Hey all my Nitroholics, the brothaman is back on the NHRA.com blog. I’m back in Indy after spending June 30 in Denver for a charity event with Matco and Bandimere. It was an awesome time to benefit Bandimere’s Race to Read program and the NOCO 2030 foundation. I want to thank Matco district manager Mark Fishburn for inviting me.

Summer time is Indy here. It’s going to be a hot July 4th weekend here in Indy; in the 90s all weekend long. After Bristol and Norwalk, the Brothaman is ready for a little R&R with the family at home here in Indy. I hope you all have a great holiday weekend with your families.

Bristol was a pretty good weekend for our DSR Matco Tools team. Other than taking 18 hours to get from Indy to Bristol, it was a fun weekend for us as we almost rode that Aaron’s Lucky Dog to 8-0 this season. What’s normally about a 90-minute flight from Indy to Atlanta took me 5.5 hours in the same airplane to get to Atlanta with a pit stop in Birmingham. Then I had to spend the night at Motel 8 thanks to Delta, and let me tell you. I know why they leave the light on for you. LOL I finally got to Bristol on Thursday afternoon and then drove to Christiansburg, Va. to meet up with my DSR teammate Matt Hagan for an autograph session at Shelor Motor Mile.

Other than fighting Mother Nature, Bristol was good to us. We qualified decently and raced back to our third final round of the season before the parachutes came out early and we lost a squeaker to Larry Dixon and those Al-Anabi boys. We left the track around 10 p.m. and then drove home back to Indy. We got to the shop around 5:30 a.m. on Monday. It was the red eye drive. LOL

One really cool memory from Bristol was when we raced “the Greek” in the second round, after the race, Gary Gerould of ESPN gave me the mic and let me interview the Greek. That was really cool and I enjoy doing the TV work. It could be my fallback career if driving doesn’t work.

Norwalk is always a busy race for us. It’s Matco Tools’ home market. Matco’s headquarters are about an hour from the track. My boy TY and I left Indy around 7:30 on Tuesday morning and drove to Stow, Ohio to visit the employees at Matco right after our lunch pit stop at Chick-Fil-A. Then we attend the Cleveland Indians game on Tuesday night with our friends from Ohio Technical College. Wednesday morning we visited OTC for the third straight year with our Matco Tools dragster to speak to the OTC students. That afternoon I visited some TV stations in Cleveland to promote the Norwalk race and then headed to Middleburg Heights where my crew chief, Brian Corradi, owns a pizza shop called Master Pizza. You can visit them online at MasterPizzaNow.com. Brian let me cook my own pizzas and it was a fun time with our entire Matco Tools team. The pizza was really good too. Thursday morning I spent a few hours with Matco district manager Bruce Barber driving around Ohio to sign tool boxes. Matco came out with a box that has our race car on it, so I signed boxes for some customers that signed the box. All that and the race hadn’t even begun. LOL Then it was time to meet the family and be a big kid at the water park at Kalahari.

The Norwalk race wasn’t our best outing. We missed the first day of qualifying due to rain and that track was tough to manage with the new asphalt. A lot of cars were spinning the tires down track. We qualified ninth and ran low ET of the first round before losing a close one to Del Horsham in the second round. That’s racing. We’re still fourth in the standings and excited to get to Joliet next weekend, but first we’re going to enjoy the long weekend.

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

God bless.
 

Hey Nitroholics, I hope all is well in your world. I’ve still been playing Bob Vila when not at the race track. The garage is coming together nicely, but the last few days I’ve been installing new shutters on the house while the contractors are working on a new entry way. Let me tell you, my wife is ready for the construction at the Brown house to come to an end. I think we’ll be all finished up by the end of July.

While I’ve been busy with my hardhat, my wife has been working overtime with the kids. Our daughter, Arianna, is part of the play Oklahoma here in Indy. The show debuted last Friday at Ben Davis High School and let me tell you, I was one proud papa to see her on stage last Friday night.

It’s been a busy few days with appearances here in town. Last Saturday at Bethesda Christian School in Brownsburg, I joined Tony Pedregon and Brandon Bernstein for the inaugural Bethesda Car Show. Tony P had his Funny Car on display and my kids had fun checking out all the cool muscle cars. Last Tuesday, on June 7, we DSR held the third annual Bowling for Riley charity bowling event. Most of the DSR drivers were joined by Larry Dixon, Zippy, Brandon, Tony, Morgan Lucas, Shawn Langdon, the Harley boys Andrew and Eddie for a great night at Brownsburg Bowl. All the proceeds go to Riley Hospital for Children and we raised more than $10,000, so thanks to NAPA and all the great fans for their support of this terrific event. Here’s a photo of the Brothaman doing a plank at the bowling alley. I’m not sure what it’s all about, but Will Truitt, who’s one of our high brass at DSR and a big IndyCar fan, saw Scott Dixon and a bunch of IndyCar drivers doing this during the Indy 500.

