Epping, NH – The four-time and defending Top Fuel world champ enters the summer sprint of four races in five weeks occupying the No. 3 spot in the standings. In the first six events, Brown has one win, a runner-up finish, and a pole and secured a milestone 50th No. 1 qualifier during the 2023 Epping, N.H. event.

“So many great memories up there in Epping. One thing that always stands out about this race is ‘Wild Bill’s’ bus tour with a great group of Matco Tools distributors and customers. I love getting to mix in with all of our wonderful Matco supporters and getting to spend time with them. And for me, it’s also always nice to be closer to home. I’m an east coast boy from Jersey so I always look forward to seeing family and friends at this race,” expressed Brown.

“Looking forward to getting back into the points chase during these June races. We’re third right now but looking to get back to that No. 1 spot. We know these next five weeks will be grueling, but we’re focused. This will be a crucial part of the regular season where you can make some big points moves. We want that regular-season championship trophy. We’re right in the hunt, in the middle of it all, and we’re looking to grow and continue to improve.” Continue reading →

JOLIET, IL – Four-time and reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown once again showed why Route 66 Raceway is one of his favorite stops on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour. The defending event winner at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals, Brown blazed his way to the quarterfinals, setting a track speed record along the way in his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster. Brown leaves the Chicagoland track ranked third in the Top Fuel point standings.

A six-time winner at Route 66 Raceway, Brown made his presence known early and often throughout qualifying. In Friday’s opening session, he posted a 3.907-second pass despite dropping cylinders, which placed him fourth at the time. Brown lost traction early in the second qualifying session, ending the day No. 8 on the qualifying sheet.

Crew chief Brian Corradi refined the tune-up for the third qualifying session on Saturday, which doubled as the first round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge. Brown, who earned a spot in the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge by reaching the final quad at the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, lined up against Tony Stewart in what was a thrilling side-by-side race. Brown clocked a 3.691 E.T. at 336.23 mph, but Stewart edged him out with a career-best 3.679. The pass did propel Brown back to the No. 4 spot, though. Brown closed out qualifying in style during the final session, ripping off a 3.697 at 338.09 mph, the fastest pass in Route 66 Raceway history. It was also Brown’s fastest career pass as well as the quickest run of the session, giving Brown three bonus points. Continue reading →

Joliet, IL – Brown returns to Joliet as the defending Top Fuel event champ. Brown’s Route 66 Nationals victory was the first of six national event wins for the AB Motorsports team in 2024.  Joliet also a milestone garnered his 75th career win.

With six overall Chicago triumphs (two in PSM), Brown is tied with Jeg Coughlin Jr. for winningest Mission Foods Series driver in the history of the facility.  Antron has advanced to the final elimination quad at the previous two events, both contested four-across. His Charlotte outing earned him a spot in the Chicago running of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge.

“We’re looking forward to going to Chicago. It’s always been a really good racetrack for this Matco Tools Lucas Oil team. We peeled off a win there last year, so it feels good to come back. We’re going to see if we can just repeat that. This race always has a lot of special memories and meaning for us. This is the hometown of the late, great Don Schumacher, who started a lot of our careers out in drag racing and let us live that dream and win championships. We’re going to go out there and race hard and try to bring it home. We want to honor Don Schumacher and all of the things he’s done for us in the past. I’m looking forward to having a good weekend.” noted Brown. Continue reading →

CONCORD, NC – Antron Brown, winner of the 800th NHRA Top Fuel race in 2015, went into the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway looking to become the 1,000th Top Fuel race winner. Though the driver of the Matco Tools Toyota dragster came up one win light short of the historic milestone on Sunday, Brown did notch his 13th final-quad appearance in four-wide events, the most of any professional driver. It was Brown’s second consecutive four-wide final-quad appearance after the Las Vegas event, helping him maintain his No. 3 spot in the Top Fuel points standings.

Brown went to the provisional No. 1 spot in Friday’s first qualifying session when he laid down a 3.703 E.T. at 328.62 mph. He lost traction early in the run in the second session, ending Friday in the No 5 spot. Brown went into race mode on Saturday as he competed in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge, which he qualified for by reaching the semifinals at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals. He left first in his quad against Josh Hart, Shawn Reed, and Clay Millican and won with a 3.791 E.T. at 324.90 mph. Brown then finished second in the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge final quad, coasting to a 5.411 E.T. at 168.39 mph.

