POMONA, Calif. — Heading into Sunday’s In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at Pomona Dragstrip, the odds appeared to be stacked against Antron Brown.
Struggles throughout Saturday qualifying pinned the AB Motorsports driver 12th among his competitors, handing him a date with points leader Justin Ashley in the first round.
“Man, we came into this weekend and we thought we found something in testing,” Brown began. “Came in and we shot ourselves in the foot. We only had two qualifying rounds trying to rotate the earth and it didn’t go our way.”
With an elimination from title contention breathing down his neck, Brown put together a good enough pass to knock Ashley off the top step of the points despite what Brown considered a “bad” run.
Next was fellow title rival Shawn Langdon, who had jumped ahead of Brown in the standings following qualifying.
Brown didn’t flinch despite the round coming down to a pedal fest as he willed his Matco Tools dragster to the win light. With Steve Torrence and Clay Millican falling out early, the stage was set — if Brown beat Brittany Force in the semifinals, the title was his regardless if defending champion Doug Kalitta reached the finals or not.
Sure enough, a smoke of the tires by Force opened the gates for Brown to cruise to a fourth championship — his first as an owner.
At the top end of the track following the christening of his title, Brown was at a loss for words as he fought back tears.
What went through his mind was the tireless effort to build a team from the ground up and make it into a championship-winning organization.
“I remember talking to Don Schumacher and was just telling him the vision I had and going through those walks of life of making AB Motorsports a reality,” Brown began. “Getting all the right people together with Brian Corradi (crew chief), Mark Oswald who’s leaving us, retiring this year.
“He’s (Oswald) the one that really kept us going and always motivating, never down, always cool, calm, collected. Then Brad Mason, who’s been the glue behind the scenes, keeping the whole program together.”
He’d later go on to win the event over Kalitta with 3.681 ET at 330.55 mph. The win would be Brown’s monumental 80th in NHRA competition.
Perhaps the catalyst for Brown’s golden day was his calm mindset. Brown and Ashley’s first round battle was delayed nearly two hours after a plane crash nearby on-site forced NHRA to suspend the event until given the OK to continue.
While Brown typically takes down time to interact with fans, he isolated to collect his thoughts.
“I actually stayed in my lounge for the first time and I laid on the couch with a hat on my head, just taking my mind away from everything.” Brown said. “Just to breathe and say, ‘You know what, get ready for another qualifying round.’
“That’s what I told myself. Just to keep my mind in that zone of just, where I’m coming up to the line, I just wanna react and do what we have to do. It worked out for the best.”