The Gatornationals was a great race for our DSR Matco Tools team. We flew from Indy to Orlando with my beautiful wife, Billie Jo, and my boy TY. That’s Ted, but I call him TY. Let me tell you, it was a bumpy flight. At times, it was worse than tire shake. We flew into some bad Florida storms and I don’t know if the altitude drops or the torrential downpour that we had to drive through on our way to Gainesville was worse. Luckily, TY was at the wheel, so he had to deal with the hard rain and hydroplaning while I slept in the back seat.

We got to the track after a quick lunch stop at Steak and Shake and that it was time to gear up for our first Matco Tools Customer Appreciation Dinner. Cory Mac came over and hung out with me and our Matco family. We had about 90 Matco distributors and customers and it was a great time. Chef Jimmy cooked up a great meal and district manager Darryl Pritchett did a bunch of giveaways and Cory and I got to mingle with all the Matco folks at the dinner. It was a really good time.

I really want to thank Darryl and his wife Shelly for all their help over the weekend. They help us out in the hospitality every year and they do an awesome job. Gainesville is a big hospitality race for the Matco group and we couldn’t get it done without Darryl and Shelly, so we thank them for everything to do for our race team.

On Friday, we battled the rain, but we did get one run in and finished sixth after losing traction down track. Saturday was a great day for us. We made the quickest runs of both sessions and looked like the Matco Tools team of 2009. Brian Corradi has that look back in his eye and I think this is the start of some great things for our Matco team. We made two runs over 320-mph and that was the first time we had gone faster than 320. We got the pole at 3.803 at 321 to edge “The Sarge” for the top spot. Tony and the U.S. Army boys got us back on race day in the final, but it was a win-win for DSR, Matco Tools and the Army. We kept the Gainesville “Wally” in-house and that’s a good thing.

After we got the top spot on Saturday, I was walking up to the press room and I ran into Kurt Busch. Actually, Kurt came up to me to chat. He’s a really cool dude. Very mellow. I really like him and it’s cool to see all the exposure he brought to our sport last weekend at Gainesville. I wish him the best of luck in the No. 2 car and we hope to see him back at the drag strip real soon with that Super Gas Dodge of his.

My brother, Al (we all call him Carlos) and my uncle, Andre, also came to the Gators. It’s always cool to have them at the track with us and catch up. I know Uncle Andre was happy to get away from all that rain in New Jersey. It’s great to have my family at the track and even those who aren’t my family. We had two people, one on Saturday and another guy on Sunday, sneak into the hospitality and tell people they’re my cousin, and they both misbehaved. If you’re going to lie and sneak in to the Iron Eagle Club saying you’re my cousin, at least be on your best behavior. These cats were out of control and the one guy even dropped some pretty foul language. We had to give him the boot.

My Matco boys are gearing up for the Four-Wide Nationals next weekend at Charlotte. We’ve got a little something special in store for you and I think you’ll like it for the Charlotte race. Check out for a press release early next week. We went four wide during the exhibition last September and hopefully, we’ll do it three times on Sunday and bring home that “Wally” from this historic race and make it three straight Top Fuel wins for the DSR teams.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

God bless.

Back here in Indy, things have been busy and well. I had my 34th birthday a few days ago on March 1. My wife threw me a nice party at Boulder Creek in Brownsburg and it was great to spend the evening with my family and my DSR racing family. I really must say that it brought a smile to my face to see my kids as the life of the party. My daughter, Arianna, even blew out my candles for me and I told her, she’s got a long time to go before she’s 34 years old. I’ve been fighting a case of strep throat, so I didn’t want anyone to get sick from my germs.

The weirdest thing about aging is that the best present you can get is from the people that surround you at your birthday party. I’m fortunate to have a lot of good people around me on a regular basis. Just like Grandma Lossie always said, “If you want to be good in life, surround yourself with great people. And, if you want to fail in life, surround yourself with a bunch of knuckleheads.”

My guys have been back here at the shop digging deep and working hard. They’ve put in a lot of hours in 2010, let me tell you. They’re in the process of putting together two race cars so we can be ready for the Gainesville race and this DSR Matco Tools team is going to keep on fighting.

Gainesville is always an exciting race for me. It’s where I started my career way back in 1998 and in all these years, I’ve never won the Gatornationals. It’s a fast race and has a great fan turnout and we’re hoping this is a breakout race for our DSR Matco team here in 2010. Ok, time for a shameless plug, you can now get Antron Brown/Matco Tools apparel at the DSR/U.S. Army/NAPA merchandise trailer. 

