BROWN TAKES TOYOTA TO #1 IN NEW ENGLAND NHRA QUALIFYING
EPPING, NH – Antron Brown ran a track record 3.770-second pass to earn the Top Fuel number one qualifier for Sunday’s Auto-
Plus NHRA New England Nationals at the New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire.
Brown’s record run on Friday night held up through Saturday qualifying to give him the number one seed for Sunday’s first-round of eliminations. It is his 36th career number one qualifier and his second pole of the season with the other coming at Las Vegas.
“The track definitely had some teeth in it,” said Brown. “After Friday, we just wanted to come out today and run well. We learned a lot for tomorrow. We have a lot of confidence going into race day, but there are so many cars running well. We’ll need to be at the top of our game and to come out and compete.”
Rookie Richie Crampton topped both Friday and Saturday’s first sessions and qualified third overall. The Aussie’s 3.774-second run was the quickest by any driver during a daytime session. Khalid alBalooshi qualified 10th and teammate Shawn Langdon, who won the most recent event at Bristol, placed 11th.
Cruz Pedregon fell just short of his fourth Funny Car pole position of the season in qualifying second with a 4.026-second run on Friday night. He then came out in Saturday’s second session and posted second quick time in the hottest temperatures of the weekend. Pedregon’s Camry has been in top form in recent weeks. He ran the quickest pass in Funny Car history on the way to winning the Toyota Summernationals at Englishtown, as well as having reached the finals at Topeka. Alexis DeJoria topped Friday’s first qualifying session and qualified fifth overall. Del Worsham placed 11th, while Tony Pedregon will start from the 12th position.
Sunday’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series eliminations will be televised LIVE at 1 p.m. on ESPN.
