GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 8, 2025) – 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.”
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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.”
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