Fresh off his Top Fuel victory at the Southern Nationals May 17, Antron Brown didn’t miss a beat when he arrived at the Kansas Nationals Friday.

Brown, behind the wheel of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, captured the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot with a 3.727-second run at 313.37 mph which set a new track record at Heartland Park Topeka.

“When we came in here it was an unknown variable, and our hats are off to NHRA and the Safety Safari and everybody else involved who did a great job getting this track going,” said Brown, the 2012, world champion. “Cars haven’t run on this track since last October, and to come out and have qualifying like we did in all the categories, people setting track records, is a testament to the foundation this track is built on. The track is buttery smooth and the traction was there. They really prepped it and did their work. We were able to go out there and run some phenomenal E.T.’s and the weather held up for us, and we were able to put on a good show for the fans. The nitro categories look like a Pro Stock car field on steroids.”

Brown arrived in Topeka with the points lead, thanks to a pair of wins at Charlotte and Atlanta and one No. 1 qualifying effort, which also came at Atlanta Dragway.

On Brown’s first run Friday, he clocked a 3.767 lap, but stepped up his performance considerably in the final qualifying session.

“To come out and run that E.T. (3.727) in this Friday night session was definitely what we were shooting for,” Brown said. “You could tell by the mph that we didn’t make it to the finish line, and we know there is more out there. I think this track would have been good to run a (3)69 on. Maybe if it holds out (Saturday), you will see a whole bunch of us trying to shoot for that. It was good to end up in the No. 1 spot (Friday) for sure.”

If Brown holds down the No. 1 position it will be his fourth at Topeka to go with the ones he won in 2009, 2010, and 2012. It also would be the 39th of his career.

“When we got done with Atlanta, the team was just spectacular out there,” Brown said. “The conditions changed from stellar like here (in Topeka) to hot and slimy. We had every variable condition. That was an incredible deal and when we came to this race (Topeka) we came out with the same brain thought, we wanted to go A to B the first lap. That’s the most crucial thing to get off to a good weekend is not losing that first lap. Our deal was we were in the show (after the first lap) and we had nothing to lose (Friday night) and we could actually lean on it like we did. Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald, my hat is off to both those crew chiefs on our team for that kind of number coming on the board.”
 
 

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