Antron Brown, first Black drag racing champion, has plenty left in tank
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MORRISON— As a child, Antron Brown’s trips to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, were a source of inspiration.
He heard the vehicle engines roar and saw countless Budweiser cans. But the simple touch on the shoulder from the legendary Kenny Bernstein, followed by the words “Hey kid, how are you doing?” was all Brown needed to know that his dream of being a drag racer could be a reality.
“You were able to see yourself and say, ‘I could be here one day,’” Brown said.
At 47, Brown has accomplished a lot in the sport. He’s the first African American champion in drag racing history, winning the Top Fuel Dragster championship in 2012, ’15 and ’16.
But as Brown watched Bernstein, who hasn’t stepped into the seat of a nitro car since 2007, warm up his Matco Tools/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster in preparation for the event’s first qualifying session at the Mile-High Nationals on Friday, he knew there was more to achieve.
“I’m still trying to grow in my career. I’m halfway through,” said Brown, who went on to defeat Austin Prock on Friday.
“He’s already there. He doesn’t have to do anymore,” Bernstein said while noting Brown’s 72 career wins compared to the 69 victories he claimed before retiring as an NHRA racer and team owner in 2011.
Brown’s win total, which includes 56 Top Fuel and 16 Pro Stock Motorcycle, is seventh-best in NHRA history. Brown tied Bernstein’s record of 69 career wins when he captured his first victory as a team owner during the 2022 Menards NHRA Nationals in Topeka, Kansas.
Brown is a three-time event champion at Bandimere Speedway, a place he called unique. He said racing in the mountains requires the best out of every racer and he takes pride in competing in the last NHRA Nationals at the world-renowned track.
“When you win up here, you treat it like (you had climbed) Mount Everest,” Brown said. “You have to have the full gambit to make it happen. That’s what Denver brings out of all of us. You got to make big power (so) you can navigate down track and show what you are made of.”
Bernstein, known as the “King of Speed” after becoming the first NHRA driver to break the 300-mph barrier in 1992, said Brown is at the top of his game.
“His unit looks beautiful. Everything is clean and neat,” said Bernstein, a four-time event winner at Bandimere. “He learned very well.”
Brown said his career, which started in Pro Stock Motorcycle in 1998 before switching to Top Fuel Dragster in 2008, is the “American Dream.” Growing up in Chesterfield Township, where his mother worked at the post office and his dad served in the army and National Guard, Brown said his career took hard work and putting himself in the right opportunities with the right people.
When he became the first African-American NHRA world champ and first Black driver to win a major U.S. auto racing championship title in 2012, he used that moment as an opportunity to show that anything is possible.
“The only limit you have is the one you put on yourself,” he said. “That’s what I push to all the youth today. If you have the will and the passion, there’s nothing you can’t do.”
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