Brown completes rebound with Gatornationals Top Fuel title to give Don Schumacher Racing 200th NHRA event trophy
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 17, 2013) -
Exactly one month after Antron Brown's horrific crash at the NHRA Mello
Yello Drag Series season-opener at Pomona, Calif., the reigning Top
Fuel world champion experienced diametrically opposite emotions.
On Sunday, in the NHRA
Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla., Brown and his Matco Tools team led
by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald did more than just win the
event title.
After Don Schumacher Racing
teammate Johnny Gray set the table by winning the Funny Car title, Brown
sealed the deal to give DSR its 200th NHRA national event title.
"I just feel incredibly blessed
to be a part of this whole organization," said Brown, who has
contributed 20 titles to the list. "To bring that 200th win home with
Johnny and myself, it was all of us together. It wasn't just my team or
his team, it was all of us together at DSR."
DSR owner Don Schumacher, who
won the first of his five NHRA Funny Car titles in 1970, was emotional
when he met with media members.
"It's a tremendous reward,"
said Schumacher, who will be inducted May 2 into the International
Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega, Ala.
"I can't say what this
personally feels like. When we won both championships in November, my
mother passed away on the day of the banquet the next day. I haven't had
joy really since then.
"Today brings a special meaning to all of my efforts out here for all of these years."
For Brown, he reflects back to Sunday, Feb. 17, when an engine failure led to a crash that he was able to walk away from.
"Everything that Don has been
orchestrating in all the years he's been in drag racing has been about
building the quickest, the fastest and absolutely the safest cars. I
believe he's done that, especially with the way I was able to walk away
from that accident at Pomona."
Returning is one step, but dominating so soon is another.
"We knew we wanted to come out
here and have some fun, but we had to execute. The Top Fuel class right
now by far is the toughest it's ever been. Different people are setting
low ETs and you never know what to expect. To go up against our teammate
in the semis, that was like a final too."
Brown guided his Matco Tools
dragster to a 3.761 second run at 318.77 mph to finish in front of Clay
Millican, who posted a 3.813 at 319.67, in the championship round.
Before that, Brown outran Larry Dixon, Steve Torrence and DSR teammate Spencer Massey in the first three rounds.
The win enabled the Matco team to move around teammate Tony Schumacher for the points lead.
The following are Brown's results from this weekend's NHRA Gatornationals and other notes:
TOP FUEL
Event winner: Antron Brown (DSR)
No. 1 qualifier: Doug Kalitta (Kalitta Motorsports) 3.779, 326.32 mph
Antron Brown, Matco Tools dragster
Qualifying position: No. 2
CHAMPIONSHIP ELIMINATIONS
SUNDAY
First round: BROWN (3.782 sec., 321.81) def. Larry Dixon (3.881, 302.55)
Second round: BROWN (3.771, 326.48) def. Steve Torrence (3.793, 326.08)
Semifinals: BROWN (3.777, 320.74) def. Spencer Massey (3.799, 325.92)
Final: BROWN (3.761, 318.77) def. Clay Millican (3.813, 319.67)
