MESA, Ariz. — NHRA Top Fuel owner/driver Antron Brown uses the phrase “plain and simple” a lot in conversation. And for him, problem-solving — even on a congressional level — is a matter of common sense and cooperation.
Brown understands why drag strips and other race tracks have fallen victim to urban sprawl, but he isn’t into victimization. He’s pro-active in preventing that disintegration. And this proud son of a septic-tank service owner and drag racer in New Jersey has grown from a daydreaming child playing with toy dragsters under the grandstands at a now-defunct facility into one of motorsports’ most ardent ambassadors — with a message of hope.
Brown, who passionately lobbied Congress last September for the RPM Act, recently accompanied fellow team owner and three-time champion driver Ron Capps and NHRA executive Kasey Coler to Washington, D.C.
They were there to address members of the Congressional Motorsports Caucus and other lawmakers on behalf of the National Motorsports Coalition. The trio provided insight into the massive impact the racing industry has on America’s economy.
So Brown, as eloquent and educated as any politician on Capitol Hill, recognizes what is happening in the NHRA community, and he isn’t panicking with this year’s news that we’ve allegedly seen the final Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix and will be seeing the final Mile-High Nationals at Colorado’s Bandimere Speedway in July.
The sky isn’t falling, if one listens to Brown.
“I think what it is, is that we just need to have a meeting of minds. And I think that’s something that NHRA is starting to do,” he said. “Now, they’re starting to go at a different level and started getting with the state representatives and senators and getting them on board. And I think (on behalf of) a lot of these race tracks, that’s the direction that we need to start going: getting them involved to actually help us fight the fight. That’s what it’s about.
“It’s no different than when we fought the fight for the RPM Act with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). There’s no difference in us going back up to Capitol Hill and talking about the depreciation in the Motorsports Caucus for all the race tracks, to get certainty for (them). So it’s the same thing of different things, just educating and actually being and making things more aware, and making the public more aware of it so we can all do this together,” Brown said. “The main thing is if we work on things together, there’s nothing that we can’t accomplish. And I’ve been seeing that now on every standpoint that we’re working together.”
The Denver situation isn’t as dire as it might sound, he contends. Bandimere Speedway, in the suburban enclave of Morrison, Colo., since 1958, has a massive fan base. And Brown believes the well-established Bandimere family will keep its promise to seek land upon which to build a new drag-racing venue.
Brown said the Denver market “is way too stellar not to have a race there. Drag racing in Denver, Colo., is huge. From what I hear, the Bandimere family is in full search of more property and then also they have all the people and all the powers that be around them that are willing to dig in and help because they know how big – if I had to guesstimate, anywhere between $40 million and $50 million in revenue for Denver when the national event comes to town, that is big revenue for the hotels, for the restaurants and everything of that nature.
“I believe they’re going to find a piece of land that you aren’t going to have to worry about houses and communities, or industrial areas, coming in to try to take it away.
“That track’s always been at the forefront of drag racing,” Brown said. “The track facility was always top-notch. They had a cooling system in it on the first hundred or so feet. They were always innovative. They came up with the tire draggers, the tire scrapers. They brought all the innovation into drag racing, and they’ve always been at the forefront.
“To see it go away and not come back, I highly doubt it. It’s my personal opinion that you’ll see a track back there soon,” Brown continued. “And I believe the Bandimere family and all the representatives around have been working full-blown with the wheels turning and going to create and to have something there in the near future – very, very soon.
“It’s just like anything else in life, plain and simple: If you’re not passionate, then you’re not going to get the results. That whole Bandimere family is very passionate and that has never changed.”
And the situation at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Ariz., might not blow away with the desert dust-storms, either.
Brown is confident Arizona Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly “knows how important drag racing is” and could play a key role in helping preserve the NHRA presence in Phoenix. So the 72-time NHRA winner is hopeful the near future will yield optimistic news — and that it will be through cooperation.
“It doesn’t make a difference where you are or where you came from or what you do,” Brown said. “My train of thought is having common sense and everybody pulling together and working together.”
It’s that plain and simple.
This story appeared in the June 14, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