Qualified fifth, Brown started Sunday eliminations in a quad with Doug Foley, Reed, and Millican. Brown finished second behind Foley, sending him to the second round with Foley, recent first-time NHRA winner Tony Stewart, and four-time world champion Steve Torrence. Brown moved first and raced to a 3.751 E.T. at 335.24 mph to advance to his 13th final-quad appearance between the Las Vegas and Charlotte four-wide events. Continue reading →

LAS VEGAS – When it comes to the NHRA’s unique Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte and Las Vegas, no professional category driver has more final-quad appearances than Antron Brown. The four-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion added another final-quad finish Sunday afternoon at the Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when he notched a runner-up finish to motorsports icon Tony Stewart. Brown qualified third in his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster and set low E.T. of the semifinals on the way to his 12th four-wide final quad showing between the Las Vegas and Charlotte events.

Brown started qualifying with a mid-pack position as he posted a 4.628 E.T. at 172.56 mph to sit fifth after the tricky first session on Friday. He stepped up by a bunch and moved up a spot to fourth in the second session with his 3.916 E.T. at 312.35 mph, which was the third-quickest pass of the session, to earn one bonus point. Brown stayed consistent with a 3.957-second pass in the third session on Saturday, then he picked up another bonus point when he was the third-quickest driver in the final session with a 3.787-second pass at 326.08 mph. That put Brown No. 3 on the final qualifying order. Continue reading →

POMONA, CA – Four-time and reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown’s Sunday race day at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals ended early, but Brown and his Matco Tools team learned from the traction issues that bit them in the opening round. The fourth-year driver and team owner and crew chief Brian Corradi are motivated to bounce back from the tire-smoking incident as the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series moves on from In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Brown made moves in qualifying, which also saw him compete in the Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout. In the first session and the first round of the Callout, Brown laid down a 3.695-second pass at 336.65 mph to sit third, defeating Shawn Langdon and earning a bonus point in the process. He went up in smoke right away in the second session and second round of the Callout, then made a smooth 3.704 E.T. at 337.16 mph – the third-quickest pass of the third session – to earn his second bonus point in qualifying. A consistent 3.696 E.T. at 336.74 mph in the final qualifying session gave Brown confidence going into eliminations in the No. 7 spot.

Brown, who won the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals to start the month, met up with motorsports Hall of Famer Tony Stewart in Sunday’s first round of eliminations, a battle between two Indiana-based driver/team owners. Brown left second, but it was the tire smoke that followed just after Brown launched that ended his day. Continue reading →

CHANDLER, AZ – Two weeks after winning the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals, four-time and reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown faced vastly different conditions at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park. Brown in his Matco Tools dragster made the second-quickest pass of Sunday’s first round of eliminations, but a dropped cylinder in the second round ended Brown’s day. The hot conditions gave crew chief Brian Corradi and the AB Motorsports team valuable data along with confidence in their ability to adapt to a wide range of variables.

Brown qualified in the middle of the pack in the first qualifying session, taking the provisional No. 6 spot with his 3.889 E.T. at 292.33 mph. He laid down a 3.710-second pass at 331.69 mph in the second session to jump up two spots to fourth. The third qualifying session counted as the first round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge, which Brown qualified for when he made it to the semifinals in Gainesville. Facing Tony Stewart, who was in as an alternate, Brown launched ahead of Stewart but lost traction and dropped cylinders. He then focused on the final qualifying session, where he set low E.T. of the session, a 3.800 E.T. at 326.71 mph. Brown picked up three bonus points for that performance. Continue reading →

GAINESVILLE, FL – Four-time and reigning Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown and his AB Motorsports Matco Tools team wasted no time kicking off their title defense campaign. Brown will start race day from the NHRA Gatornationals, the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season opener, from the pole position when eliminations get underway on Sunday morning.

