Whew, Antron wins Again at the Motorplex!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Brother Antron won Top Fuel Sunday at the AAA Texas  Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas.

In the Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship.
Brown claimed his fifth victory of the season and moved into a tie for the points lead with the driver he beat in the final round, teammate Spencer Massey. Brown drove the  Matco Tools dragster to a 3.898-second run at 311.49 mph to hold off Massey’s FRAM dragster, which finished with a 3.945 at 300.60.

Antron Brown

“This is definitely the way to rebound,” said Brown, the playoff top seed who dropped to fourth in the standings after a first-round loss at the playoff opener last weekend in Charlotte. “I have to give credit to my team for sticking together. We were winning in the first round in Charlotte when we broke an input shaft. It’s so easy to get down after something like that. We came here, and the car was throwing us fits by being overaggressive. Brian [Corradi] and Mark [Oswald, co-crew chiefs] kept backing it off until they got a good handle on it in the semi's.”

Brown and Massey lead seven-time world champ Tony Schumacher by 24 points and the suddenly surging Shawn Langdon is now 41 points back as the playoff race in the 8,000-horsepower category gets intense.

“In that final, we had to give it everything we had against the FRAM car,” said Brown, who beat three Countdown contenders — David Grubnic, Langdon, and Morgan Lucas — in the first three rounds. “We edged them, and it felt really good to win and to tie them in the points lead. We have four races left, and it’s going to be a slugfest to the end. Everybody’s throwing haymakers. It’s an all-out battle royal right now.”

I spend so much time dwelling on the accomplishments of Antron for a number of reasons. The primary one is the fact the he is the most visible professional race car driver in the US. Recognition should be given when one is a winner in that these "streaks" are often short-lived.

I quote others and inject my own thoughts and feelings because I don't want to lose the "flavor" others put into the demanding schedule in the NHRA program.

The other is simply who he is as a man first, a competitor second and third, how he "represents" on and off the track and in the community.