BROWNSBURG, IN – Angelle Sampey will make her 2024 debut in her backyard in the bayou thanks to the support of Range, an authorized Case IH and Kubota dealership located in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Sampey will power the Range Racing dragster, owned and operated by Michalek Brothers Racing (MBR), Feb. 23-25, at No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, Louisiana to open the NHRA Lucas Oil Series Division 4 season.

Sampey, a three-time NHRA world champion on two wheels, put the kickstand on her bike after the 2022 NHRA season and added two more wheels and heaps more horsepower when she earned her Top Alcohol Dragster license last summer in an A/Fuel dragster. She made her national event debut at the NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex near Dallas and raced to a semifinal finish in the MBR-prepared machine. Two weeks later she raced to the No. 1 qualifying spot at the fall Las Vegas race before scoring a runner-up finish at the NHRA Division 7 race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway a week later.

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BROWNSBURG, IN – Angelle Sampey never shies away from a challenge, and when Antron Brown suggested she try her hand at racing a 270-mph dragster, the three-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion jumped at the opportunity. With a few laps under her belt, the Cajun racer’s only regret was not trying four wheels and nitromethane sooner.

Sampey, winner of 46 NHRA national events, won’t have to wait very long for more rapid acceleration as AB Motorsports has partnered with Michalek Brothers Racing (MBR) to continue the ABM Accelerate program and campaign Sampey at a majority of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series events and a limited number of Lucas Oil Series events. Sampey will compete in the MBR-prepared A/Fuel dragster with support from Hangsterfer’s Metal Working Lubricants, Factory Motor Parts and the FVP brand, Mission Foods, and Lucas Oil.

“I had such an amazing experience last year with both the Michalek Brothers and Samsel Racing, and I’m so excited to have the opportunity to continue to race in an A/Fuel dragster in 2024,” Sampey, who calls Mathews, Louisiana home, said. “I’m not going to lie, I was very nervous strapping into the dragster at Ennis (Texas) last fall, but Corey and Kyle were tremendous mentors and kept me calm and taught me so much in a very short amount of time. I really do have to thank both the Michalek and Samsel teams for making me look more polished than I was.

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POMONA, CA – Antron Brown’s bid for one last Wally of the 2023 season came to an end in the second round of Sunday eliminations at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. A puff of tire smoke signaled the end of Brown’s day, but the energetic second-year team owner is nevertheless proud of his Matco Tools team’s accomplishments throughout the 21-race NHRA Camping World Series season.

Brown was hot and cold in qualifying. In Friday’s second session, the three-time Finals winner recorded a 3.689-second pass to take the provisional No. 7 spot. He coasted across the finish line in the third session on Saturday, then bounced back with the second-quickest pass of the final session, a 3.663 E.T., to qualify third for Sunday eliminations.

With Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald on the tune-up, Brown stayed in the 3.60-second zone in the first round of eliminations against Clay Millican. It was a side-by-side race, but Brown reached the finish line first with his 3.697-second pass at 333.74 MPH. That performance also stood as the quickest E.T. of the round. The AB Motorsports team was even more aggressive in the second round against championship contender Leah Pruett. It was a little too aggressive, as Brown and Pruett both went into tire smoke, though Pruett’s traction issues were further down track and she was able to hang on for the win.

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LAS VEGAS – In an unlikely first-round match-up between multi-time NHRA Top Fuel world champions, Antron Brown came up short next to Brittany Force Sunday morning at the NHRA Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Brown’s Matco ‘Tools for the Cause’ Top Fuel dragster made a representative run, but a quick flash of flame out of Brown’s engine spelled the end of his weekend in Las Vegas.

Brown, who won the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas in the spring, kicked off qualifying with a 3.768 E.T. on Friday. He followed that up with his quickest pass of the weekend, a 3.708-second pass at 329.10 MPH, to end Friday as the provisional No. 4 qualifier. He clicked it off early on Saturday’s third session after mixing up cylinders down-track, then recorded a 3.729 in the final session to get dialed in for Sunday eliminations. He ended up No. 7 on the final qualifying order.

Brown is no stranger to facing Brittany Force in eliminations, but it’s usually in the semifinals or final round, not the first round. Brown went into the race with a 27 – 14 round record against the defending world champion. He was a tick quicker than Force on the starting line, but Force took the lead after that. A fireball flashed out of Brown’s dragster as he crossed the finish line with a 3.739 E.T. at 315.34 MPH, while Force won with a 3.704 E.T.

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BROWNSBURG, IN – Less than two months after announcing she was trading in two wheels for four, three-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion Angelle Sampey is ready to make her competition debut in the Top Alcohol Dragster category at this weekend’s Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas.

