Englishtown: Antron Brown preview

Antron Brown on Englishtown

"I'm couldn't be more excited to get to a race than the SuperNationals at Englishtown. This is my home track. I grew up going to Raceway Park and Atco watching all the greats like Don Prudhomme and Kenny Bernstein and John Force and Joe Amato. So, to get to race a Top Fuel dragster at a famous drag strip where I used to sit in the stands is an awesome feeling.

"Our Matco dragster is running great here at DSR. We just need to catch a few breaks and that first win of 2010 will come. We've been close and we have a very fast race car, now we just need to put it all together."

Brian Corradi (crew chief) on Englishtown

"We're excited to get back to a great, historic track like Raceway Park where we ran really well last year. This is a big race for Antron being his home track. He'll have lots of family and friends rooting him on and we want to do well."

Antron Brown Englishtown NHRA Notebook

Last weekend at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago, Brown qualified his Matco Tools/U.S. Army car in the No. 8 position. It was the eighth time in 10 races this season that he has qualified in the top half of the field. He defeated local favorite T.J. Zizzo before losing to two-time champion Larry Dixon 3.830 to 3.839 in a close race in the quarterfinals.

Last June at the storied SuperNationals, Brown drove his Matco Tools dragster to the No. 5 qualifying position at 3.871 seconds at 315.05 mph. On race day, he bested Joe Hartley, Morgan Lucas, and seven-time series champion Tony Schumacher before fouling at the start causing and immediate disqualification against two-time champion Larry Dixon in the final round.

The 20-time winner has experienced a good deal of success at his home race track. The Chesterfield, N.J. native is a two-time winner at the historic New Jersey track. Raceway Park is one of five tracks where Brown has won multiple races. Brown also has three No. 1 qualifying awards at the Englishtown race, once in Top Fuel and twice on his PSM Suzuki. In 12 tries at the historic New Jersey drag strip, Brown has an average qualifying position of 4.1.

Brown, who won a category-best six races last season, enters the 10th race on the 2010 NHRA schedule ranked fifth in the Top Fuel standings. He trails two-time champion Larry Dixon by 323 points. Brown has three final-round appearances this season (Gainesville, Charlotte 1 and Houston) and three No. 1 qualifiers (Gainesville, Las Vegas 1 and Topeka). Last year, Brown had 10 finals and seven poles. His average qualifying position in 10races this year is 5.8

-source: dsr