Since this is my blog, I’ll let you in on a few things about the brothaman. Not only can I drive a race car and I’m charming, but I’m also a Mr. Mom. My wife had to go down to be with her family in Louisiana, so I’m home alone with Arianna and my son, Anson. So, I’ll be cooking and cleaning and helping the kids with their schoolwork. So, I want to let everyone know, that I give my beautiful wife an A+ for all the stuff that she has to deal with. I love my kids, but they’re like a tornado mixed with a hurricane, and I’m here all alone trying to pick up all the pieces. But it’s all good and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Before I go, I want to share a story that will put a smile on your face. To all my race fans, when I was at the Matco Tools Expo in Cancun between Pomona and Phoenix, I had a Matco distributor’s wife take a picture of my buttocks. Mind you, I had jeans on. She was so excited that she went around showing all the ladies at Expo of the picture of my butt. She went and told this lady that she was so excited and she was all giggles until she found out she was talking to my wife, Billie Jo. My wife was a great sport and the funniest thing was seeing how red the distributor’s wife turned, and she happened to be from Indiana. The moral of the story is, if you ever take a picture of the butt, don’t show it to the person’s significant other. But it’s all good. Expo was a great time and it’s always good to hang with our Matco family at the track and Expo. Orlando should be fun next year.

Until next time, love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout.

God bless.
 

I hope you all had a great holiday season with your families. The Brown’s laid low this year staying home in Indy for Christmas. My wife’s family visited us from Louisiana and I can say it’s nice to sleep in your own bed. Especially as much as we’re on the road. Some of my boys are already complaining to me that they don’t like the hotel room beds. Such is life on the road.

Well, we got into town on Sunday evening here in West Palm Beach. I’m still licking my wounds after the butt whooping the Cowboys put on my Eagles for the second straight week. The ‘boys look good. And how about that Cardinals/Packers game on Sunday. I just got to see the highlights as we were flying during that game. I think we’ve got some awesome games in store this weekend. Indy is all amped up about the Colts game on Saturday night, especially after losing the last two games after benching the starters.

Can you believe we’re testing already? Our off season seems to get shorter and shorter. The guys got back from the Christmas break on Jan. 4 and had to leave that Saturday to drive to Florida. We didn’t get our tech trailer back from Competition Trailers until Jan. 5. My boys spent most of the week getting things situated in our newly outfitted tech trailer, and let me tell you, it’s nice. My Matco boys have some sweet digs to work in at the track.

I know I’ve been slacking on the blog, but I’ve been really good about “tweeting.” I’ve been sending my Twitter “tweets” on a pretty regular basis. If you’re not following us on Facebook and/or Twitter, check me out at www.twitter.com/AntronBrownTF. I like keeping the fans informed of my travels and goings-on. It’s great that I can send Twitter updates as a text message.

I can’t believe the 50th annual Winternationals are just four weeks away. Four weeks from this Thursday we start the 2010 NHRA season. Hopefully testing goes well for our DSR Matco Tools team because we have plenty of shelf space for a nice gold “Wally” next to that Pomona trophy we won last November from the Auto Club Finals. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to win the 50th annual Winternationals and we want to go into Pomona running strong.

Let me tell you, the only way to go to an NHRA race is by getting your tickets from a Matco Tools distributor so you can be part of our race team if you're a Matco Tools customer. Matco distributors can sell you a ticket to our Iron Eagle Club so you can be right in the middle of the action. We’ll be pitted next to “Fast Jack” Beckman and that Valvoline/MTS team and guests will not only get to hang with Jack and me, but all six DSR drivers. Plus, you get a great meal and gift. It’s an awesome experience. To be part of the team, call 888-MYMATCO, and tell them Antron sent ya!

Alright folks, we’re about to start our Matco Tools dragster for the second lap of the day. We ran 3.86 at 314 on our first full pass of 2010, so it’s time to step it up.

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

God bless.
 

It’s been kind of busy lately, so I apologize for taking so long to do an update. After Pomona and the award’s banquet, I flew to Louisiana with my family for a nice, long Thanksgiving break. Along with some R&R, I had to get in some racing. This time with my RC boats and the brothaman did alright. I was racing with my boy Tommy D, the crew chief on Matt Hagan’s car. We both did pretty darn well. I won in LS Sport Hydro and XLS Sport Hydro, which is a modified class, and Tommy and I won the endurance race. It’s a 100-lap race. Our next boat race is in Florida in January. We’ll see if we can make it down there. Florida in January doesn’t sound bad for us Hoosiers.

We’ll, we’re all moved in at the DSR shop and our DSR Matco Tools team is hard at work on improving on a great 2009 season. We have a lot of motivation to win the Full Throttle championship in 2010. We’ve got a brand new chassis ready to go and we’ll have another new DSR car by the time we leave for testing in January. They have a lot of resources and great minds here at DSR that will only make our Matco Tools team even stronger.

