The New Champion in NHRA Top Fuel!

It is Always a Team Effort ro get to the Winners Circle!!

Antron Brown Wins the World Championship!

"Antron Brown became the first African-American to win a major U.S. auto racing title Sunday at the Auto Club NHRA Finals.

Brown, who lost in the opening round of eliminations, had to wait until the final round before he could grab the championship trophy, when Tony Schumacher lost in a photo finish to Brandon Bernstein.

Brown entered Sunday’s eliminations 67 points ahead of Tony Schumacher and for a while it appeared that Schumacher would put together another magical come-from-behind victory to take the title. Schumacher's U.S. Army dragster lost the final to Bernstein's ProtectTheHarvest.com dragster by eighth-thousandths of a second.

Antron Brown

When the win light went on in Bernstein’s lane, Matco Tools dragster driver Brown was mobbed by his teammates, family and friends in a huge celebration at the starting line.

“I feel so blessed to be in this moment right now and this is a big huge moment,” Brown said. “I am just glad we could bring it home for Don Schumacher Racing. To win the world championship the way the competition has been this year in Top Fuel and to run and compete how we’ve been doing all season long is just phenomenal. We all switched the lead back and forth a bunch of times. Is this really happening?”

Brown, who earned six victories in 11 final rounds and was top qualifier three times en route to his title, continues the great history of diversity in NHRA..

“If I can be an inspiration for any of the kids out there who have dreams, any Americans, that’s all I want,” said Brown, who became the 18th different driver to win a Top Fuel world championship title". ##
National Dragster.

And yes, he has been an inspiration for many across the nation. This was a grueling experience for the team, in that Antron lost in the first round due to a malfunction.

It was nearly a catastrophe. As I understand it, a fuel line was not tightened correctly and fuel was blowing into the cockpit.  The heat was so intense, Antron suffered minor burns on his hands and vision was severely impaired.  As I was told, "it was all I could do to maintain control and bring the race car to a stop".

Team effort?  Were it not the fact that he had a sixty-five point lead amassed throughout the year, there would have been no celebration.

As we bring the season to a close, we must conclude, if given the opportunity, and good team preparation with a vivid goal in sight, we can and will succeed.

More on Antron and the blurred road to the Championship in the next posting.

The "Dream" and History in the Making

Antron Brown on the verge of making U.S. motorsports history.

Given NHRA’s impressive history of diversity since Wally Parks founded the world’s largest motorsports sanctioning body in 1951, it might be surprising to some that an African-American driver hasn't celebrated a world championship in NHRA’s marquee Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

Female and Hispanic drivers have won NHRA world championship titles, including Shirley Muldowney, Angelle Sampey, Cruz and Tony Pedregon and Hector Arana Sr., and many African-American drivers have participated in and won Full Throttle Series races throughout the years.

If Antron Brown can have a successful finish to his incredible 2012 Top Fuel season, he will make history as the first African-American to win an NHRA Pro series title as well as the first to win a major auto racing crown in the U.S.

Brown brings a 65-point lead to the season-ending Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, Nov. 8-11, at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in the hot rodding hotbed of Southern California. If he can outlast championship rivals Tony Schumacher, Spencer Massey, and Shawn Langdon at that event, he will earn the title that he’s worked so hard to achieve during his 15-year drag racing career.

“This is a huge dream for me and for the kids who are out there now,” Brown has said. “If it helps anybody else change their dream or their story, I’m all for it. Looking at color and different stuff like that, I’m just an American. I love it. I embrace the sport, and that’s where I stand with it.”

Brown has had a great season, racing to six victories in 11 final-round appearances and posting three No. 1 qualifying positions at the controls of his 8,000-horsepower Matco Tools dragster. After building a 104-point lead following the fourth race in the Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship playoffs, Brown hit a rough spot at the penultimate event in Las Vegas. His team posted its worst qualifying position of the season (13th) and lost in the first round, scoring only 31 points at the event. Seven-time world champ Schumacher took advantage of Brown’s misstep and as the top qualifier and runner-up moved to second in the standings, cutting Brown’s lead to 65. Massey is in third place, 70 points back.