“I feel very confident going into this weekend,” said Sampey, who recently completed a test session in the Michalek Brothers Racing’s A/Fuel Dragster at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park last Wednesday, Oct. 4. “What a night and day difference between where I’m at now and those first few licensing runs at Brainerd (Minn.) back in August. I will admit, when I first got into the car last Wednesday, I was nervous again because I hadn’t driven in three weeks, so I just had to get that first run down and shake the nerves off but I was good after that.”

In late August, AB Motorsports team owner and driver Antron Brown announced that Pro Stock Motorcycle’s winningest female rider would be the first athlete to join his new AB Motorsports Accelerate Program, an all-encompassing driver development program, which aims to provide an array of resources for racers looking to make the next step in their careers.

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MADISON, IL – Antron Brown rolled into World Wide Technology Raceway for the NHRA Midwest Nationals as the winningest nitro-class driver at the St. Louis-area facility. All signs were pointing to another victory until Brown’s pink Matco ‘Tools for the Cause’ Top Fuel dragster hazed the tires in a second-round loss on Sunday afternoon. He did maintain his No. 5 points position, though, as the NHRA Camping World Series heads into the final three races of the Countdown to the Championship.

The Midwest Nationals was the debut weekend for the new ‘Tools for the Cause’ livery, which will adorn Brown’s Matco Tools/Sirius XM/Toyota/Hangsterfer’s dragster throughout October to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). Since ‘Tools for the Cause’ began in 2012, Matco has donated over two million dollars to breast cancer research. Throughout October, 15% of the sales from select Tools for the Cause items sold will be donated directly to BCRF.

Brown, a five-time winner at St. Louis, started his weekend on the right foot by making the third-quickest pass of the first qualifying session, a 3.714-second run, to earn one bonus point on Friday. He came out in the second session on Saturday and laid down a 3.810 E.T., the quickest pass of the session, to score another three bonus points. A 3.769-second pass followed in the third and final session. Brown’s pass in the first session held up for the No. 3 spot on the final qualifying order.

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CONCORD, NC – Though Antron Brown didn’t go back-to-back at the betway NHRA Carolina Nationals, the four-time event champion did celebrate multiple career milestones at the second of six races in the Countdown to the Championship. Racing in his 500th professional event, Brown set a new career-best E.T. in his Matco Tools ‘Test Drive’ Top Fuel dragster before bowing out in the second round of eliminations Sunday at zMAX Dragway.

Brown was the provisional No. 5 qualifier after Friday’s lone qualifying session, where he recorded a 3.703-second pass at 332.10 MPH. Dropped cylinders in the second session on Saturday forced Brown to let out early. His career-best 3.655 E.T. in the final session was the second-quickest pass of the session, giving Brown two bonus points. The pass also moved Brown up to the No. 2 spot, setting up a first-round match with Spencer Massey.

With the confidence boost from a career-best performance in the final session, Brown kept the momentum going in the first round of eliminations when he posted a 3.686 E.T. at a huge 337.24 MPH to defeat Massey and his 3.745-second effort. That was the quickest pass of the round, giving Brown lane choice in his second-round pairing with fellow championship contender Leah Pruett. Brown grabbed a starting-line advantage over Pruett before losing traction and coasting through the finish line behind Pruett.

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MOHNTON, PA – Antron Brown was looking for a third consecutive event win to start the NHRA Countdown to the Championship at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, but a close second-round match with fellow multi-time world champion Steve Torrence didn’t go Brown’s way. The quarterfinal performance showed the potential in Brown’s Matco Tools ‘Test Drive’ Top Fuel dragster, so he’s confident his AB Motorsports team is ready to continue the Countdown portion of the NHRA Camping World Series season.

Brown, who went into the weekend ranked third in points, opened Friday qualifying with the second-quickest pass of the session to pick up two bonus points. He was the fifth-quickest in the second session with a 3.716-second pass at 321.50 MPH, which held up for the No. 5 qualifying position on the final qualifying order after two more sessions on Saturday. Brown suffered a supercharger backfire on the third session and wounded an engine on the final attempt, though his Matco Tools ‘Test Drive’ team led by Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald worked hard to get the car right for race day.

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Reading, PA – Antron Brown is seeking his third consecutive event win this weekend after having powered to victory in Indianapolis and Brainerd, Minn., the two most recent events on tour.  Brown’s Indianapolis triumph was his 74th national event win overall (16 Pro Stock Motorcycle wins). He will be seeking a milestone 75th victory this weekend in Reading.

Reading marks the start of the 2023 NHRA Countdown to the Championship. Brown begins the Countdown from the No. 3 seed.  In 2022, Brown began the Countdown ranked fourth and closed out the season in second place with 12 Countdown round-wins (incl. a win at Charlotte 2 and runner-up finish at Pomona 2).

The second-year team owner is pursuing a fourth series title and the first for AB Motorsports.  Brown is a 15-time Countdown event winner, the most of any Top Fuel or Funny Car driver.  Brown raced to the Reading winner’s circle in 2015 and 2016, and both of those seasons ended with Brown and the Matco Tools team being crowned the series champions.

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