Brown clinched the 51st No. 1 qualifier award of his career and third at Gainesville Raceway on the strength of his 3.685-second at 334.24 mph pass, recorded during Friday’s second qualifying session. Mother Nature was relentless on Saturday with persistent rain showers lasting most of the day, forcing NHRA to cancel all on-track activities, including the Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout. Brown won the 2024 edition of the Callout, now rescheduled for the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif. The 80-time NHRA national event winner, and three-time specialty race champion in 2024, will square off against Shawn Langdon in the first round of the highly anticipated ‘race within a race’ when the NHRA returns to In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, March 28 – 30. But for now, he’s focused on the task at hand – making a statement with a win at the first event of the year.

“That’s something we’ve been shooting for, for a while – to be a No. 1 qualifier,” said Brown, who most recently started from the top of the elimination ladder during the 2023 Epping, N.H. event. “We used to do it quite often, but the competition got so steep and tough where we qualified the way we race. And now, we’ve picked up the pace and picked up the tone. We went out to the PRO Superstar Shootout pre-season event this year and felt really good to be the No. 1 qualifier there and run a low 3.60 and then to come out here, and have the same pace, and be the No. 1 qualifier is where we need to be. A bummer we weren’t able to do the All-Star Callout. We feel bad for the fans, but you can’t control Mother Nature. With that being said, we’ll get ready for tomorrow.”

Carrying the ‘No. 1’ champions’ decal on his 11,000 horsepower Matco Tools dragster for the fourth time in his career, the fourth-year team owner/driver is looking to add to his one prior Gainesville Raceway victory from the 2013 event when he lines up opposite No. 16 qualifier Krista Baldwin for the first round of eliminations on Sunday morning.

“Tomorrow is our first race day, and it starts at 9:30 a.m. (ET), so we’ll be up fresh and early in the morning so we can get ready to get after it,” added Brown, who is competing in his 525th national event this weekend. “I’m really pumped to start the season as we had a good offseason. My mind’s right, the team’s right. Everybody’s right and we’re ready to go out here and see what we can do.”

GAINESVILLE, FL – Four-time and defending Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown powered to the first provisional pole of the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season on Friday night at the NHRA Gatornationals.

Under the Gainesville Raceway lights, Brown took his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster to the No. 1 spot when he powered to a 3.685-second at 334.24 mph pass during the second qualifying session at the series’ season opener. Top Fuel pilot Tripp Tatum also recorded a 3.685-second pass, but Brown edged past to move to the top of the timing sheets thanks to outpacing Tatum’s speed of 326.56 mph.

“This is our brand-new car that we had in Bradenton (Fla.) from the PRO Superstar Shootout that got messed up when we cut a tire,” said Brown. “We put a new front and back half on it. We weren’t trying to go out there and kill it. We knew the track could hold a 64 or 65, 66, anywhere in the mid-3.60 range. We just wanted to get high up in the top half of the field, that was our goal. We didn’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot. It felt smooth all the way down, didn’t try to drift left or right, just went straight as an arrow. I got to the finish line, shut it off, and saw that 68 on the board, and I thought okay, that’s a good, solid run. We’ve got a good starting point. Continue reading →

BRADENTON, FL – A global leader in the motorsports, aerospace, and medical manufacturing industries, Hangsterfer’s Metalworking Lubricants is proud to continue to support cutting-edge initiatives both on and off the race track. Hangsterfer’s latest contribution to NHRA Drag Racing includes partnering with AB Motorsports Accelerate program athlete Angelle Sampey as she prepares to debut the first enclosed canopy cockpit on an A/Fuel dragster when the 2025 NHRA season opens with the Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway next month.

As a former member of Don Schumacher Racing, AB Motorsports team owner and driver Antron Brown was the second NHRA driver to compete in the modern canopy Top Fuel dragster that first hit the track in 2012. NHRA officials have since authorized the canopy-style dragster body to compete in the Top Alcohol Dragster category beginning in 2025.

“We’re excited to be the first to field a canopy car in the Top Alcohol Dragster class,” Brown said. “I first started racing in a canopy car in 2013 and it’s something I feel strongly about. Safety is always first and foremost and I’m glad we were able to implement this on Angelle’s car. A huge thank you to Hangsterfer’s for supporting this initiative. This is the next step in seeing the category continue to be a developmental platform for the future crop of Top Fuel drivers. Our goal has always been to steadily prepare Angelle to move to Top Fuel and by converting our race-proven backup car into an A/Fuel car, we’re moving towards that objective.” Continue reading →