“We lost some points, but we’ll go into Pomona with the lead,” Brown said. “Our Matco boys are going to keep working hard. We had a lot of things go wrong [in Las Vegas] that usually never go wrong, like the clutch management system breaking, electrical wires breaking. All these little nit picky gremlins came out that weekend.”

Brown, who had an opportunity to win the championship title last season, says he continues to learn from setbacks and works hard to stay positive and keep moving forward.

“It is what it is, and that’s drag racing,” Brown said. “The bad part is that we’ve let these other guys get back in it, but that’s OK. It’s the Countdown to the Championship. We’re going to hit Pomona, and we’re going to give it our best shot and give it all we got.”

One thing is for sure, Brown will be tested in Pomona. FRAM dragster driver Massey is as hungry as ever to win his first championship title, and he won the season-opening Winternationals at this track. Meanwhile, Schumacher, who has won this event four times, has a legendary history at this track, where he used last-race heroics to win series titles in 2006 and 2007. Brown certainly doesn’t want to become the latest victim of a magical Schumacher come-from-behind performance.

“We’re going to keep on pressing,” Brown said. “We’re not whipped. We’ll keep digging and make sure everything is working the way it’s supposed to and be ready for Pomona. One thing is that the good Lord is an able guy; he never gives you anything you can’t handle. Things happen for a reason, and this is all part of it. We’ve put ourselves in a good position in case something like this happened.”

No matter the outcome, Brown has a special way of keeping everything in perspective. He understands that he has come a long way from growing up in Chesterfield, N.J., and dreaming of becoming an NHRA world champion. Right now, he’s in the middle of living that dream.

“We’ve just been very fortunate, and I’m just staying humble,” Brown said. “You’ve just got to be humble because if not, the sport will humble you and make you cringe. You go from hero to zero in our sport, and that’s why I just keep the same attitude I always have.”

There will be an addendum to this article, regardless of the results this week.  Dream Realized.

GM on a Roll in Retail Sales

GM U.S. Sales Increase 5 percent in October

Retail sales up 7 percent, fleet down 2 percent

2012-11-01

 

DETROIT – General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) today reported its highest October sales in the United States since 2007, with deliveries up 5 percent versus a year ago to 195,764 vehicles.  Year-over-year sales to retail customers were up 7 percent and sales to fleet customers were down 2 percent.

“GM had a solid October in a month that was marked by a devastating national tragedy,” said Kurt McNeil, vice president, U.S. sales operations.  “All of us at GM are deeply saddened by the loss of life and the extensive damage caused by the storms, but we’re really encouraged by the national and local response, which will speed the recovery.”

GM’s new cars had a standout performance in October.
“With new designs like the Chevrolet Spark, Buick Verano and Cadillac ATS, and a growing reputation for quality and good resale value, we are becoming an even more formidable competitor in every segment – not just traditional GM strongholds like trucks,” McNeil said.

Sales of GM passenger cars increased 15 percent in October compared with a year ago. Crossovers were up 3 percent and sales of full-size pickup trucks were up 8 percent.

• Passenger car sales were driven by a 37 percent increase in Cadillac car sales, a 27 percent increase in Buick car sales and a 12 percent increase in Chevrolet car sales.
• Combined sales of mini, small and compact cars were up 72 percent compared with a year ago, driven by strong Spark and Sonic sales and a 34 percent increase in Cruze sales.  Chevrolet dealers also delivered a record 2,961 Volts.
• Crossover sales were driven by double-digit increases for the Cadillac SRX, GMC Acadia and GMC Terrain.
• Overall truck sales were down 2 percent, reflecting lower sales of the GMC and Chevrolet mid-size pickups, which have been discontinued, and large SUVs.

“Year over year, the light vehicle selling rate has increased for eight consecutive quarters without a tailwind from the residential housing sector, but that is starting to change,” said McNeil.  “If these trends continue, housing may be the final piece of the puzzle that lifts sales above 15 million units on an annual basis just as GM prepares to launch even more new cars, crossovers and trucks.”
GM will replace 70 percent of its U.S. nameplates with redesigned or all-new vehicles over the course of 2012 - 2013.  In anticipation of robust demand, GM has increased its year-end inventory target from the 650,000-unit range to 660,000 to 670,000 units.  This change reflects higher planned stocks of new passenger cars.  The truck inventory target is unchanged.##