It’s been good to get back to work this week and see all my boys after being in L.A. for Thanksgiving. All the guys had the week off too and they’re all refreshed and ready to go. There’s a lot going on. Let me tell you, the off season in drag racing is our busiest time. Brian, Mark, Rob Wendland, and I went over to the new IMIS show here in Indy yesterday. We’re not going to the PRI show this year. I think this IMIS show can grow into something pretty big. 

We’ll I’ve got some family stuff going on this weekend. We’re doing Disney On Ice with the family and my daughter, she’s growing up fast, is cheerleading at a high school basketball game this weekend too. I’ve got to get my sales plug in too. Don’t forget to check out www.antronbrown.com for some great Christmas gift ideas.

Like always. It’s time to sign off with a little love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout.

God bless.
 

Hey again everyone. We’re at The Strip at LVMS where we’re testing before the fall Las Vegas race next weekend. It’s beautiful out here in Vegas, and from what my lovely wife tells me, it’s beautiful in Indy too. It had been cold and gloomy in Indy and we leave for warm Las Vegas and it gets warm in Indy. Go figure. I’m sure it’ll get cold and rainy when I come home on Thursday. Oh well, we’ll be back in sunny and warm Vegas in a week for the Las Vegas Nationals.

It’s kind of weird being at the track with just us and a Pro Mod car. We have the entire place to ourselves; makes us feel like kings. The track has been great, and we want to thank Chris Blair and the entire staff at LVMS for hooking the test up for us. We’re just 81 points out and haven’t used all our test days, so we wanted to take advantage of that and get in some track time, which will hopefully put us in position to race for this ’09 Top Fuel championship at Pomona in a few weeks. Richmond was a great rebound race four our MAR Matco Tools team, and we want to build on that momentum after going to the final round.

After we spend the weekend at home in Indy, we’re heading back to Vegas next Tuesday afternoon. We have a Matco Tools TechEd visit at College of Southern Nevada with our Matco Tools dragster. We enjoy getting out and speaking to the college students and the future mechanics and technicians. It’s awesome for the kids to get an up-close look at our Matco Tools dragster and to ask questions about the race car. And it’s cool for me to meet with the guys that will be working on these dragster in the future. Matco is very dedicated to the future technician and has some great offers for Tech School students, and you can learn more at www.matcotools.com/TechEd.

Then we’re going to the Fan Fest next Thursday evening on Fremont Street. It’s always an awesome turnout for the autograph sessions at both Las Vegas races. We’re calling the Golden Nugget home for the fall Vegas race, so I can walk right out back on to Fremont Street to meet-and-greet with all the fans. I hope all the fans stop by and say hello, and if you’re hungry, the Nugget has some great eats, especially Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse. It’s outta this world good.

Before we go make another test lap, I’ve gotta give it up for the new NHRA mobile application. It’s available for all the smart phones like the iPhone and my Blackberry. It’s awesome. If you don’t have it, you’ve gotta get it. It’s got news and photos and up-to-the-second stats if you can’t be at the races. For any drag racing junkie, it’s a must.

Like always, love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout.

God bless,

Antron

Hello again all my fellow nitrohaulics. The brothaman is back on the blog. We got back to Indy on Monday afternoon, and let me tell you, it’s so nice to be home after having four straight races. That was a grind, but we finished on a high-note with our MAR Matco Tools team going to the final at Richmond and resetting the NHRA speed record. It is nice to be home and sleep in your own bed and spend some time with the family. I’ve been playing Mr. Mom to some sick kids this week, but thankfully everyone is getting better and back to school.

Richmond was a good race for us. It was very important for our team to rebound and end the four races on a high. We ran well at all four races, as we have all season long, but had a few bumps in the road on race day at Charlotte and Memphis. It was cool to fly the Toyota colors at Memphis and hang with our boys Andre and Don and Ed. I wish we had better results in the red and white, but that’s behind us and we’re only four rounds behind that U.S. Army team with two races to go. With the bonus points in qualifying, there’s a lot of racing left. We smoked the tires in the final round at Richmond, but if we have to lose, I’m glad we lost to Brandon and the Budweiser team. Those guys have been close all season long and Rob Flynn and Mike Guger are former teammates of ours and we’re happy for them.

Our Matco Tools car continues to run those big speeds. Brian and Mark make some big horsepower. Cory Mac and the Fram car are catching us though. They ran 319.60 like we did, but we got the record because we ran it first. I can tell you that Brian and Mark want to run 320 mph at 1,000 feet. Hopefully we have some good weather at Vegas and Pomona so we have a shot to put 320 on the scoreboard.

Speaking of Vegas, our MAR Matco Tools team is laying it all on the line. We have nothing to lose and have a few test sessions left, so we’re going out West next week to test at The Strip at LVMS. Let me tell you something, with this cold 40-degree weather here in Indy, the brothaman can use some warm weather; 80 degrees sounds mighty fine right about now.

