Tweet
Antron Brown grew up riding bikes.
Not the types with training wheels and pedals, but the motorized ones with throttles, pegs and power.
[...] the fact that the New Jersey native thrived in the family passion of racing — winning 16 times from 1998 to 2007 in the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle series — wasn’t all that surprising.
[...] the fact he was asked to become the first motorcycle champion to transition to the top of the NHRA food chain and race Top Fuel dragsters — vehicles that accelerate to 300 mph in less than four seconds — was remarkable.
In 2016, he won the Top Fuel season championship for the third time in five years on the strength of a category-best seven wins.
Heading into next Sunday’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway — where he won in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015 — the 41-year-old is third in the Top Fuel standings.
Brown’s late grandfather Albert began drag racing in the 1960s and passed on his passion to his sons Albert (Brown’s father) and Andre, who continue to drive in the NHRA Sportsmen series.
“Racing is a lot of fun, but there’s a ton of life lessons to learn at an early age,” Brown said.
[...] the thrill of racing proved more attractive than that of running.
Brown says the adrenaline rush of two-wheel racing — where motorcycles can get to 100 mph in a second — and 300 mph four-wheelers is similar.
For a kid coming off a bike to win in a big dragster, we proved a lot of people wrong.
When he became the first African American to win a major auto-racing season championship in 2012, it took him somewhat off guard.
If I can shed a ray of hope and convey that message whether you are Asian, Hispanic, black or white or red or purple, that’s awesome.
More...
Not the types with training wheels and pedals, but the motorized ones with throttles, pegs and power.
[...] the fact that the New Jersey native thrived in the family passion of racing — winning 16 times from 1998 to 2007 in the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle series — wasn’t all that surprising.
[...] the fact he was asked to become the first motorcycle champion to transition to the top of the NHRA food chain and race Top Fuel dragsters — vehicles that accelerate to 300 mph in less than four seconds — was remarkable.
In 2016, he won the Top Fuel season championship for the third time in five years on the strength of a category-best seven wins.
Heading into next Sunday’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway — where he won in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015 — the 41-year-old is third in the Top Fuel standings.
Brown’s late grandfather Albert began drag racing in the 1960s and passed on his passion to his sons Albert (Brown’s father) and Andre, who continue to drive in the NHRA Sportsmen series.
“Racing is a lot of fun, but there’s a ton of life lessons to learn at an early age,” Brown said.
[...] the thrill of racing proved more attractive than that of running.
Brown says the adrenaline rush of two-wheel racing — where motorcycles can get to 100 mph in a second — and 300 mph four-wheelers is similar.
For a kid coming off a bike to win in a big dragster, we proved a lot of people wrong.
When he became the first African American to win a major auto-racing season championship in 2012, it took him somewhat off guard.
If I can shed a ray of hope and convey that message whether you are Asian, Hispanic, black or white or red or purple, that’s awesome.
More...