Atron Brown watched as Ashley Forced ran her way to the top spot in Funny Car qualifying and knew he needed raise the bar on his Matco Tools dragster. Brown literally blew the bar away with a 3.841 second pass, 315.71 mph, that left the field sucking the hot Topeka air.
 
'The run went perfect,” said Brown. “We went for a top three spot. We just put our heads down, the car was a little on the edge but it stuck right down. I felt it bow up in the middle of the race track, everything just got tight around me. My butt cheeks squirmerred up and I just held on. When I went through the finish line I just held on.”

Atron Brown watched as Ashley Forced ran her way to the top spot in Funny Car qualifying and knew he needed raise the bar on his Matco Tools dragster. Brown literally blew the bar away with a 3.841 second pass, 315.71 mph, that left the field sucking the hot Topeka air.
 
'The run went perfect,” said Brown. “We went for a top three spot. We just put our heads down, the car was a little on the edge but it stuck right down. I felt it bow up in the middle of the race track, everything just got tight around me. My butt cheeks squirmerred up and I just held on. When I went through the finish line I just held on.”
 
Brown was so hyped up by his run, he hadn't given any thought to the fact the field is one shy of the 16 spots allocated; if Brown holds onto the top spot he effectively has a first round bye.
 
“I didn't think about that. That's huge, very huge. That's a free 20 points. You still have to do all your stuff right, but first round is always touchy. We might could use that use that first round as another test session.”
 
HE WISHES SHE WAS HERE – Brown is in constant contact with Angelle Sampey. With the field one car short it was just another moment in time when Brown wished Sampey was driving a Top Fueler.
 
“I actually text messaged her yesterday. That's my sister. I'm her brother. We're family,” started Brown, who is married to Sampey's cousin.
 
“It's just a shame to see somebody of her status and how great she is for this sport as a whole, to be sitting on the sidelines. When you have somebody who is a three-time world champ and the fan appeal she has sitting on the sidelines tells you how tough our economy is. Somebody is really missing the boat. She is the winningest female. She is one of the full packages in our sport.
 
“To see her sitting on the sidelines crushing my heart.”  

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