I forgot to talk about our hot air balloon ride at the Dallas race. I’m sure many of you saw the footage on ESPN2 during the race and the Lucas Oil Sportsman race. They got us up early on Saturday morning at Dallas. We were up before the sun was out, I’ll tell you that. My boy, RJ Smith, hooked up the hot air balloon ride, and Matt from ESPN was in the basket and up-and-away we went. We just floated along and landed pretty far from the track. It was an awesome experience, and I know the next time I go in a hot air balloon, I better have my wife lovely with me or I’m in trouble.

On that note, it’s time for a little love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout.

God bless,

Antron

OK folks. I have a confession to make. I have an addiction. I’m hooked on Farmville on Facebook. My wife turned me on to Farmville, and the competitive guy that I am, I’m gonna have the baddest farm on Facebook. By the way, thanks to all the fans for the gifts. I’ve gotten a lot of gifts over the weekend and I have to thank my boy T.Y. for the Twitter “Tweets” about me playing Farmville.

On to racing. The Countdown hasn’t been kind to us so far, but we’re nowhere near out of this thing yet. The Army car ran great at Dallas. We have to give it up to Tony and Mike Green for their performance in the brutal heat last weekend. They ran awesome. We’re 65 points out or about three rounds of racing. There are 16 rounds left, so we have a great shot to win this Top Fuel championship.

Our Matco Tools dragster is still running great. We qualified second at Charlotte and had top speed of the meet for the 11th time this season. We had a malfunction on our burnout that caused us to smoke the tires against Terry McMillen. That was a bummer for our team because we have very high expectation. Then we went back out there for the four-lane exhibition race and put down low e.t. in a green lane at 3.86. We expect to win the championship and lead this thing as we have for most of the season. We’re not cocky, just very confident in the ability of our entire MAR Matco Tools team. Then in Dallas, the high heat threw us a little curveball. We qualified sixth and ran well in the first round at 3.911, which was second quick of the round behind Tony’s and Larry Dixon’s 3.884, but it didn’t get us lane choice. We got put in the dreaded right lane, and the track just wouldn’t hold our tune-up. So, we’re going into Memphis with our heads held high, and we’re ready to get things back on track for both Matco and Toyota this weekend. We did great with the DirecTV colors at St. Louis in May and we’re hoping for the same result at Memphis this weekend with Toyota on the car.

I wanted to include a few photos from our first two legs of the Countdown. The Wednesday before Charlotte we took our Matco Tools dragster to CV Products in Mooresville, N.C., for a display. CV makes a lot of parts and pieces we use on our race car. On Thursday afternoon, I did the pre-race press conference at zMax Dragway with Tony and John and Ashley Force and “Fast” Jack Beckman. Tony was late, but when you’re the six-time champ, you can be late. The last photo is me as a Texas cowboy at the Motorplex. I had a fan come up to me to trade hats. He gave me his cowboy hat for my Matco Tools hat. That was a good deal for me because I have plenty of Matco hats.

OK folks. I think it’s time to get back to Farmville. LOL And with that, a little love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout.

God bless,

Antron

Indy was another good race for us until race day. We ran great in qualifying and Mark and Brian continue to do an awesome job, along with our flawless crew, of making this Matco Tools dragster haul the mail. We ran great in qualifying and nipped “the Sarge” for the pole with that run of 3.835 seconds on Sunday afternoon. That was an awesome lap and how about it with that 319.22-mph speed. Brian and Mark continue to make big speeds just like they did with Mike Ashley’s Funny Car back in 2007. The new points system is going to take some getting used to, but I sure wished they awarded points for speed records and top speed of each session.

On race day, we were matched up against Spencer Massey and Snake’s team. We qualified No. 1 two races in a row and got Brandon Bernstein and Spencer in the first round. Those are not the type of races you expect when you qualify first, but it just shows how deep and strong this Top Fuel class really is. You have to be perfect for four rounds to win races. The Budweiser and U.S. Smokeless cars are cars you expect to race in the final round, not round one. Spencer and Donnie and Todd did a great job, as always, and the beat us. Spencer is second to none on the Tree and those guys almost always get down the track, and they got us.

What that round did was make our Matco Tools team that much hungrier. I know my guys have been working their tails off at the shop to gear up for the next four races, which we’re calling the “BBQ Swing.” If you like BBQ, you can’t go wrong in North Carolina, Dallas, and Memphis. I’m ready for some Corky’s dry rub ribs in a few weeks in Memphis. We know we have a great car and now we’re more mentally focused to win this 2009 Top Fuel championship. We have the talent and the ability to get it done, and that’s what we aim to do.

