National Hot Rod Association

It was the second consecutive race that Brown reached the final and marks his sixth final appearance in 14 races this season. Only Larry Dixon has reached more finals this season with seven. Brown defeated Steve Chrisman, Tony Schumacher and Doug Kalitta on the way to his match-up with McClenathan.

Brown was joined in the semi-finals by Shawn Langdon. The second-year driver had his best event since Gainesville in March where he also advanced to the semi-finals. After qualifying seventh, he eliminated Terry McMillen in round one and then pulled off a major upset in defeating points leader and fellow Toyota driver Larry Dixon in round two. He eventually lost to McClenathan in the semi-finals.

Dixon had qualified second and won his opening round before losing to Langdon. It was just the second time in the last 10 races that Dixon hadn’t advanced to either the semi-final or final round.

Rounding out the Toyota Top Fuel delegation, Morgan Lucas defeated Steve Torrence in the first round before falling to Kalitta in the second round.

From top-to-bottom, it was one of the strongest events of the season for the Toyota contingent as all six Toyota-sponsored entries advanced to the second round or beyond.

Each of the Toyota Camry Solara Funny Cars advanced to the second round after qualifying second and third. Del Worsham fell in round two to Matt Hagen, while Cruz Pedregon lost to Tim Wilkerson.

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series heads to Sonoma, Calif., for the Fram Autolite Nationals next weekend, July 16-18.

Toyota Drivers, Results – Northwest Nationals - Qual./Finish

Top Fuel
Antron Brown - Matco Tools Top Fuel Dragster - 5/Finals
Shawn Langdon - Lucas Oil/Speedco Top Fuel Dragster - 7/Semi-finals
Larry Dixon - Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster - 2/Second-round
Morgan Lucas - GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster - 8/Second-round

Funny Car
Del Worsham - Al-Anabi Racing Toyota Camry Solara Funny Car - 2/Second-round
Cruz Pedregon - Snap-On Tools Toyota Camry Solara - 3/Second-round

NOTES:

• Antron Brown’s appearance in the finals is his sixth of the season and marks the fourth consecutive race that he’s advanced to at least the semi-finals. He also made the final at Gainesville, Charlotte, Houston, Englishtown and Norwalk. He is tied for second in the series in final round appearances, one behind leader Larry Dixon.


• With his finals run today, Antron Brown has now reached the semi-final or final in each of the last four races with three of those being finals appearances. After climbing to fourth in points at Norwalk, he’s now pulled within 124 points of second place with three races remaining before the Countdown playoffs.


• Shawn Langdon’s semi-final run was his second of the season and his first since Gainesville in March.

2010 Wins (7) - Larry Dixon, Pomona, Houston, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Englishtown, Norwalk
2010 Poles (8) - Antron Brown, Gainesville, Las Vegas, Topeka, Bristol; Larry Dixon, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Norwalk

Quotes:

Shawn Langdon, Lucas Oil/Speedco Toyota Top Fuel Dragster: “Those guys (Larry Dixon’s Al-Anabi Racing team) set the bar for the class. We knew we had to step it up and fortunately we did. We’re excited to get to the semi-finals. We’re just trying to clinch our spot in the Countdown and we’re getting close now.”

Morgan Lucas, GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil Toyota Top Fuel Dragster: “I’ll be pleased when we start seeing some semis and finals. As of right now I feel like we have a lot to accomplish and a lot to prove. We’re going to go to Sonoma and try to learn from the mistakes we made this weekend.”

Cruz Pedregon, Snap-On Toyota Camry Solara: “Our Snap-On Toyota’s been knocking on the door for a number of races now. We’ve just need to be patient. It was good to get that first-round win. We’re making some progress now.”