ENNIS, Texas (Sept. 27, 2009) – Antron Brown, a 23-time NHRA winner, drove his Mike Ashley-owned Matco Tools dragster to a second-round finish Sunday afternoon at the 24th annual O’Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals. Brown and the Matco Tools team now ranks fourth in the Countdown to 1 standings.

A day after qualifying the Matco Tools/Toyota rail in the No. 6 position for the second time this season (Brainerd, Minn.), Brown outpaced Terry Haddock before falling to Top Fuel’s winningest driver, Tony Schumacher, in the second round. Brown now has a mark of 1-2 in the Countdown to 1 and 43-15 in 20 races this season with five wins and seven No. 1 qualifying awards.

The 1999 Pro Stock Motorcycle winner at Texas Motorplex earned his 300th career round win by holding off the part-time runner in the opening round. Brown used a tune-up from crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald to score the wire-to-wire win. The Matco Tools/DirecTV car carded a pass of 3.911 seconds at 312.78 mph to advance to the quarterfinals. Haddock’s dragster clocked a run of 3.985 at 300.20. Brown is now 2-0 against Haddock this season.

Squaring off against the six-time champion for the sixth time this season, two of the elite drivers in Top Fuel racing used almost identical reaction times and put on a great race until the Matco Tools/SpongeTech car lost traction allowing the U.S. Army dragster to speed by for the win in the left lane at the Motorplex. Brown’s Matco-backed rail slowed to a run of 4.113 at 266.00 in the unfavored right lane, while the Mike Green-tuned car used the quickest pass of the round at 3.915 at 315.49. Brown is now 4-2 against the U.S. Army car this year.

“Lane choice was very important here today at the (Texas) Motorplex and unfortunately for our Matco Tools team, we were a little short in the first round,” Brown said. “We made a really good run in the first round at 3.91, I think that was second quick, but we didn’t have lane choice. We were on a good run, but it just pulled the tires loose about mid-track. It’s ok though. We’re positive, we know we can win races and we’re going to go to Memphis next weekend and put on a good show for Matco Tools and Toyota.”

The next NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event is the 22nd annual O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals, Oct. 2-4, at Memphis Motorsports Park near Memphis, Tenn. Brown qualified ninth at the Memphis race last year and lost in the first round to Larry Dixon. He won the Pro Stock Motorcycle title at the 2004 Memphis race defeating Matt Smith in the final round.

Headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., Mike Ashley Racing fields the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster driven by Antron Brown. MAR proudly represents racing partners Matco Tools, Lend America, DirecTV, Toyota, SpongeTech® Delivery Systems, Ringer’s Gloves, Go Fast! Sports, Goodyear, FRAM, Autolite, Impact! Racing, Connexions Sports and Entertainment, and Forward Sports Marketing (FSM).

Mike Ashley Racing supports Autism Awareness through their support of the Hyperbaric Therapy Center. A 2007 Centers for Disease Control report found that 1 in 150 children in America today have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and an estimated 1.5 million Americans and their families are now affected. Autism is a national health crisis, and Mike Ashley Racing is working to help educate the public about ways they can get involved. Visit the Heal Autism Now website for more information about how you can get involved at www.healautismnow.org.

E1 BROWN (.079) 3.911 ET, 312.78 MPH def. Haddock (.085) 3.985 ET, 300.20 MPH
E2 Schumacher (.078) 3.915 ET, 315.49 MPH def. BROWN (.077) 4.113 ET, 266.00 MPH

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