Indy is always a busy, busy race. We all have lots of friends and family at the race and the media and sponsor functions keep us plenty busy. On Aug. 27, I was invited by Indianapolis Motor Speedway to do the MotoGP presser in downtown Indy. I got to ride on the back of a two-seat Ducati. It was awesome. They had full leathers and everything for the brothaman. It was a great experience and a great way to expose our sport of NHRA Drag Racing to a whole new audience. I have to thank Ron Greene at IMS for hooking it up.

Indy week started early and went often. On Monday, Aug. 31, we did an appearance at McDonald’s to promote the race. WIBC, a local radio station, was broadcasting live and this was a really cool deal to build momentum and promote the U.S. Nationals. All the McDonald’s in the area had cups with Ashley Force on them to promote our biggest race of the year and Ashley, Cory Mac, and Eddie Krawiec all did McDonald’s appearances. I hope Coke and NHRA does more of these next season. It’s a great way to promote our races and sport.

Tuesday night we had a Matco Tools customer dinner at our shop in Brownsburg. Normally, we do these at the shop, but it was really cool to bring everyone to our shop. We had like 150 Matco Tools distributors and customers. This was a really cool event. Eddie and Andrew Hines, along with Cory Mac, and my hero, “Big Daddy” Don Garlits all hung out with us for the night. “Big” is still a rock star. Everyone marvels at him. My boy, Chef Joe, cooked up a great meal with strip steaks, and we all had an awesome time before the U.S. Nationals. Chef Joe does an awesome job and anyone who’s been to the Iron Eagle Club this year can attest to the awesome food we all get to eat at the track in our hospitality.

If you missed the ESPN2 TV broadcast on Sunday, we had “Big Daddy” warm our Matco Tools dragster. That was awesome. I felt so honored to give up my seat and see Don back in the seat of a rear-engine Top Fuel dragster. Our pit area was just packed, and I know the fans really loved it. It’s so cool to see “Big” back at the track racing his Dodge Challenger in Stock. “Big” still has it because he cut a .007 light at Indy.

I’m heading off to Charlotte on Wednesday afternoon, and we’re going to have a rematch of our basketball game with the ESPN boys. I’m fired up to play some ball, and I know my boys Trevor and Eric of ESPN are hungry to beat us. My boy T.Y. and I have our big man, Cameron Beer, on our squad this time, so we’re ready. I’ll keep ya’ll posted to the results.

As always, it’s time to sign off with some love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout.

God bless,

Antron

Hey everyone. It’s Sunday morning at Reading and it’s a beautiful day here at Maple Grove, one of my favorite race tracks. We just got done warming-up our MAR Matco Tools dragster and doing NHRA Race Day on ESPN2 with Dave Rieff, Mike Dunn and Grandma Brown, and, of course, all the awesome fans here at Maple Grove. That was an awesome fan turnout for Race Day.

It’s been more than a week and I have a few minutes before our tough first-round race with Brandon Bernstein and the Budweiser team, so I thought I’d jump on the laptop for a quick NHRA.com blog update. I told ya’ll last time, the brothaman is going to be a better blogger. I’m not going to be Bob Wilber, but I’ll do my best to update once a week now.

It’s been a busy week, but they all are when we have back-to-back races. I need to start by giving a shout out to Morgan Lucas, Jimmy Walsh and that entire Geico/Lucas Oil team. They ran awesome last weekend at Brainerd. Anytime you can out-run that Al-Anabi car, you’re doing something right. Those Lucas boys have it going again because Morgan ran two 3.86s here at Reading and qualified second. We also want to thank Forrest Lucas and everyone at Lucas Oil for the great support and the awesome ad they took out in National DRAGSTER to congratulate our team on our sweep of the Western Swing.

After Brainerd, we flew home on Monday morning and spent a few days at home and flew into Reading on Wednesday morning. I flew with my beautiful wife, Billie Jo. We flew into Philly and went over to New Jersey to visit with my family for the day and then came over to Reading and our nice digs at the Country Inn and Suites. We were right by the VF outlet mall, so Billie and I did some school shopping and let me tell you, the Brown kids are going to be looking right and tight when school starts real soon. They all have a bunch of new outfits and my little boy Anson is going to be looking sharp. They’re going to call him “Best Dressed Brown.” LOL

On Thursday morning, we made the quick drive over to Pottstown to hang out with my boy Doug Rauco, one of our family of Matco Tools distributors. Doug came up to T.Y. or PR Ted at the Matco Tools Expo way back in February and said he wanted to do a tool truck ride. Doug hooked it up. He worked with the folks at Tri-County Toyota to set-up a fan meet-and-greet from 9 a.m.-Noon. Doug did an awesome job. He had the local newspaper out there and everything. So, I need to give a big shout out to Doug for hooking up the awesome Matco Tools/Toyota visit. Matco Tools and Toyota, now that has a nice ring to it.

