Brown Looks for Speed at Thunder Valley

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Antron Brown has the perfect mentality for a drag racer.

The New Jersey native talks fast, moves fast and drives fast.

Meet the points leader in the Top Fuel category of the National Hot Rod Association Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

“I’m having a blast,” Brown said. “This is the level I always imagined our team to be at.”

Brown’s saga illustrates the most diverse form of motorsports. The 32-year-old black driver grew up attending drag races with his family and made his competitive debut as a senior in high school.

After starring as a sprinter at Mercer College in New Jersey, Brown gradually made the slippery climb to the NHRA ranks where he spent a decade racing Pro Stock Motorcycles.
Former National Football League cornerback Troy Vincent was Brown’s team owner, and legendary racer Dave Schultz served as a mentor.

Last season, Brown made the unprecedented jump from motorcycles to an NHRA Top Fuel dragster. In just his fourth race, Brown authored a page in NHRA history by becoming the first driver to have a victory in Top Fuel and Pro Stock on his resume.

Brown finished fifth in Top Fuel points, and has been even more productive this season in the Matco Tools dragster owned by Funny Car racer Mike Ashley.

“I’m just fortunate to be driving this hot rod,” said Brown, a 16-time winner in Pro Stock motorcycles. “We’ve been blistering fast and very consistent. That’s rare to have both of those angles working at the same time.”

Mark Oswald, the 1984 NHRA Funny Car champion, serves as the co-crew chief with Brian Corradi on the Matco Tools dragster.

According to Brown, the steady and experienced hand of his crew has been vital to his maturation.

“What makes the car run so guys are all the decisions being made on the tuning side,” Brown said. “We’re not making mistakes, and the car has been performing unreal.”

Like all drivers in the nitromethane classes, Brown has been forced to adjust to the switch from a quarter-mile to 1,000 feet for race distances.

“That change has made our class even more tight and competitive,” Brown said. “You are winning and losing drag races now in Top Fuel and Funny Car by like three-thousandths of a second.

“Pro Stock races are just as close, but we’re doing it at 320 miles per hour. We have to run the car harder and quicker, and make it stick.” 

As usual, Tony Schumacher is a title contender in Top Fuel. Despite working with a new crew chief, Schumacher has posted two wins in the U.S. Army dragster and is only 18 points behind Brown in points.

Schumacher established a variety of records last season, including seven straight wins, en route to his fifth consecutive Top Fuel championship.

“When Tony was winning all those races last year with [crew chief] Alan Johnson, they had a phenomenal team,’” Brown said. “A couple breaks went their way, but they earned those breaks.

“You get frustrated when Tony, or another team wins, but that just makes you dig deeper. I want to beat the best of the best every time I go out there.”

Brown earned his 20th career NHRA event win two weeks ago at Gateway International Raceway. He hopes to build off that victory this weekend in the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

“I think anybody [who] qualifies in the top 13 has a chance to win,”  Brown said. “It’s not just the same guys anymore. There are a whole bunch of great teams out there.”

Brown hopes to capture the rare combination of speed and consistency again this weekend.

“It’s all a matter of getting things together on race day,” Brown said. “That’s the way it’s going to be the rest of the year.

“You can qualify well, then eliminations are totally different because you are racing during the heat of the day.”

The challenges for a Top Fuel competitor are endless. Life at 300-mph suits Brown just fine, however.

“I love it to death,” Brown said.