BRISTOL, TN – After becoming only the sixth driver in NHRA history to reach the 800th round win milestone during last year’s Thunder Valley Nationals, Antron Brown was looking for more Bristol Dragway success this weekend during the annual Bristol, Tennessee event. Specifically, Brown was seeking his first Thunder Valley event triumph. With 75 national event victories, the three-time Top Fuel world champ is one of the most decorated drivers in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, but a win at Bristol Dragway has eluded him. Brown’s race weekend began with a No. 3 seeded qualifying effort, putting him in prime position to finally score the Bristol Wally, but the driver of the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster found himself on the wrong side of a great drag race in round one of eliminations on Sunday morning, ending his chances at a first Bristol win.

Like most of the nitro field, Brown’s qualifying outing started with tire haze in the first round but his 3.945-second at 300 MPH pass was enough to put him in the No. 5 spot heading into the second session. In Friday night’s ‘field setting’ round, Brown kept his Matco Tools Toyota hooked up and firing on all eight cylinders to clock a 3.809-second at 321.27 MPH pass, moving him up two positions to third and earning a bonus point for recording the third-quickest run of the session in the process. He made another good run in the heat of the day on Saturday – a 3.886 – before losing traction in the final session. Although Brown scored a favorable qualifying position, he still found himself with a tough first-round match, facing reigning series champion Doug Kalitta on Sunday morning. Continue reading →

EPPING, NH – Even though Antron Brown rolled into the NHRA New England Nationals as the most recent Top Fuel winner on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour, he suffered a first-round exit in a marquee matchup Sunday morning at New England Dragway. Brown left the starting line first in his Matco Tools/Lucas Oil/Toyota dragster, but tire smoke ended his day early. Still, the three-time world champion leaves Epping No. 5 in the point standings.

Brown, who earned his milestone 75th career NHRA national event win at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals near Chicago two weeks ago, started his Epping weekend on a positive note as he charged to the fourth-quickest pass of the first qualifying session on Friday, a 3.766-second E.T. at 330.80 MPH. Though co-crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald also led Brown to another clean pass in the final session, his first run stood as his quickest effort in qualifying. That put Brown in the No. 9 spot on the final order after a total of four qualifying sessions.

Brown, the 2016 event champion and runner-up in 2017-2018, entered Sunday eliminations as one half of NHRA’s Marquee Matchup. Motorsports icon Tony Stewart, who qualified No. 8, made up the other half. Brown grabbed a sizable holeshot advantage, but he was also the first of the two wheelmen to drive into tire smoke. He had to coast across the finish line with a 4.436 E.T. at 200.38 MPH while the win light came on in Stewart’s lane. Continue reading →

JOLIET, IL – Former Pro Stock Motorcycle racer turned three-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown secured his first win of the season and the 75th win of his career Sunday afternoon at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway outside Chicago. In an all-Toyota final round between two past world champions, Brown in his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster laid down a 3.838-second charge at 324.75 MPH to finish ahead of Shawn Langdon. Brown is now fifth in the points standings after six races on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule.

Brown’s weekend started with tire smoke in the first qualifying session on Friday, but co-crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald went back to the drawing board and tuned Brown to a 3.775-second pass at 331.36 MPH to move up to the No. 6 spot. The AB Motorsports dragster lost traction again in the third session on Saturday, then charged to the fifth-quickest pass of the final session, a 3.857 E.T., to hang on to the sixth position for Sunday eliminations.

The first round of eliminations saw Brown match up with rookie Jasmine Salinas. Brown grabbed a sizable starting line advantage and kept it going to win with a 4.113-second effort, while Salinas crossed the center line behind him. Brown, who was 8-7 in prior matchups with second-round opponent Justin Ashley going into the round, added another win to his tally with his 3.891 E.T. over Ashley’s 5.081 E.T. Another starting line advantage and a consistent 3.894 E.T. at 312.28 over Steve Torrence’s 5.467 E.T. in the semifinals sent Brown to the 136th final round of his professional drag racing career, including Pro Stock Motorcycle. Continue reading →

The New Jersey-based developer of high-quality metalworking lubricants is now the primary partner on Accelerate Athlete Angelle Sampey’s A/Fuel Dragster for 2024 NHRA season

BROWNSBURG, IN – Now in its 11th season as an energetic supporter of AB Motorsports (ABM) and three-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown, Hangsterfer’s Metalworking Lubricants is increasing its involvement with ABM as the primary partner on the A/Fuel Dragster driven by three-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Angelle Sampey for her final 10 races on the 2024 NHRA calendar.

“We wanted to ensure that Angelle, Antron, and the entire Michalek Brothers Racing team had all the necessary resources to race towards the Lucas Oil Series championship this season,” Mike Ditzel, Global Director of Performance Products, said. “We said many times how important the relationship with AB Motorsports, Antron, and the sport of NHRA Drag Racing is to our business and customer base, and with (car owner) Kyle Michalek running a machine shop, this was a very simple choice for us. We’re thrilled to debut a vibrant livery that highlights the Hangsterfer’s story on the track while Angelle and Antron continue to do a terrific job of telling that story off the track.”

The Hangsterfer’s Metalworking Lubricants A/Fuel Dragster, owned and maintained by Ohio-based Michalek Brothers Racing, makes its on-track debut at the May 3-4 Indy 800 Cleetus and Cars event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Sampey is a two-time Pro Stock Motorcycle winner (2001-’02) of the prestigious U.S. Nationals at IRP. Beyond the Indy 800 Cletus and Cars race, the Hangsterfer’s dragster will compete in at least nine additional events on the 2024 NHRA schedule in both the Lucas Oil and Mission Foods series. Continue reading →

CONCORD, NC – Three-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown backed up his No. 2 qualifying position by racing to a final-round finish at the Four-Wide Nationals Sunday afternoon at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte. The driver of the Matco Tools 45th Anniversary Toyota dragster has now visited the final quad at five of the last eight Four-Wide events going back to 2021, when he reached the final round at both the Las Vegas and Charlotte races. Brown leaves Charlotte sixth in the points standings.