That night, we did another Matco Tools customer appreciation dinner at the track at our Iron Eagle Club hospitality. We had a great turn-out of Matco distributors and customers and it’s an awesome time to meet with all the great folks that support Matco and buy tools. Our boy Chef Joe does up a great dinner and the guests get to see the Matco Tools dragster and our hauler too. Plus, we do a bunch of giveaways like connecting rods and pistons and blower belts and hats and t-shirts. We done like five or six dinners at the track and it’s an awesome time for all.

It’s been typical Reading with the rain and overcast lousy weather. It looks good so far today though and we’re hoping the rain stays this way. I think Hurricane Bill may have hurt us here this weekend. I don’t know what it is about this race because it always rains. No matter when they run the race, it rains. It’s lousy because this is always a great race with awesome, die-hard fan turnout. I love hanging out with all the hometown folks from PA and Jersey. We did some autograph sessions at the NitroMall and sold a bunch of Antron Brown hats and t-shirts, and you too can get your own A.B. gear online at www.NitroMall.com. Make sure when you come out to the races you’re supporting this MAR Matco Tools team.

We also have to thank my boy Sonny Croughn from Croughn’s Auto Styling. Maybe you saw on ESPN his “Trike.” It’s a combo motorcycle and dragster. It looks a lot like a Super Comp car. It’s really cool and when we saw it back in Englishtown, we knew we had to do something for the TV show. Sonny also gave me a really nice, custom plaque for sweeping the Western Swing. So, thanks Sonny. That’ll look good on the wall at the shop in Brownsburg.

Ok folks, it’s time to wrap it up and race, and with that, some time for a little love, peace, hometown Jersey hair grease. And I’m out like shout to the staging lanes.

Antron

All of a sudden, it’s cloudy and overcast here in Brainerd. It looks like it wants to rain, but we’re hoping the weather Gods hold off because we should be able to run pretty good today with the cloud cover. We’re currently qualified fifth at 3.947 that we ran on Friday evening. Cory Mac was low in the FRAM car at 3.910, so it’s a nice, tight field. Let me tell you, Todd and Phil have that FRAM car hauling. What an awesome final-round we had with them at Sonoma a few weeks back.

The entire Western Swing was and still feels so surreal. It’s really hard to comprehend and believe that we accomplished, not only the sweep, but so much already this season. With everything we went through in the off season with Mike Ashley coming in and Brian and Mark, it’s been an unbelievable ride. It’s very much been a storybook season for our MAR Matco team and we’re going to do our best and work our hardest to keep it going.

We really have an awesome team. Mark and Brian work so well together and Rob Wendland has added a lot and our veteran crew members like Mike D. and Robb Hauser and Brad Mason do such an awesome job. Our guys do not make mistakes.

And we have to thank everyone for sticking by our entire team. It was a tumultuous off season and we didn’t know what to expect, but I think we showed early on at testing that we had a strong car that could compete for the title. Everyone at Matco from Tom and Becky Willis and John Torok to all 1,500 Matco Tools distributors, thank you so much for all the great support and for sticking by us here at MAR. Also, Toyota, my boys Don and Andre and Ed, they’ve had our backs for a few years now and we love our Sequoia and Tundra. Oh, what a feeling! Also, GoFast Sports! and the new players like DirecTV and SpongeTech. Also, Lucas Oil for the great oil and additives. Without a core group of sponsors, we wouldn’t be able to do this and win races. So, thanks!

Also, the fans. We’ve gotten so many e-mails and hits on Facebook and I just want to thank everyone for all the kind words to me and our race team. Let me tell you, winning races is great, but getting to celebrate with our Matco family is an awesome feeling. The Matco group at Seattle and Sonoma was awesome. I need to give a shout out to Dave Weber and Steve Stinson, who had his 60th birthday with us at the track, and at Sonoma, Dixon Cheal and DeWayne Herbert, for all the great support. Those were some fun winner’s circles. I just hope we can do it a few more times this season.

I haven’t been doing much since the swing. The first week back, my wife was in Louisiana with the kids, so the brothaman got to chill out and catch up. It took a few days for me to get back to normal. I spent some time paying bills and doing the things of everyday life that we miss by being on the road for almost three weeks.

Last Thursday we all had a good time. Brian was in Indy, so a group of us played hooky one afternoon and went dirt bike riding. Brian loves riding dirt bikes even though he keeps getting hurt. Rob Wendland went over the handles bars and it looked ugly, but Rob, our class clown, got up and walked away. We call Rob “Rascal” like Rascal Flatts and he’s always making us laugh Those two have a long way to go before they can ride with Brad (Mason) and me. Brad is our supercharger and ignition guru on the Matco car and we call him “Car Chief Brad.”

