National Hot Rod Association

Brown’s journey to the victory wasn’t an easy one, though, as he defeated previous points leader Spencer Massey, number one qualifier Shawn Langdon and then the seven-time champion Schumacher to earn his 16th career Top Fuel win. In addition, Brown took over the series point lead after two races.

“It was an incredible day,” said Brown. “The competition in Top Fuel now, pound for pound, is like a 324 mph Pro Stock class. Even though the odds were against us, we dug down deep and believed in our Matco Tools Toyota team. We took it one round at a time and really had to battle with these guys. Making it to the final round for the second race in a row is a real huge statement. But it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish especially when the Countdown gets tight.”

Langdon earned his second career pole on Saturday based upon a blistering 3.754-second pass – the fifth-quickest in NHRA history – on Friday. He then defeated Troy Buff and Morgan Lucas before losing traction early against Brown in the semi-finals. He climbed to fifth in Top Fuel points.

A pair of Toyota drivers squared off in Round One as Lucas knocked off Al-Anabi driver Khalid alBalooshi in the first round. Lucas’ teammate Kenny Bernstein went down in the opening round to Steve Torrence.

In Funny Car competition, Jeff Arend advanced to the second round before falling to Jack Beckman, while Cruz Pedregon was eliminated in the first round by Ron Capps. Alexis DeJoria didn’t qualify for the event despite her registering a pass that was one of the top-16. Unfortunately, the run wasn’t one of the top-12 on Friday and her time didn’t carry over to Saturday and she was unable to match the effort on the second day of qualifying.

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series resumes March 9-11, at the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals at Auto Plus Raceway at Gainesville, Fla.

Toyota Drivers, Results – Arizona Nationals, Qualified/Finish

Top Fuel:
Antron Brown, Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, 5/Winner
Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi Racing Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, 1/Semi-finals
Morgan Lucas, GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, 8/Rd. 2
Khalid alBalooshi, Al-Anabi Racing Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, 9/Rd. 1
Brandon Bernstein, Lucas Oil/MavTV Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, 14/Rd. 1

Funny Car:
Jeff Arend, DHL Toyota Camry Solara, 14/Rd. 2
Cruz Pedregon, Snap-On Tools Toyota Camry Solara Funny Car, 7/Rd. 1
Alexis DeJoria, Patron Toyota Camry Funny Car, DNQ

2012 Wins (1) – Brown, Phoenix
2012 Poles (2) –Lucas, Pomona; Langdon, Phoenix;

NOTES:

- Antron Brown’s victory is his 16th Top Fuel victory and the 32nd overall of his NHRA professional career. The win is his fifth in the last 12 Top Fuel events. In addition, Brown has now advanced to the finals in seven of his last 12 Top Fuel events – dating back to last year’s event at Sonoma in July. Since that race he has a series-best 34-7 record in elimination rounds.

QUOTES:

Morgan Lucas, Geico Toyota Top Fuel dragster: "I knew something was up almost from the moment I hit the gas. The problem is, on race day you have to stick with it until you know you are beat. Shawn just motored away and once I knew there was no way to catch him, that's when I clicked it off. Thank God I did. A few more seconds of that fire and it could have gotten on the rear wing or something and who knows what could have happened. All in all it wasn't a bad weekend. It's just frustrating that freak things are slowing us down. Last week it was the rear end and this weekend it was a lifter.”

Khalid alBalooshi, Al-Anabi Racing Toyota Top Fuel Dragster: “In the first round, Morgan Lucas had a very good reaction time, and he won the round. He did a good job, and I did not do a perfect job. I have to do better with reaction time. I know that is how racing is, but I hope personally to do better and better race-by-race. I appreciate how hard everybody on our Al-Anabi Team is working, and I appreciate Sheikh Khalid for giving me this chance. But trust me, I am looking to do my best to put us in the best position, and will do everything I can be better by the next race.”

Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi Racing Toyota Top Fuel Dragster: “Our Al-Anabi car was great this weekend. Right out of the box, we qualified No. 1 and really thought we had a good shot to win the race. We knew Antron would make a good run in the semifinals, and we felt pretty confident in what we wanted to do. For whatever reason, we were just a little too aggressive, and it didn’t make it. That’s how it goes; it’s part of drag racing. We wanted to win for Sheikh Khalid and the people of Qatar, and we’re a little disappointed that we didn’t. We moved up one position in points which is good; we just have to make sure the Al-Anabi team is No. 1 at the end of the year. I have all the confidence in the world in these Al-Anabi guys; we’re going to be good.”