Antron Brown Motorsports
Antron Brown Starts 2024 NHRA Season with Pep Boys All-Star Callout Win, Semifinal Finish at Gatornationals
GAINESVILLE, FL – The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season got off to a strong start for Antron Brown, driver of the 45th 
anniversary Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel dragster. Racing at the NHRA Gatornationals, Brown won the $80,000-to-win Pep Boys Top Fuel All-Star Callout specialty race on Saturday before reaching the Gatornationals semifinals Sunday afternoon at Gainesville Raceway.
Brown and his AB Motorsports team qualified for the Pep Boys Top Fuel All-Star Callout based on their 2023 performance. He knocked out three fellow past world champions – Shawn Langdon, Steve Torrence, and Brittany Force – to win the special race within a race. Brown’s 3.709-second effort at 332.43 MPH in the Callout final against Force moved him from No. 14 to No. 4 on the final qualifying order.
Brown’s winning ways continued Sunday morning in the first round of eliminations when opponent Tripp Tatum went red, while Brown raced to a 3.730-second pass at 333.00 MPH to earn lane choice over Josh Hart in the second round. Brown and Hart left the line with nearly identical reaction times before Hart started to lose traction. Brown matched his first-round performance with a 3.730 E.T. at 332.84 MPH to finish ahead of Hart’s 3.866 E.T. In a semifinal rematch of the Callout first round, Brown drove into tire smoke next to Shawn Langdon’s winning 3.702-second pass.
Antron Brown Wins Pep Boys All-Star Callout at 2024 NHRA Season-Opener
GAINESVILLE, FL – Antron Brown’s 2024 campaign got off to a hot start on Saturday night at the NHRA Gatornationals when he powered 
to victory in the Pep Boys Top Fuel All-Star Callout specialty race. Brown defeated three world champions to capture his first win of the year during the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season-opener, winning an $80,000 bonus purse and a special wrestling-inspired champions’ belt trophy.
The AB Motorsports team’s 2023 qualifying performance allowed them to secure a berth in the race-within-a-race, which featured a gauntlet of eight Top Fuel heavy-hitters with a combined 11 world championships between them. Brown faced his Toyota teammate Shawn Langdon in the opening round, which was contested during the event’s third qualifying session. Both drivers encountered traction issues and pedaled down the track with the three-time world champ crossing the finish line stripe first to advance. Next up was another Toyota driver, Steve Torrence.
Brown moved first and took his 45th anniversary Matco Tools Toyota dragster down the track in 3.761 seconds to defeat his friend’s 3.765 E.T. Despite winning the first two rounds of the Callout race, Brown went into the final round of qualifying, which also served as the showdown of the Pep Boys race, sitting in the No. 14 spot. There he faced his third world champion in his opponent Brittany Force. Against Force, Brown laid down a stout 3.709 E.T. at 332.43 MPH to defeat her 3.730-second attempt and moved up to fourth on the Gatornationals elimination ladder in the process.
Hangsterfer’s Metalworking Lubricants Enters Second Decade as Major Partner of Antron Brown
Expands Involvement to Include ABM Accelerate Driver Angelle Sampey in A/Fuel Dragster Including Primary Livery at Gatornationals
BROWNSBURG, IN – Strong relationships are vital to longevity in motorsports, and Antron Brown prides himself on the AB Motorsports 
(ABM) organizational culture of ensuring partner success on and off the racetrack. One of the many ABM success stories is that of New Jersey-based Hangsterfer’s Metalworking Lubricants, which enters its second decade as a major partner of Brown’s Top Fuel team. In addition to continuing to support the three-time Top Fuel world champion in 2024, Hangsterfer’s has announced that it has also committed to backing AB Motorsports Accelerate athlete Angelle Sampey as she embarks on her first full season competing in the Top Alcohol Dragster category.
“The goal at ABM is to create a culture of family amongst our employees and partners,” Brown said. “And Hangsterfer’s is family. We met the Jones family through Randy Ditzel at Half Scale Dragsters when my kids started racing Jr. Dragsters. Randy’s brother, Mike, works for Hangsterfer’s and that’s how the relationship started and has just prospered ever since.
