Hello to all my Nitroholics. The brothaman is back on the blog. Speaking of “Nitroholics,” I’m real close to launching my new line of apparel. Check out www.antronbrown.com to show your NHRA pride and get some cool drag racing threads.

I’m back in Indy and have been for more than a week and let me tell you, it’s great to be home. It’s awesome to sleep in my own bed and spend lots of time with the family. School is getting ready to start back up in the next few weeks, so it’s been great to just chill at home with the wife and kids. I have been busy getting all the details worked out to have my detached garage built at the house. I don’t have a “man cave,” but the brothaman will have one nice garage.

I need to wish a happy belated birthday to my boy Daniel. Daniel is a big NHRA supporter and he had a birthday on July 14. Better late than never “D.”

We finished up the Western Swing at Denver and I headed home that Sunday night. After three weeks on the road, I was ready to come home. We qualified on the pole at Denver at 3.961 seconds. I couldn’t believe that time held. We ran that early in the session on Friday night and it stayed low. Sometimes you get lucky I guess. Racing at Bandimere Speedway on Thunder Mountain is very challenging. You have to change so much with your tune-up – compression, blower speed, ignition timing – to adjust for the altitude and it’s hard to keep all the candles lit. We lost a close race to Brandon Bernstein in the second round and that put an end to our 2010 swing.

Before the Denver race, the brothaman went whitewater rafting in Idaho Springs, Colo., about 30 minutes west of Denver. It wasn’t my plan, but it was a lot of fun. TY and I were invited by the Yost girls. I like to call them “Yost with the Most.” Ashley works for us at DSR and her mom, Kelly, helped us on the road this summer. All four of us cruised eight miles down Clear Creek with our guide Nathan and it was a blast. Nobody fell in, so it was all good. Even if TY was our weak link. I’d have thought a big, strong guy like Ted could paddle, but nope. Nathan was riding his butt the entire three-hour rafting trip.

Last week I flew to Washington D.C. to attend the National Urban League (NUL). The NUL held its Centennial Conference in D.C. and I was there to represent the U.S. Army. It was a really productive few days. We saw a play called Black Angels Over Tuskegee and it was one of the best things I’ve seen in my life. It was very moving and emotional.  I also saw John Legend sing too. It was a really cool event to attend.

We head off to Brainerd next Wednesday, but I have to give a few plugs before I go. First, DSR will host its fifth annual Open House on the opening day of pro qualifying at the U.S. Nationals. That’s on Sept. 3 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at DSR’s shop in Brownsburg. We’re located at 1681 E. Northfield Drive in Brownsburg, IN just a few miles from ORP. If you’re coming to the Nationals, you’ve got to stop in and see our in-house fab and machine shop. It’s worth the trip. Plus there will be some really cool Cacklefest cars.  The best thing about it is that we raise money for Riley Hospital for Children here in Indy. It’s a fun day and great cause.

I also need to give a shout out to one of our best Matco distributors and race supporters Jim Ledbetter. Jim lives in Santa Rosa, CA and attends a few races each year. He was one of our distributors of the race at Sonoma. Jim is the man. His hobby is building die cast cars. His company is called Die Cast Designs (DCD) and he specializes in small production custom Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars. Check out the Toyota car we raced at Memphis last year and Hot Rod’s Yas Marina Circuit car. If you’re a big racing fan and would like a die cast, e-mail Jim at diecastdesigns@yahoo.com. He’s also making our John Wolfe Matco Tools dragster from Joliet this year.

Before I go, I’d like you all to check out our Facebook fan page, Antron Brown – Top Fuel pilot. We’re really trying to make the page interactive with photos and video links and we’re working on getting Matco Tools involved as well. You never know, you may soon get some discounts on the best tools in the business. The brothaman is doing his best to converse with fans and make the page very interactive. We hope you like it.

With that, it’s time for some love, peace and hair grease and I’m out like shout.

God bless.