Matco's Brown bumped from top spot again by Kalitta
in last Top Fuel qualifying session at NHRA Gatornationals
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 16, 2013) - Antron Brown and Don Schumacher Racing's Matco Tools team held the No. 1 qualifying spot Saturday in the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.
The team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald recorded the event's first 3.7-second run.
However, the next and final pair of Top Fuel Dragsters included Doug Kalitta who uncorked the second 3.7 of the event and it was eight-thousandths of a second quicker than Brown.
Kalitta's elapsed time was 3.779 seconds at 326.32 mph to Brown's 3.787 (324.20). It's the second straight NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event that Kalitta took a pole away from Brown.
Although Brown lost his first pole of the season, he was impressed with his team's last run.
"After our first run Saturday, Mark and Brian said they were going to get after it more on the front half of the racetrack. And that's where we really picked up the ET," said Brown, the reigning Top Fuel world champion. "I felt the car ... actually accelerate a lot harder and it felt good. It felt really good."
After a subpar run to open Friday's qualifying, the Matco team produced three consistent runs between 3.787 and 3.847.
"We were just tip-toeing the first day, the first run, because the track wasn't all there, so that makes you back off when you don't think it's there. The track's now where it really doesn't lose traction until about the 330- to 400-foot mark so, if we can get there quick enough, I get the momentum started early and the car usually carries it the rest of the way.
"So we did exactly what we wanted to do and that's when it feels good, when it does what you want it to do. You want to pick up a couple of hundredths here or there, early, and it makes the rest of your runs a lot better and that's exactly what our Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster did.
Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the high 70s. Similar weather is forecast for Sunday but highs could reach the low 80s.
"(Sunday is) definitely going to be hot, but it'll probably be cool during our first run about 11 o'clock. We'll probably have comparable conditions to what we had today by the second round, so we should be able to deal with it."
The following are Brown's qualifying results from Friday and Saturday heading to Sunday's championship eliminations other notes:
TOP FUEL
No. 1 qualifier: Doug Kalitta (Kalitta Motorsports) 3.779, 326.32 mph
Antron Brown, Matco Tools dragster
Qualifying position: No. 2
First-round opponent: Larry Dixon
FRIDAY
Session 1: 5.533 sec., 121.72 mph
Session 2: 3.812, 321.88
SATURDAY
Session 3: 3.847, 315.34
Session 4: 3.787, 324.20
GOING FOR 200
Sunday at the Gatornationals, Don Schumacher Racing can reach the milestone of getting its 200th NHRA national event title.
DSR drivers Ron Capps and Tony Schumacher won respective Top Fuel and Funny Car titles at the last race near Phoenix to push the total to 198.
Two of the seven DSR teams in the Gatornationals would need to repeat the double-up to reach 200. That isn't farfetched considering DSR has won at least two titles at the same event 35 times since the organization based near Indianapolis began fielding more than one team in 2001.
DSR also is the only organization in NHRA history to have won event titles in each of the series' four pro categories.
GATORNATIONALS NITRO SCHEDULE (All times EDT)
Sunday: 11 a.m., championship eliminations
NHRA ON ESPN2 (All times EDT)
Sunday: 1:30 a.m., 8 a.m. (re-air) qualifying; 7 p.m. eliminations
WEATHER.COM FOR GAINESVILLE
Sunday: High low 80s; 0 percent chance of rain
More...
in last Top Fuel qualifying session at NHRA Gatornationals
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 16, 2013) - Antron Brown and Don Schumacher Racing's Matco Tools team held the No. 1 qualifying spot Saturday in the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.
The team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald recorded the event's first 3.7-second run.
However, the next and final pair of Top Fuel Dragsters included Doug Kalitta who uncorked the second 3.7 of the event and it was eight-thousandths of a second quicker than Brown.
Kalitta's elapsed time was 3.779 seconds at 326.32 mph to Brown's 3.787 (324.20). It's the second straight NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event that Kalitta took a pole away from Brown.
Although Brown lost his first pole of the season, he was impressed with his team's last run.
"After our first run Saturday, Mark and Brian said they were going to get after it more on the front half of the racetrack. And that's where we really picked up the ET," said Brown, the reigning Top Fuel world champion. "I felt the car ... actually accelerate a lot harder and it felt good. It felt really good."
After a subpar run to open Friday's qualifying, the Matco team produced three consistent runs between 3.787 and 3.847.
"We were just tip-toeing the first day, the first run, because the track wasn't all there, so that makes you back off when you don't think it's there. The track's now where it really doesn't lose traction until about the 330- to 400-foot mark so, if we can get there quick enough, I get the momentum started early and the car usually carries it the rest of the way.
"So we did exactly what we wanted to do and that's when it feels good, when it does what you want it to do. You want to pick up a couple of hundredths here or there, early, and it makes the rest of your runs a lot better and that's exactly what our Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster did.
Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the high 70s. Similar weather is forecast for Sunday but highs could reach the low 80s.
"(Sunday is) definitely going to be hot, but it'll probably be cool during our first run about 11 o'clock. We'll probably have comparable conditions to what we had today by the second round, so we should be able to deal with it."
The following are Brown's qualifying results from Friday and Saturday heading to Sunday's championship eliminations other notes:
TOP FUEL
No. 1 qualifier: Doug Kalitta (Kalitta Motorsports) 3.779, 326.32 mph
Antron Brown, Matco Tools dragster
Qualifying position: No. 2
First-round opponent: Larry Dixon
FRIDAY
Session 1: 5.533 sec., 121.72 mph
Session 2: 3.812, 321.88
SATURDAY
Session 3: 3.847, 315.34
Session 4: 3.787, 324.20
GOING FOR 200
Sunday at the Gatornationals, Don Schumacher Racing can reach the milestone of getting its 200th NHRA national event title.
DSR drivers Ron Capps and Tony Schumacher won respective Top Fuel and Funny Car titles at the last race near Phoenix to push the total to 198.
Two of the seven DSR teams in the Gatornationals would need to repeat the double-up to reach 200. That isn't farfetched considering DSR has won at least two titles at the same event 35 times since the organization based near Indianapolis began fielding more than one team in 2001.
DSR also is the only organization in NHRA history to have won event titles in each of the series' four pro categories.
GATORNATIONALS NITRO SCHEDULE (All times EDT)
Sunday: 11 a.m., championship eliminations
NHRA ON ESPN2 (All times EDT)
Sunday: 1:30 a.m., 8 a.m. (re-air) qualifying; 7 p.m. eliminations
WEATHER.COM FOR GAINESVILLE
Sunday: High low 80s; 0 percent chance of rain
More...
