ANTRON BROWN
Army Strong
The Army is continuing its major associate sponsorship of the 2012 NHRA World Champion Antron Brown in 2013. This adds on to a relationship that goes back to Brown riding the U.S. Army Suzuki for five years (2003-2007). His performance on and off the drag strip epitomizes the values of our Army Strong Soldiers. The Chesterfield, N.J. native, posted six wins and finished twice among the top three in points during his first stint with the Army Racing team. In addition, Brown proudly represented the men and women who defend our country through participation in the NHRA YES program, and provided leadership and motivation to young Americans across the country.
After a decade as one of the premier riders in the Pro Stock Motorcycle category, Antron launched his Top Fuel dragster career in 2008. The rookie driver earned two wins in five final round appearances, and claimed three No.1 qualifying awards during the 2008 NHRA season en route to finishing fifth in the NHRA Countdown to 1 standings. He captured his first-ever NHRA Top Fuel victory in only his fourth career start at Houston Raceway Park, and became the first driver in NHRA history to win races in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle.
In the past three seasons (2010-2012) driving the Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, Brown has racked up 13 wins in 26 final rounds and claimed eleven No.1 qualifying awards. Antron's 2012 championship season was a banner year for Brown as he earned six wins, the most in Top Fuel, en route to a first-place finish in the standings. Brown won 2 of the 3 prestigious West Coast Swing races including Denver and Seattle, while posting personal bests in both elapsed time (3.701 seconds) and speed (328.78 mph).
Brown has 37 wins in 73 final rounds, 32 poles and 443 round wins in 15 seasons as a professional racer. In addition, he is the only driver in NHRA history to have won races and led the standings in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle. He is also the first African-American to win a major American motorsports championship.
Antron and his wife, Billie Jo, reside in Pittsboro, Ind. They have three children, Arianna (10), Anson (8) and Adler (4). When not at the race track, Brown enjoys spending time with his family. He also has a passion for RC boats, motorcycles and fitness.
The presence of any information identifying private companies or other non-federal entities does not constitute an endorsement by the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.
- NHRA Video Blog 1 - Army Racing Team
- NHRA Video Blog 2 - Army Racing Team
- NHRA Video Blog 3 - Army Racing Team
- NHRA Video Blog 4 - Army Racing Team
- NHRA Video Blog 5 - Army Racing Team
- NHRA Video Blog 6 - Army Racing Team
NHRA VIDEO BLOG 3
Army Racing Team
Announcer: We're here at Brainerd International Raceway for the Lucas Oil Nationals, this is three more races to go for the count down to one. Tell us what your goals and objectives are as you get ready for the post-season playoffs.
Tony: Well I think when you get down to the last couple of races you spend as much time as possible testing, getting ready so that we can turn over the countdown, down to seven races. Whether it's the chassis, the engine or the clutch, we have basically the car, the parts and pieces; we're going to carry out to the last seven races.
We don't want to switch, we don't want to run out of clutch discs, we don't want to run out of tires, we want to have want ever we going to use. So we'll test the next three weeks, cause we want to win the races, we want to get it to work effectively together and we've been testing for the last couple of races, but right now it's very important to get it figured out.
We also want to win, we don't want to sound like we're trying to lose any of the races, there's a few that really stand out, greatest races in Indianapolis. We've won it seven times, we have a chance this year if we win it eight times. Big Daddy Don Garlin is the winningest Indy Driver ever; it's something to hope for. If we can't win a championship, it's the race you'd have to win. It's something very few people ever have a chance to win. We'd been fortunate to win a lot, so we're going to go forward. Brainerd is very hot, we're going to see heat in the next couple of races anyway, so we've got to get used to it.
Announcer: Now you talk about wanting to win the next three races despite the testing that you'll be doing. Obviously your goal is always is to win races for the Soldiers.
Tony: Well no doubt about it. I wear the United States Army Uniform and all the Soldiers overseas doing their job and give them hopefully a little bit of inspiration. We've set up the media and send them the links where they can download and watch the races. We're out there doing a great job for the U.S. Army. Just showing them support that's really what its all about. The fans out here are so amazing, they really want the Soldiers to know that that they love them and that their behind them and that's what we're trying to do to give them a little piece of America out on the race track.
