Wed, 10 Feb 2010, 04:26 AM Antron Brown Reflects on Living His Dream

Courtesy of Evan Jones Photo copyright 2010 NHRA and Roger Richards

MOHNTON, Pa. --

Antron Brown

As a kid growing up in New Jersey, Antron Brown received some wise words from drag racing legend Don Garlits.

After shaking hands with him at Old Bridge Raceway Park back in the 1980s, the advice stuck with Brown in later years when he chased his dream on the dragstrip.

"I got to meet (Garlits) and he's a heck of a guy," Brown said to a group of journalists and track promoters at the recent Eastern Motorsports Press Association conference. "I told him what I wanted to do and he said you can do whatever you put your mind to."

Of course fans of the NHRA Full Throttle Series know Brown as a successful Pro Stock Bike racer - who won 16 races and finished in the top 10 in points over 10 seasons - who made a seamless transition to a Top Fuel dragster.

A big reason why he was able to snare a ride in the sport's top series was his consistent performance on the motorcycle. That attracted the attention of others who saw his potential as a racecar driver.

"My dream was to race Top Fuel or Funny Car," he said, "but in racing no one is waiting for you and saying 'here's your car.'

"It took me seven years in Pro Stock Bike to actually get to test in Top Fuel," Brown added. "(Crew chief) Lee Beard saw something in me."

Indeed, once given a chance, Brown looked like a natural. During his first Top Fuel season in 2008, he won two races, qualified first three times and finished fifth in the points standings. He only took 16 test laps before debuting in a dragster at Pomona, Calif., and promptly earning his first pole.

Antron Brown

Last year, Brown won the most rounds and was in the hunt for a season championship. However, Tony Schumacher won the Countdown to the Championship.

This year, Brown and his Don Schumacher Racing-backed team is looking to find the right combination to pass Tony Schumacher as the best Top Fuel team in the NHRA Full Throttle Series.

"We're getting our stuff in a row so we're ready for the Countdown," Brown said.

The Matco Tools dragster was part of recent NHRA testing at Palm Beach International Raceway in southern Florida. It was a good indication of how far the team has to go. While Larry Dixon, Tony Schumacher and Cory McClenathan were posting good runs, Brown was still looking for the right package.

"Dixon, Schumacher and Cory Mac ran awesome and they're running the same stuff as last year," Brown said. "We used it as a test and used a new clutch setup. We ran high 80s to low 80s and we're trying to run in the 70s."

Of course making adjustments isn't a new thing for Brown, who had to make the jump from Pro Stock Bike to Top Fuel.

"It was a big transition," Brown said. "With two wheels, you learn to keep it in the groove. When you get in a racecar, you have to put your hand on a steering wheel that's very sensitive. I didn't think I was steering, but when I looked at it on camera.."

Brown then rapidly moved his hands back and forth.

"There's nothing on the planet that accelerates faster than a Top Fuel car," Brown added. "You have 3.8 Gs at the start, then over 5 Gs at 250 mph. Now, after a four-second run, I can talk 20 minutes on what happened. In the beginning, I couldn't tell you nothing."

Brown would love a return to quartermile racing. The current distance of 1,000 feet for nitro classes was set after Scott Kalitta's tragic accident at Englishtown in 2008.

"As a racer, I love the quartermile," Brown said. "For (Kalitta) everything that could go wrong, went wrong. There were four fail-safes, now thanks to the NHRA there are two more. "I think, eventually, everything will go back."

However, that will come after the NHRA does something about the speeds. Adjusted to 1,320 feet, Top Fuel cars could reach 340 mph on their runs.

"In the future, we will go back, but not without slowing down the cars," he said.

In the future, Brown would also love to continue competing at the tracks he visited as a child: Maple Grove Raceway and Englishtown.

"I love Maple Grove and Englishtown, as they're pioneer tracks and there are speed records set there," he said. "Drag racing is also an East Coast sport and there are tons of street racers from here. I don't think the glamour (of places like Charlotte) will take away the prestige of Englishtown and Maple Grove. Racers love coming back here and it's my hometown."

The 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Series starts its season Feb. 11 with the 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals.

The tour arrives at Maple Grove Raceway on Oct. 7-10 for the 26th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals. For the first time, Maple Grove will be part in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.