It’s going to be a crazy busy next few weeks for me. I head off to Bristol tonight and then I’ll be joining my DSR teammate, Mr. Handsome, the man with the Hollywood good looks Matt Hagan at Motor Mile Toyota a the Shelor Motor Mile tomorrow (June 16) from 4-6 p.m. If you’re in the Blacksburg, Va. area, come check us out. Our Matco Tools show car dragster will be on display, so bring the family and take home a new car. Maybe even a white Sequoia just like mine. Then, Fast Jack and I will be at an Aaron’s store from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Friday before qualifying at Bristol. It’s the Aaron’s on Euclid Ave. in Bristol, Va. Jack’s Aaron’s Funny Car show car will be on display, so bring the kids and take home a TV or bed. The Brothaman doing my best to help the economic recovery. LOL

Next week we’re off to Norwalk, which the family loves because they get to stay at Kalahari and play in the water park and also go to Cedar Point. Norwalk is Matco’s home race as the Matco Tools headquarters are about an hour away in Stow, Ohio, so we need to be on point and have a strong showing. We almost got it done last year losing in the final by a few inches to Larry Dixon and that Al-Anabi juggernaut. Next Wednesday is another busy day. We’ll be at Ohio Technical College in the morning and early afternoon for our annual visit to OTC, then we’re doing a media tour in Cleveland visiting the TV stations, I hope they’re kinder to me than LeBron James. LOL Wednesday night, I’ll be at Master Pizza in Middleburg Heights, Ohio near Cleveland. Master Pizza is owned by my crew chief Brian Corradi. Not only can he tune a nitro car, but he can make a mean pizza. At least that’s what he tells me. I’m a pizza expert, so I need to let Brian know if Master Pizza is the real deal or not. Come check us out as they’ll have an NHRA fan special on June 22, and if you don’t like the pizza, at least you  get to see me. LOL

Before I finish packing for the next two weeks, I need to plug our Shoe_Racing eBay store. My 2010 Matco Tools Impact! Racing firesuit is available for your scrapbook. If you’re an NHRA fan, it’s a great souvenir. I even signed it myself. Check it out at: http://cgi.ebay.com/Antron-Brown-Race-Worn-2010-Matco-Tools-Firesuit-NHRA-/200618260928?pt=US_Racing_Fan_Shop&hash=item2eb5c7b9c0. It would make a great Father’s Day gift.

With that, don’t forget to call dad on Sunday, and with some love, peace and hair grease, I’m out like shout.

God bless.

Hello again Nitroholics. I’m sure you’re all gearing up for this Memorial Day weekend. I know I’m ready for a few days to relax and just chill. After the Atlanta and Topeka races, the brothaman is worn out, let me tell you. I’ve been working hard on the garage and trying to get that project finished. I know my wife will be happy when I’m finally done.

Well, we just finished our first consecutive events on the schedule with Atlanta and Topeka. We started out great and finished up just ok, at least in the standings. We got our second win of the season, by putting our Matco Tools dragster in the winner’s circle for the second time at Atlanta Dragway. We also beat the Sarge in the final round in my rookie Top Fuel season in 2008. It was my fourth win at Atlanta. I guess you just do well at certain tracks. It’s one of those things that make you go hmm… That vaulted us to second in the standings behind Del (Worsham) and the Al-Anabi gold boys. My Matco Tools team was flawless on race day and I have to give it up to my team. They’re fantastic. It was cool to double-up with Fast Jack (Beckman) and the Aaron’s/Valvoline team at Aaron’s home track. They’re headquartered in Atlanta, and it’s always fun to celebrate with our Matco Tools distributors in the winner’s circle. After last season, it’s a lot more fun being the bride and not the bridesmaid, let me tell you.

Speaking of Matco, they’re running an awesome promo called Tool Up and Win with Matco and Antron. It’s a scratch off card promotion where when you make a purchase of $150, you can win a varsity jacket, tool box or even a trip to the Pomona Finals. It’s a really cool promo and if you want a chance to come watch us race for the championship at Pomona in November, go see your local Matco Tools distributor.

Last weekend at Topeka, we qualified well with our consistency, dodged a tornado, and then got edged in a pedaler to Tony (Schumacher) and the Army team in round two. I guess the Army boys owed us one. Our DSR teammate Spencer Massey got his first win here at DSR with the FRAM car, and I have to give it up to Spencer and the FRAM guys. Todd (Okuhara) and Phil (Shuler) and the FRAM guys did a great job and Spence is lights out on the tree. It’s great to see our DSR cars winning races, and the top five in Top Fuel is getting pretty jumbled in the points. Tony is in second and we’re only 10 point behind him and we’re fifth. It’s crazy.

