since the Gainesville race in 1998, his first career race. It is
the second longest qualifying streak in the professional ranks (Angelle
Sampey--181). He has an average qualifying position of 5.24 this
season with three poles.
Brown became the eighth different driver that crew chief Lee Beard has
tuned to the pole and 10th different racer Beard has tuned to a win in
Top Fuel or Funny Car. Beard has 53 wins and 60 poles, including one win
(1995) and pole (1998) at the Richmond NHRA race.
-credit: dpm