In qualifying, Brown made a clean 3.761-second pass to start the weekend as the No. 6 qualifier. That gave co-crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald the data they needed to send Brown on a 3.698-second, 332.18 MPH pass in the second session to move up to the No. 2 spot, collecting two bonus points in the process. Brown, who won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals, used a 3.768-second pass in the third session to win the first round of the Charlotte Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. He was second off the line in the final round, which also counted as the final qualifying session, but drove into tire smoke and shut it off. He maintained the No. 2 spot for Sunday eliminations.

Race day for Brown started with NHRA’s Top Fuel Marquee Matchup, which also featured Toyota teammates Shawn Langdon and Steve Torrence, as well as Brittany Force, for a total of 10 NHRA world championships among the four. Brown left the starting line first and laid down low E.T. of the round, a 3.718 E.T. at 334.48 MPH, to finish ahead of Langdon and Torrence. In the second round, Brown met Force again, joining Justin Ashley and Tony Stewart. Brown made it to the finish line second with a 3.728 E.T. at 333.66 MPH, beating Force and Stewart to the stripe for a spot in the final quad. Continue reading →

LAS VEGAS – Less than 24 hours after Antron Brown won his first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the season, the defending Top Fuel winner of the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas was looking to go two-for-two on the weekend in Sunday eliminations at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Brown finished third in his first-round quad, though, sending the third-year team owner and his Matco Tools team back to the drawing board for the upcoming Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte.

Brown and his AB Motorsports team led by co-crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald started building momentum in the second qualifying session on Friday when the Matco Tools dragster recorded the second-quickest pass of the session, a 3.803-second E.T., to collect two bonus points. In the third session, which also counted as the first round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, he was the quickest of his quad to finish ahead of the other three drivers. Brown saved his best pass for the last session and final round of the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, a 3.792 E.T. at 330.72 MPH, to get the win, the $10,000 prize, and three championship bonus points. He also solidified the No. 6 spot in qualifying. Continue reading →

LAS VEGAS – NHRA Four-Wide Nationals defending Top Fuel event champion Antron Brown raced his Matco Tools dragster to victory on Saturday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, picking up his first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win of the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Series season.

Brown qualified for the Las Vegas running of the Mission Foods-backed ‘race within a race’ when he advanced to the quarterfinals a week prior at the NHRA Arizona Nationals near Phoenix where he came up short against Toyota teammate Shawn Langdon. Brown didn’t have to wait long for redemption as he lined up against Langdon as well as Shawn Reed and Steve Torrence in the first #2Fast2Tasty elimination quad a few days later during day two of qualifying for the Las Vegas four-wide event. Against his first three opponents, Brown clocked a 3.816 E.T., the quickest run of the group, to advance. Langdon recorded the second-quickest pass to advance alongside Brown, pitting the two world champions against each other once again in the final elimination quad. Continue reading →

CHANDLER, AZ – Antron Brown is pleased with the strides his AB Motorsports team made during the NHRA Arizona Nationals as they continue to learn a new clutch combination, which Brown credits to helping his team score a top-seeded qualifying position and quarterfinal finish during their outing at Firebird Motorsports Park.

Aboard the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster, Brown opened the weekend with a solid 3.738-second at 329.34 MPH run on Friday evening to provisionally place him fourth in the qualifying order. On Saturday, he backed up his strong performance with another great run of 3.771 seconds. Although the Q2 pass didn’t allow him to move up on the timing sheets, it did hold up to be the quickest of the round, earning him three bonus points. He closed out qualifying with a tire smoker in the third session. Starting from the No. 4 position, Brown faced his NHRA Winternationals opponent, No. 13 qualifier Clay Millican in the opening round of eliminations.

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POMONA, CA – After winning the Pep Boys Top Fuel All-Star Callout followed by a semifinal finish on race day at the season-opening Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, Antron Brown and the Matco Tools team began the NHRA Winternationals looking to keep their positive momentum rolling at the second event on the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule.

Brown qualified his machine eighth on the strength of his first qualifying run, which saw him post a 3.807 E.T. at 322.11 MPH while the majority of the nitro field struggled to put together a clean run. He went into Saturday occupying the provisional No. 5 position and with the hope of having two more cracks at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip track. Persistent rain showers on Saturday significantly delayed the day’s on-track activities, and after the skies finally cleared, teams were limited to just one additional qualifying opportunity before the elimination fields were set. The Matco Tools team returned to the starting line for Q2 looking to improve their position on the ladder but after an early loss of traction, Brown eventually settled into the No. 8 spot.

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BROWNSBURG, IN – Genesis Attachments, an industry-leading manufacturer of hydraulic mobile shears, concrete processors, grapples, and specialty attachments, has joined three-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown’s AB Motorsports team it was announced today.

One highlight of the partnership is Brown’s appearance, with the Matco Tools dragster, at the ISRI (Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries) Annual Convention in Las Vegas, April 15-18, at the Mandalay Bay Casino & Resort. Brown’s 11,000-horsepower dragster will be front and center in the Genesis booth, #A8, on the show floor. ISRI is the voice of the recycling industry, promoting safe, economically-sustainable and environmentally-responsible recycling through networking, advocacy, and education.

“This is a great fit for us since Genesis Attachments’ tagline is ‘The Promise of Performance’ and  Antron and team are top-performing world champions,” said Justin Palvere, Genesis director of North American sales. “We’re excited to host Antron at ISRI and share his story and success with the recycling industry.”

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