BROWN, KALITTA ADVANCE TO NHRA SEMIFINALS IN CHICAGO

JOLIET, IL – Antron Brown and Doug Kalitta each advanced to the Top Fuel semifinals to lead Toyota at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals at the Route 66 Raceway in suburban Chicago.

Brown matched a season-best in qualifying with a second and then opened his day running the lowest time in the first round as he defeated Brittany Force. He then ran second-low of round two in his victory over Jordan Vandergriff. That set up a battle with eventual race winner Steve Torrence in the semifinals. Brown had an early edge on the tree, but was up in smoke around 250 feet, with the engine eventually letting go, giving Torrence the win.

“All in all, it was a good weekend,” said the three-time world champion. “We qualified second, ran low ET (3.736) of round one and second-low of round two (3.789). We were very competitive in the semifinal run, but the track was a little trickier and threw us a curve ball in the right lane. I’m feeling really good about where our whole team is right now. We’re improving and getting closer and closer to where we want to be. I think we can run for a championship again this year and I feel very blessed and fortunate to be with the group of guys that I’m with and have the support we do from Matco Tools and Toyota. I feel Topeka is going to be a good race for us and I’m looking forward to getting out there night weekend.”

Kalitta also had a strong showing this weekend. After qualifying fifth, he dispatched Shawn Reed in the opening round with a 3.752-second pass. The Mac Tools Toyota driver then defeated Pat Dakin to advance to the semifinals against Mike Salinas. Unfortunately, Kalitta left early on a red light, while Salinas picked up the win despite struggling to make a clean pass down the track.

Richie Crampton rounded out the Toyota contingent in Top Fuel with an impressive round one victory over sixth-seeded Austin Prock, 3.758-3.770. Facing Torrence in round two, Crampton had a slight advantage at the tree, but was was up in smoke by 330 feet and clicked it off.

In Funny Car, both Shawn Langdon and J.R. Todd were eliminated in the opening round. After qualifying fourth, Langdon fell to Jeff Arend, while Todd was defeated by John Force on a holeshot after running the second-quickest pass of the round.

The Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads to Topeka, Kansas, next weekend for the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals presented by Minties at Heartland Motorsports Park.