Brown puts Matco Tools in third Winner’s Circle of 2014, Beckman has dramatic day for runner-up finish in Texas

BAYTOWN, TX – Antron Brown and the Matco Tools Top Fuel team scored their third win in four final round appearances through six NHRA Mello Yello Series events on Sunday at Royal Purple Raceway near Houston.

An even more impressive statistic is that it is the Matco Tools team’s fifth event win in seven final round appearances in the last 10 NHRA events, dating back to 2013. It was Brown’s 44th career win and 28th in NHRA’s elite Top Fuel category. Brown now owns the Top Fuel points lead.

Don Schumacher Racing now holds 223 NHRA event titles.

DSR’s Spencer Massey and the Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher team fell to Brown in the second round of Sunday’s partly cloudy and humid eliminations at the Texas track. U.S. Army’s Tony Schumacher was ousted in the first round of competition by event runner-up Khalid alBalooshi of Al-Anabi Racing.

In Funny Car, Jack Beckman led the DSR quad before falling to Robert Hight in the final Round. Beckman had a dramatic eliminations day when his Infinite Hero Foundation (IHF) Funny Car tagged a support barrier at the top end turn-off resulting in body damage to the weekend’s Best Appearing Car. The team needed to use its backup IHF Dodge body for the final round.

Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS team had a tough day racing Don Schumacher Racing teammates during three rounds of competition. Capps knocked out Matt Hagan and the Rocky Boots/Mopar team in the first round and Tommy Johnson Jr.’s Make-A-Wish crew in the second round before falling to Beckman in the semifinal round.

After a two-week hiatus, the NHRA Mello Yello tour will resume in three weeks, May 16-18, at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga.