Antron Brown picked up his 75th career win at Sunday’s Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill.. (Photo: Maddie Skidan | The Podium Finish)
JOLIET, Ill. – Antron Brown is no stranger to hoisting a Wally at Route 66 Raceway, but Sunday’s victory, his sixth at the venue was his 75th career NHRA win. He earned 16 wins in Pro Stock Motorcycle before moving into the Top Fuel ranks, where Sunday marked his 59th victory.
Brown not only defeated his four opponents on the day, but he and his team also overcame tricky weather conditions to defeat the track itself at the Gerber Collision and Glass Route 66 Nationals. The milestone win was Brown’s first of the season and sixth at Route 66 Raceway.
“This track was medieval this whole weekend,” Brown said. “It’s one of our first hot tracks that we raced on, and we thought we could run this, thought we could run that, but it was tricky.”
Brown won the All-Star Call Out in Gainesville back in March, but this was his first race win of the year. He said his team didn’t let the challenging conditions impact them, and they gave him a good car each time down the track. In the first round, he almost did not make it out when his ignition box broke, but when opponent Jasmine Salinas spun her tires he was able to coast to victory despite an early shut off.
“We came back and said, ‘Woo. We got through that one,'” he said.
Brown has tough road to Top Fuel win
After surviving the first round, the road did not get any easier for Brown, who faced point leader Justin Ashley and multi-time champion Steve Torrence in the second and third round, respectively. Both drivers smoked their tires, as Brown’s team got him down the track with times in the high 3.8 second range. When it came time for the final round matchup with Shawn Langdon, however, he knew he needed a little bit more, and his team gave it to him, as he ran a 3.838 second pass to best Langdon’s 3.869.
“When you get a win and you go through adversity like that, it makes you think about all the things you went through to make it happen,” Brown said. “It was a total team effort of everybody digging in and getting the job done. Even our hospitality boys were coming over and pitching a hand in. When you have a team like that, this kind of thing happens.”
Winning at Schumacher’s home track is special for Brown
Brown said he may have had some luck on his side, but he does not think that was the only cosmic assist he had en route to his win. On the weekend where the NHRA family came together to celebrate the life of legend Don Schumacher, who passed away over the off season, Brown said he does not think it is a coincidence he and former Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan took home Wally’s.
“(Winning at Route 66 Raceway) has always been big,” Brown said. “Every time we come to Joliet, this is Don’s home town. I know he’s looking down on all of us now. Seeing Matt (Hagan) in the (Funny Car) final and winning the race, and seeing us win the race. That was like old times. That would’ve been an old DSR double up. It brings a tear to my eye because we had the memorial for him this weekend. It was so special.”
Brown said the win was dedicated to both Schumacher and to the father of his team member Alex Burlington, whose father passed away earlier in the week.
“We didn’t quit. We didn’t give up, but we had an extra force with us this weekend to pull that win off.”
Antron Brown gets ready for his first round matchup with Jasmine Salinas, and drove to his 75th NHRA win. (Photo: Maddie Skidan | The Podium Finish)
First win of the season for Brown bodes well for summer months
As drivers and teams turn their focus to the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H., in two weeks, Brown said his team’s success on the hot track in Joliet sets them up well for the hot summer months ahead.
“We’re going to start getting to the hotter part of the season now, where the tracks are going to get like this,” he said. “It’s going to be a neutralizer for the field We’re gonna have to figure out how to go quick and fast on some tricky surfaces. I like where we’re at with my team because we’ve got a lot of laps. We’ve got a lot of data today and we know what to do and what not to do. This gives us some momentum to build off of.”
