Thu, 20 Aug 2009, 04:30 PM Someday You'll Remember This

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Brian Antony

OK, here I go again. I love Competition Eliminator. I know that you've heard that before and you'll hear it again, and it's guys like Brian Antony that keep me coming back to the class. A look at the national event winners this year will find that we have had winners driving roadsters, full-bodied cars, turbocharged cars, dragsters and even trucks. There have been four drivers who have won for the first time this year and a wide variety of drivers who have sat at the top of the qualified field. It's a fun class to watch, a tough class to compete in and a real challenge to the men and women who choose to race in this very sophisticated category. But at any national race, when the Comp cars come to the line you can bet that I'll be paying close attention to it. I know Stockers say that they're "way cool," but Comp's not bad, either.

Brian, who runs out of the Division 5 area and who doesn't go to a lot of races, either divisional or national, has a really neat car that runs in the B/AP class. He also has some very nice cars that he rebuilds, updates, fixes and drives on the street. A quick look at his drag racing career will find that the forty-five year old father of two has been involved in the sport for about a dozen years, and, like a lot of racers, he got the "bug" early by watching some of the hot shots around his home town. "I grew up in a small town and it seemed like everyone had a nice, fast Chevrolet Chevelle, Dodge Challenger or something like that." Brian's contribution to the car wars in his town was a 1971 Dodge Challenger that had a 383 cubic inch engine. "It was quick, but the guys with those 454 Chevy Chevelles were way too fast for me." Even though he may not have had the quickest car on the block, Brian did realize that he wanted to go racing, so he bought a bracket car and a career was born. OK, so it's a modest career, but it has grown into one that features one of the best cars in the class and one of the top Comp cars in the Division 5 area. "I only get to run about a half-dozen races at most during the season," he said. "I'd like to run more but I have to take care of business, and with things the way they are this year, it's not easy to get away." Brian works as a sales rep for a pneumatic company and he sells compressed air products, a job that he has had for over twenty years.

Brian Antony

A quick look at Brian's car and you get a little "flashback" to the early days when the classic Mopars roamed the streets and tracks of America. "It's a Dodge Avenger that was built by Rick Jones and we tried to give it that little retro look with the paint job." For a guy who only raced in the bracket classes, a step up to a car like this was a quantum leap. "I wanted to go fast and Comp looked like a good place to go and Rick made me a really good deal on this car and here I am," he said. "Rick was building it as a Pro Stock car, not for me, but for another customer when I came along and we made a deal. I also got some stuff from him that he had used on his Pro Stock Truck." That was about seven years ago and Brian has been racing in Comp ever since. He did switch to the planetary transmission a few years ago because the index looked like it may be a bit easier to run. "Of course, recently, the B/AP index has been clobbered and that makes it tougher, but I'm committed to the class, at least for now." The car has a 500 cubic inch engine that was built by Pro Stock guru Larry Morgan and it makes a lot of power. "You need all the good stuff if you want to race and compete in this class, so that's why I went to Larry for power." To date, Brian's best showing has been a final round at the Division 5 race in Brainerd last year, a race he lost to Bruno Massel. This year he has only competed at a couple of races and he has been to the semi-finals, again at his home track in Brainerd. "Like everyone else I would like to win a national event because I guess that's the goal for every racer. If I can't do that I just want to be competitive, qualify well and continue to make improvements in my program." At the national event in Brainerd this past weekend, Brian qualified eighteenth and then he lost in the first round to former Division 5 Jeg's All Star, Matt Harris in eliminations.

While drag racing takes up a big part of his time, Brian also does some work on some classic Mopar street cars. "Ever since I had that first 383 Dodge I have been a huge Mopar fan," he said. "And I have to admit that I have a couple of nice cars in my shop." Now there's an understatement. Among those cars are a Plymouth Superbird, a 1971 Plymouth Barracuda, a '70 hemi Challenger and a 1971 Dodge Charger. "I've rebuilt all of them back to factory specs and it's a labor of love to do that." When I asked him if his two children, Austin 7 and Conner, 5, realize how cool the cars are that dad has, Brian just smiled and said, "I took them for a ride in the Superbird last week and I told them, you may not appreciate it now, but someday you'll remember this." I don't know about the boys but I know that I'd sure remember it if I got a ride in a legendary car like that. Brian said that, even though he has bought and sold a few classic cars over the years, basically he buys them, rebuilds them and keeps them for himself. "They are a pretty good investment, or at least they could be depending on the economy, but that's not why I buy them. I just love these cars." He admits to getting several offers for the Superbird but it's still in his garage at home in Lonsdale, Minnesota, and it looks like it will stay there for a while.

Brian Antony

I guess, when you look at all he has done, Brian Antony could be called your classic hot rodder. He drag races, rebuilds cars, has several classic automobiles and he loves everything about Mopars. "I plan on racing in Comp for a long while and I'll keep working on my other cars, too. Some of my friends have said they want to go to the Barrett-Jackson auction next year and I may, but a real thrill would be going to the final round at a national event." Funny, for me a real thrill would be getting to ride in his Superbird. Hey, I guess it's nice that we both have goals, isn't it?

Brian has a lot of folks who help him with his racing, and included among them are A-1 Converters, Lenco Transmission, Don Ness GMM Shocks and especially his family.