NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

“Anybody who doesn’t think LeBron James is the G.O.A.T… come on man,” Antron Brown said, referencing his other favorite sport. 

If Brown loves one thing more than drag racing, it’s talking. Always good-natured, always as fast as his Matco Tools Top Fueler, and always loud. This time about the Lakers bid to pick up Anthony Davis. He doesn’t think they should give up Kyle Kuzma, for the record. 

He does like his team’s chances of contending for a championship in 2019 after a down season in 2018. Losing Brian Corradi hurt even more than Brown anticipated – and he knew it would hurt. Corradi moved to John Force Racing to tune Courtney Force’s Funny Car and will be on board with her father this season. That meant “next crew person up” on Brown’s dragster. 

“What you gotta remember is… here’s the deal,” Brown quiets, puts his hand on my shoulder, and gets ready to inform me. “We had the same team, but Brian left. That’s what a lot of people don’t realize. We took an experienced set of eyes off of our car and everybody on our team moved up a position. 

“Brad Mason was an assistant crew chief and became a crew chief. Mark Oswald already was a crew chief. Kyle (Weekly) went from being a cylinder head guy to being a car chief. So, we had all these guys move up to new positions… so basically Brian Corradi got replaced with an entry level guy, which is Tyler (Allison), who is our new clutch assistant. So now, you have to have all these other guys step up to the plate, learn new jobs and train people to do their old job. That’s what we went through last year.”

Brown won once, in Seattle, and went to the final a week later in Brainerd. He feels the team found a combination at that point of the season before getting away from it as the Countdown approached. It’s hard to get a read on the most optimistic driver in Top Fuel racing, but it certainly makes sense the team will improve if it applies the lessons from a year ago.

“That’s what rebuilding is,” said Brown. “You have to be persistent and constantly evolve. These are the guys now and we’re building towards a future where you don’t have to change anymore. That’s what the goal is.

“It’s a process more than a mindset. You just put your head down and you do the best you’re going to do. We didn’t think we were going to perform the way we were – we thought we were going to do better. But I know one thing for sure, you don’t ever learn anything when everything goes right. You learn when you struggle.”

Brown, for what it’s worth, has yet to struggle much in the driver’s seat. He’s one of the best in reaction time averages year in and year out, which always gives his team a fighting chance on elimination day. If the crew can take the new chassis it will debut at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona [tickets], they’ve got a shot.