BROWNSBURG, Ind. (May 28, 2013) – Antron Brown will be the same popular hometown racer that he’s always been when he arrives at the track where he grew up watching his father and uncle race.
What will be different when Brown, 37, enters the gates of Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., is that he will do so as the reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion.
“I went home after we won it in November and saw all of my family, but this will be the first time I get to see a lot of friends and people who have followed by career,” said Brown, who lives near Indianapolis with his wife, Billie Jo, and their three children.
“I always look forward to going home and this time will be a little more special. Nothing would be better than winning at Englishtown.”
What he hopes for is to win his first Top Fuel title in the 44th annual NHRA Toyota Summernationals, where he won NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle titles in 2001 and 2005.
Brown, who has won 39 NHRA titles including 23 in Top Fuel, has earned two titles this season with Don Schumacher Racing’s Matco Tools team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald with assistant Brad Mason.
At the last event on May 19 at Topeka, Kan., the team was hampered by an electrical problem and lost in the opening round one week after winning the title near Atlanta. The early exit at Topeka dropped Brown one spot to third in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series standings behind DSR teammate and points leader Tony Schumacher.
“It looks like we had an electrical problem right now,” said Brown, the NHRA national record-holder for elapsed time with a run of 3.701-second run that also is the quickest ever. “The motor parts looked fine, but it just wasn’t hitting on all cylinders.”
LEFT TURNS EN ROUTE TO WEDNESDAY’S NEWS CONFERENCE AT E-TOWN
Brown set a personal record for making left turns on Tuesday, the day before Wednesday’s noon news conference at Raceway Park.
Brown tested a Toyota Camry stock car for a possible race late this year in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East developmental series on the four-tenths-mile paved oval at Shelor Motor Mile Speedway at Radford, Va.
The test session was being arranged through Toyota, one of Brown’s long-time sponsors, and Max Siegel’s Rev Racing organization.
DOMINANT DSR
The seven-team Don Schumacher Racing organization is off to a hotter start that a year ago when it won 22 of a possible 46 NHRA national event titles and two world championships (Brown in Top Fuel and Jack Beckman in Funny Car).
After eight Mello Yello events and heading to New Jersey last year, DSR had won 4 Top Fuel and 2 Funny Car titles for a total of 6 out of a possible 16. Upon returning to E-Town this week, DSR has won 5 Top Fuel and 5 Funny Car titles for a total of 10 … a whopping 62.6 percent of a possible 16 event titles.
DSR also ranks first in Top Fuel (Schumacher) and Funny Car (Johnny Gray) with three of its teams in the top-four in Top Fuel and three in the top-four in Funny Car.
DSR holds all four NHRA nitro national records: in Top Fuel, elapsed time (3.701 sec., Brown) and speed (332.18 mph, Spencer Massey); and in Funny Car, elapsed time (3.986 sec., Jack Beckman) and speed (320.58 mph, Beckman).
BROWN’S STATISTICS FOR ENGLISHTOWN, N.J.
• Last event (May 17-19, Topeka, Kan.): Qualified No. 6; lost in first round to Leah Pruett
• A year ago at Englishtown: Qualified No. 9; lost in first round to Doug Kalitta
• Career at Englishtown: Wins 2 (2005-motorcycle, 2002-motorcycle); runner-ups 2 (2010, 2009); poles 3 (2008, 2005-motorcycle, 2001-motorcycle)
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series
(Standings after 8 of 24 events; DSR drivers in CAPS)
TOP FUEL
1. TONY SCHUMACHER, 665
2. Shawn Langdon, 631
3. ANTRON BROWN, 593
4. SPENCER MASSEY, 541
5. Doug Kalitta, 470
6. Khalid alBalooshi, 442
7. Brandon Bernstein, 414
8. Morgan Lucas, 409
9. Bob Vandergriff, 358
10. Clay Millican, 332
TOP FUEL EVENT WINNERS: Langdon, SCHUMACHER, BROWN, SCHUMACHER, MASSEY, Vandergriff, BROWN, Langdon
Around the Web
RT @MMAftermarketNA: Congrats to Matt Hagan and DSR on Matt’s 1st place victory at the Toyota Summernationals! @MattHagan_FC @shoeracing ht…
Jun 03
#NHRANote #theSarge E2 win @EtownRaceway was his 650th career #NHRA round win for @ARMYRACING.
Jun 03
Back home again, in Indiana is the DSR front office. Now onward to Brownsburg. #nhra #roadtrip
Jun 03
Greetings from W. Va. Where are you tonight @nhra fans? #NHRA #roadtrip
Jun 02
@shaverfolk @NHRA we do http://t.co/alLQcE3RXs. #checkitout