We got into Brainerd on Thursday morning and drove up from Minneapolis. On Thursday night, me, T.Y. and the Corradi Kid, Nick, who is Brian’s oldest son, all went over to Madden’s to play some basketball with the ESPN crew. We had an awesome time. It was the Matco boys versus ESPN. ESPN had the producer Eric Swaringen and my boy Trevor Towle, who produces our Getting’ Down With Brown segment on ESPN2. Those boys had the height, but it didn’t matter. They got us in the first game 11-5, but we came back strong winning 15-13 and then 11-3. Little Nick’s got some game and my by T.Y. can shoot. For three guys 5’10” and under we’re not bad. I think we need to let them win the next game so we can get some TV time. LOL

Alright everyone, it’s about time to get some grub before Q3 at B.I.R. Like always, a little love, peace and Lucas Oil grease at the Lucas Oil Nationals, and I’m out like shout. The ESPN boys want a rematch, so we might hoop it up again tonight, and they say that Mike Dunn might even play along with my New Jersey homey “Stat Guy” Lewis Bloom.

One last thing, remember, you too can be part of the MAR Matco Tools team. We have apparel online at www.nitromall.com and at www.antronbrown.com. We have awesome replica crew shirts at my online store. If you buy one and bring it to the track, I’ll even sign it for you.

See ya,
 

Hello again. It’s the brothaman back at you from the road. This time from Montana. I’m on my maiden voyage in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. This is God’s Country. We left Denver on Monday, headed up to Wyoming and spent the night in Flagg Ranch, but we’ve got to fill you in on our journey post-Denver.

Let me tell you, I’m an easy going guy. I like seeing wildlife and nature, but on the Swing, I just want to fly. This year, that was no different. My wife, Billie Jo, and I had everything planned out for the Swing. That was until my boy TY, that’s PR Ted to you all, told us about his epic journey going to see Yellowstone and Montana and two of the biggest national parks in the country. When the wife gets excited, what happens? The plans change. So, with my eyes wide open and my mouth shut and my ears glued, let me tell you about this journey.

We finished loading up hospitality with Big Jim on Monday morning at Bandimere and then stopped by GoFast! to drop off a winner’s circle hat. Then we were on the way to Yellowstone. We briefly went off the beaten path to Table Mountain Ranch. My wife, the lovely Billie Jo, is photographer and we stopped to take a photo of some cows. We were a few feet from this cow and she stopped and looked at us like what the heck are you humans looking at. The cow stopped chewing and just starred at us like get outta here people. When we saw the sign that said: Survivors will be prosecuted, we turned around and went back to the highway.

Once we arrived at our first national park, Grand Teton – brothaman was once a boy scout and I thought the boy scouts were going to prepare me – but they didn’t prepare me for this trip. An old square knot wasn’t getting me out of this. We got through the park gate and paid our $25 and the first thing we saw was a caribou. At least that’s what my wife thought. A caribou looks like a moose, but me, with my depth of wildlife knowledge, knew it was a black-tailed deer. After I looked it up on my Blackberry. LOL Then we ran into quite a bit of road construction where we had to follow a pilot vehicle on steep one-lane roads in beautiful Wyoming.

The landscape was just stunning. From deep valleys to majestic mountains, we saw so many different colors, it was just amazing. I know they call Jersey the Garden State, but my old home doesn’t have anything on this. We were so far up, I felt like I could touch the clouds. The deep greens of the trees are just so pure. We were in the middle of summer and it was in the high 50s. We finally reached a place that we had to stop and rest at, Flagg Ranch. We didn’t want to drive through Yellowstone at night, so we stopped for the night. We saw plenty of bear warnings and I learned to drop and curl into a ball and cover your stomach and neck if you ever get attacked by a bear. We spent the night in a cabin after in interesting dinner of appetizers at the bar at Flagg Ranch. The restaurant closed at 9 p.m. and we missed the special of buffalo ribeye. Let me tell you, the national parks play by the rules. Make sure you stop by 8:30 so you can get you some good eats. We got lucky to find a room or we really would have been out like shout all cold and hanging with the bears.

It certainly didn’t feel like summertime on our walk to the cabin. The setting brought back memories of the movie: Friday the 13th. It made me think of Crystal Lake and I know the brothaman is always the first to go out in the movie, so I was the first into the room. The room shuts you off from the world, which was kind of peaceful. We didn’t have a TV or cell phone service. I was happy just to have hot water and towels. If you take this trip, I’d recommend Flagg Ranch as it worked out just great for us.

Next, we got up at sunrise and it felt like December in Indiana. It was 37-degrees out. We wanted to see some beautiful wildlife at dawn. TY was the first to rise and shower and, like always, we had to wake up the Corradi Kid, Nick, like 10 times. He’s not a morning person. We hit the dusty trail just after 6 a.m. and a few minutes later we were in Yellowstone. We drove by Lewis Lake and our first stop was Lewis Falls. The water was crystal clear and the sound was just so peaceful. We stood on some bulging rocks and it made me feel like I was in a land before time. Watching the water really put me at ease. It made me relax. Sometimes you need to take a step back and just take in and appreciate the beauties of nature that surrounds us.