For those of you who like our Getting Down With Brown segments on ESPN2, they ran a 2010 season review last week during the Topeka broadcast. I hope you all enjoyed that because we have a lot of fun with the Down With Brown events. We’re going to shoot some pieces next Thursday at my Grandma’s house and at my high school, Northern Burlington County Regional High School in New Jersey. It’ll be a homecoming. I’m excited to get back and see some of my old teachers, and you guys have no idea what’s in store when you see Grandma’s house. It should be a lot of fun.

Speaking of the bridesmaid, that’s what we’ve been the last two years at Englishtown to Larry Dixon and that Al-Anabi juggernaut. I’ve won twice on the bikes at Raceway Park, my home track, but it would be amazing to win there in Top Fuel. I’m not going even lie about it. We want to win next weekend and we’re going to keep our heads down and work hard.

I have to end this blog with my shamless plugs. First, DSR Open House, tomorrow, Saturday, May 28, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. If you’re near Indy, stop by and check us out. Our race shop is an awesome place. Second, the third annual Bowling for Riley charity bowling event to benefit Riley Hospital for Children in Indy will take place on July 7 at 6 p.m. at Brownsburg Bowl. There will be a ton of NHRA stars there, so come bowl with us and support a great cause. Finally, if you’re a collector, check out the DSR eBay store online at www.ebay.com under shoe_racing. We’ll put up some really cool items each week for you NHRA die hards. There’s a signed panel from The Sarge’s 2010 Army dragster up there right now
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With that, it’s time for some love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout. Have a great Memorial Day weekend and remember to thank a soldier and veteran.

God bless.

Test Drive with the kids! The attendant ask me If I'm scared. LOL.

At Disney's Hollywood studios. Anson said, "Watch out Hollywood here I come!"

Mickey Mouse gang!

Got my racing eyes. All he needs is a helmet! What do you think?

Greetings from Orlando, Fla. That’s right, the brothaman is not in Indy. I’m taking a few minutes away from the Brown family vacation to say What’s Up! to my NHRA.com blog readers. It’s been a few weeks and for that I apologize.

We flew to Florida on Tuesday and will get home to Indy tomorrow afternoon. Our two oldest, Arianna and Anson, have been to Disney World, but this is the first trip for our youngest, Adler, who just turned three. He’s a Spiderman fanatic, but he may be a Disney convert after this trip.

It’s nice to get away from the racing world for a few days because the next two weeks will be very busy. Atlanta is a strong market for our Matco Tools distributors and customers, so we’re hoping to repeat our 2008 Atlanta win and celebrate with our Matco distributors in Commerce on May 15. Atlanta is also the home of Aaron’s, so there will be a lot of Aaron’s execs and employees at the track, and Aaron’s is going to have a big midway display at Atlanta Dragway, so if you’re coming make sure you check that out. It’s NAPA’s home market too, so it will be hopping at DSR hospitality all weekend long at Atlanta Dragway. Speaking of our hospitality, I have to give it up to our new head chef Greg Steller. Greg, along with both Adam and Malcolm, have done an awesome job with our food service this year. I can tell you, nobody eats better at the race track then the DSR hospitality guests.

After Atlanta, we have a Matco Tools TechEd school visit at OSU Okmulgee on May 18, which is about an hour east of Tulsa. It will be the third straight year that we’ve visited the students at OSU before the Topeka race. Then it’s the Topeka race where we qualified on the pole last year before I had a brain-fart in the second round.

We’re focusing on improving the consistency of our Matco Tools dragster. We need to develop that consistency in the bellhousing and that will make us a stronger race car. We’re still in third place and those Al-Anabi boys are on a roll. Del (Worsham) is doing awesome with Alan (Johnson) and Brian (Husen) and he’s been great in the dragster. He hasn’t missed a beat and both Del and Larry (Dixon) will be tough to beat all season long. We’re focused on being consistent and not beating ourselves and the goal is to make four good qualifying laps at Atlanta next weekend.

Before I go back to riding some rides at the Magic Kingdom, here’s my shameless plug for this blog: http://nextgen.valvoline.com/nextgen_domore.html. Click this link and sign up to take the Valvoline NextGen pledge to do more. Valvoline NextGen oil is a great product. It’s 50-percent recycled oil and I think you’ll like Spencer’s (Massey) new colors next weekend at Atlanta Dragway. It looks hot! Recycling your used oil is something we all need to commit to doing. It’s simple and easy and helps lower our dependence on foreign oil. So, please, take the NextGen pledge and join me and all the DSR drivers and crew chiefs.

With that, it’s time for some love, peace and Valvoline grease. God bless, and I’m out like shout. Oh, and don’t forget to call your mom on Sunday. I love you Momma Judy!

Take care.