“I’m from New Jersey and Hangsterfer’s is headquartered in the Garden State, so it’s just a great marriage for our race team, the sport of NHRA Drag Racing, and Hangsterfer’s products,” Brown added. “Creating new business opportunities is key for our sport and NHRA has provided a perfect outlet to network and produce tangible results for Hangsterfer’s. They’re a crucial piece of the ABM puzzle and they also work with other teams in the sport and many of our vendors who produce the parts we use on our 11,000 horsepower race cars.”
Fire Dept. Coffee Returns to AB Motorsports as Official Coffee Provider of Antron Brown’s Top Fuel Team and the NHRA
BROWNSBURG, IN – Coffee, cars, and first responders are central characteristics of Americana, as are the need for speed and the craving 
for that morning cup of coffee. NHRA champion Antron Brown and his AB Motorsports (ABM) team will continue to enjoy their daily mug of Fire Dept. Coffee (FDC) as the Rockford, Illinois-based coffee provider returns as the Official Coffee of ABM and the NHRA.
The ABM and FDC relationship stems from Matco Tools’ Matco Plus program, which led to FDC joining the three-time champion in his first season as a team owner/driver in 2022. A year later, FDC increased its involvement with ABM, becoming the presenting partner of ABM’s Pit-Side Experience trackside hospitality program, which hosts more than 5,000 guests annually across the 21 NHRA races and was named the Official Coffee of the NHRA. In addition to branding on the Matco dragster’s catch can, FDC branding will also be present near the GOVX logo on the canopy lid of Brown’s ride.
“FDC joined us in year one of ABM and has continued to be such a strong supporter and grow with us each year and that’s awesome,” Brown said. “We started with a coffee bar area in our hospitality tent in 2022 and expanded to FDC having presenting rights on the Pit-Side Experience hospitality area last season where we got to share the amazing FDC coffee line with our more than 5,000 guests who support us at the NHRA races. It’s such a great fit for the sport of NHRA Drag Racing because we need to be fueled up all day long, especially on race day when we’re going rounds, and those FDC coffees and canned coffees keep our guys and my reaction times on point.
Range Racing Partners with AB Motorsports to Support Angelle Sampey at No Problem Raceway NHRA Lucas Oil Series Event Next Month
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.
AB Motorsports, Angelle Sampey Partner with Michalek Brothers Racing for 2024 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Championship Bid
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.
Shawn Reed Returns to Full-Time NHRA Top Fuel Competition in 2024; Forms Technical Partnership with AB Motorsports and Antron Brown
INDIANAPOLIS – In a move that will strengthen the already ultra-competitive NHRA Top Fuel division, veteran Top Fuel and drag boat 
racer Shawn Reed will return to full-time NHRA competition in 2024 as the owner/driver of the Shawn Reed Racing (SRR) Reed Truck & Excavating Top Fuel dragster, it was announced today during the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show in Indianapolis.
Reed, who last competed in NHRA competition at the first two races of 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, has hired experienced nitro tuner Rob Wendland as lead crew chief and an expert team of technicians led by assistant crew chief Ryan Elliott. The seasoned crew of the SRR team most recently worked for Cruz Pedregon Racing and before that, saw success at Don Schumacher Racing as part of Tommy Johnson, Jr.’s Funny Car team.
SRR also announced a technical and advancement alliance with AB Motorsports and three-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown’s Matco Tools team. Wendland and Elliott will work closely with Brown’s tuning duo of Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald who have led 56 of Brown’s 58 Top Fuel triumphs.
Antron Brown Wraps 2023 Season With Low E.T. of First Round, Finishes Sixth in Top Fuel Standings
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.
Antron Brown Drops First-Round Battle of World Champs at NHRA Nevada Nationals
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.
Angelle Sampey Ready to Make Top Alcohol Dragster Debut in Dallas Aboard Mission Foods-Backed Machine
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.
