Top Fuel's Brown living his drag racing dream
Thursday, 08 July 2010
 Antron Brown |
Top Fuel driver Antron Brown swept the Western Swing in 2009. So far this year he's winless. Can he turn it around out west?
Q: What was it like to sweep the Western Swing last year in Sonoma?
Brown: We were fortunate to get that Western Swing. It could’ve been so easy for us not to get it through those races. It was a feat to accomplish. I want to start this year and get the first win in Seattle and then come to Sonoma and get two wins. We’ve got to get one win first. We’ve been to five final rounds, and I have to get that first win this season.
Q: Can you describe the speed of a Top Fuel dragster?
Brown: It’s a thrill-ride each and every time. When you sit in that racecar, you’re going to go over 5Gs. In .8 of a second you’re going over 100 mph. It’s one of those deals when you step on the gas, you feel your stomach against your backbone. When you step on that throttle, by the time you say "jiggamaffuga" you went 300 mph and you hit the 'chutes and go from positive 2Gs to negative 4Gs. It’s a heck of a ride, and I wish they could make rides where people could ride side-by-side with us because it would blow their minds for sure.
Q: Would you want your kids to follow in your footsteps?
Brown: If that’s their will. I don’t’ try to force anything on our kids. I want them to do what they want to do. My youngest, Adler, sits in the car now and won’t let us take him out. He’ll sit on the couch for hours watching racing. My daughter wants to race a motorcycle and my other son wants to race go-karts, so we’ll see what happens.
Q: What motivated you to switch from Pro Stock Motorcycle to Top Fuel?
Brown: It was my childhood dream. I grew p in Chesterfield, N.J., and my family was weekend-warrior racers. You work hard Monday through Friday and go racing Saturday and Sunday. I was there in 1986 when "Big Daddy" Don Garlits blew his car over and he went on to win the championship that year. He was always my hero. I look at John Force and he was at truck driver, who (now) owns a multi-million dollar race empire, and he made a life for himself in racing because he believed in what he wanted to do. I said "if they can do it, I can do it."
When I raced monocycles for the last six years of my career, I was knocking on doors trying to get in there, and I wanted to race in Top Fuel or Funny Car. You just keep on trying. I had so many people say "it’s not going to happen," but I had the chance to test for David Powers, and they gave me a shot because they said "he’s great with the fans and he has a great personality. We’ve just got to see if he can race one of those monsters."
Q: How was the transition from Pro Stock Motorcycle to Top Fuel?
Brown: There’s not a vehicle out there that can prepare you for a Top Fuel car. I went and got my Alcohol license and did all my stuff to work my way up. I can tell you first-hand, when I got in that car, the Alcohol car didn’t prepare me for anything in the Top Fuel car. It just took time. It’s like anything else with seat time and taking it one round at a time. I didn’t have to learn how to race again, that’s one thing Pro Stock Motorcycle prepared me for; the racing and the mental focus. But it didn’t prepare me for the acceleration.
Q: You could’ve qualified for the Olympic time trials. How was that?
Brown: I ran 100 meters, 200 meters, and did the long jump, and ran times that would’ve qualified me for the Olympic trials. I always loved everything with speed, from football, basketball, track, I did it all. I liked anything in competition. I would race you right now. But I still had fun and I’m very competitive in everything I do. Drag racing has always been there and that’s always what I’ve loved to do. I’ve been a junkie for years. I’m fortunate to do what I love.
Q: Was it always your goal to get to race a Top Fuel dragster?
Brown: It was always my goal, and I was fortunate to start on motorcycles. I started on motorcycles when I was 4 years old and started motocross when I was 12. My dad and uncle raced Super Comp and Super Gas. The first thing I ever drag raced was a 1992 Suzuki. That was my first entry level out there because I got hooked up with Troy Vincent, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles, and he wanted a professional Pro Stock Motorcycle team, so that’s where I started with six-time world champion Dave Schultz. That was priceless, the time I got to spend with them, but my whole dream was farther out there. I reached that pinnacle by still driving. Now my dream is to go after those world championships. I’ve done everything in drag racing except that world championship.
Q: Do you have any advice for other minorities who might want to get involved with drag racing?
Brown: The coolest part of drag racing that I remember growing up was that it wasn’t a big money sport. You could take your mom’s van and race on street night. It’s really like your grassroots of racing. If you have the drive, you can make it happen. It doesn’t matter if you’re white, yellow, purple, it doesn’t matter. You could be an inner-city kid or you could be a farm kid. If you’re a hot rodder, you’re a hot rodder. That’s what attracted me to drag racing -- it didn’t have any barriers for color. Our family was just hard working. My dad worked in the Army and my mom worked at the post office. We were very competitive and if you have the drive to do what you want to do, you can do it. That’s why I support all of the inner-city kids I see, and I support them and say, "if you put your mind to it, you can make it happen."
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