BROWN WINS CHICAGO; EARNS HISTORIC MILESTONE
JOLIET, IL – Antron Brown defeated Brittany Force in the Top Fuel final to earn his fourth victory of the season, as well as 
registering an historic milestone at today’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. The win also was the 10th in 12 races for a Toyota-sponsored car in NHRA Nitro competition this season.
Brown, the 2012 world champion, defeated Billy Torrence and Richie Crampton in the opening two rounds to advance to the semi-finals. He then defeated Clay Millican to become just the 16th driver in NHRA history to earn 500 career round wins and advance to the finals against Force. With today’s victory, he has moved to within 102 points of the lead in the Top Fuel point standings.
“It was a good day, but a trying day,” said the triumphant Brown. “It took all we had. We had a good run in that first round, but then we were just surviving in the two middle rounds. We knew we really had to go hard as a team for the final because that’s a good team. Brittany cut a .063 light, so we had to give it everything we had.
“It’s very special to reach 500 round wins. I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by some really good people in my career. I owe an awful lot to DSR. Don Schumacher (team owner) gives us everything our Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel dragster needs to win and most of those round wins came with him. It’s special to do it here in Chicago (Schumacher’s home base). We love coming here. But now we have to put this win behind us and enjoy it later. The competition level in this series is just so high. This championship is going to be hard, but everyone at DSR is hungry.”
Overall, three Toyota-sponsored Top Fuel cars advanced to the second round as Crampton and Shawn Langdon each won their opening match-up. Crampton beat T.J. ZIzzo in his first run before losing to Brown. Langdon knocked off Steve Torrence to begin the day, then lost to Force when he was unable to make a clean pass. Khalid alBalooshi lost his first round race.
In Funny Car, only Cruz Pedregon advanced beyond the first round as he defeated fellow Toyota Camry driver Chad Head before falling in a tight contest against Tommy Johnson, Jr. in round two. Del Worsham, who qualified second, was upset in the first round. Both Alexis DeJoria and Tony Pedregon also lost in round one. DeJoria missed Friday’s action due to illness, but came back today to post an impressive 4.089, but it wasn’t quite quick enough to knock off John Force.
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series concludes a four races-in-four weeks segment of the schedule next weekend in Norwalk, Ohio, with the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals, July 4-6. The race is round 13 of 18 in the regular season before The Countdown To The Championship begins at Charlotte in September.