Our big stop of the trip was at Old Faithful. We saw her blow at 7:34 a.m. from Kepler Cascades. We were taking pictures and saw the steam rising from a distance. It was breathtaking. Once we got to Old Faithful, it was so cold out, in the mid-40s, brothaman needed some new threads to stay warm. We stopped at the Old Faithful Inn and had some eats and picked up a sweatshirt and hat. Then at 9:07, we watched her blast off again. It’s one of the most unbelievable things I saw in my life. The water is so clear and yet so hot. Then we stopped at the Black Sand Basin and the Midway Geyser Basin to check out the Grand Prismatic Spring. It was so remarkable. The bright, brilliant colors are hard to describe. It was the most aqua blue I saw, but so clear and it’s over 160 degrees. It’s so cool to read and learn how all this amazing stuff happens. I know if I ever got stuck in Yellowstone in the winter, the brothaman would be using these springs as a hot tub.

Then we took off and stopped by Mammoth on the way out of the North end of Yellowstone and we were out like shout. We only covered a mere spec of the park, but all the sights we saw just blew my mind. Next year, I’m going to come prepared and spend at least three days and enjoy the beautiful place that is Yellowstone. Brothaman needs to see some bison and elk and a bear, not just deer.

I’ll be in Seattle in a few hours after we cruise through Coeur d’Alene and eastern Washington and we’ll get ready for my second trip to Pacific Raceways. We’re having dinner with our great Matco friends Dave and Patti Weber in Tacoma on Thursday night and then it’s time to race. I might even sneak in some shopping at Nordstrom’s on Friday morning, but don’t tell my wife.

As always, love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like a 37-degrees-in-July shout. I holla later.

Antron

It’s been awhile my fellow Nitrohaulics, but to bring you up to date, we just got done at the Mile-High Nationals and a fantastic start to our Western Swing.

On our weekend off before the Swing, we celebrated our son, Anson’s, fifth birthday at the house in Indy. By all means, he had to have a Scooby Doo theme. Scooby Dooby Doo! It’s funny to see how my son is into a lot of the same cartoons that I enjoyed as a kid. It was good times with all the kids and we topped it off with green and purple cupcakes like the Mystery Machine. I have to take my hat off to my wife Billie Jo. The kids had to solve the case of the missing cupcakes. There was an obstacle course of different mysteries and the final clue was a piñata that led them to the cupcakes. It’s just unbelievable how time flies. I can remember when I held my son in the hospital in Indy for the first time five years ago and now he’s my little man with same big eyes that I have.

It was a lot of fun because my older brother “Los” was in town too. Saturday morning on July 4, we got to drag race Hot Wheels cars. Needless to say, I was the king of the mountain. You can buy the same game that we played at the Nitro Mall at the track. Like always, my big brother “Los” finished in second place. It’s no different than on the basketball court bro.

We flew into Denver on Thursday night to the Mile-High City and went straight to dinner with our Matco Tools clan at Old Chicago. The dinner was hosted by Doug Heersink, the local Matco district manager. It’s great to see the support continue to grow from our DMs and distributors in each race market that we visit. Let me tell you, if you’re a Matco Tools customer, don’t forget that you too can be part of our race team. Talk to you local distributor about being part of the MAR team in the Iron Eagle Club, our pitside hospitality area. It’s an awesome experience for any racing fan and the food is right and tight. Brothaman has to watch what I eat because Chef Joe does it up.

On Friday morning, we got up and headed over to see our friends at GoFast! Sports in their new building in Denver. It’s amazing how GoFast! is growing leaps and bounds. They got some awesome new flavors and energy gums coming out real soon, so check out GoFast! It was cool to have a big group from GoFast! at the track with us on Sunday.

We went out to the track and had a fun night by setting the track speed mark at 318.39 mph up on Thunder Mountain. I must commend the Bandimere’s and the Safety Safari for doing a great job on the facility and race track. Also, the fans. The fans were incredible sticking around til Midnight to watch us qualify on Friday night. That’s what dedication is all about and NHRA drag racing fans are the best.

On Saturday, we got real excited after snagging the No. 1 spot from Cory Mac on that last qualifying run at 3.862. I have to give some props to that FRAM team because they’re doing an outstanding job. We left off with the good conditions and Sunday brought a whole new ball game because what we did on Friday and Saturday was thrown out. It was kind of nerve-wracking and called for an entirely new game plan for race day because of the sun and hot temperatures.

Sunday delivered some very tight, close, mind-boggling racing. If you saw the photo finish of our second round win over Morgan Lucas and the Geico team on ESPN2, you know what I’m talking about. The competition was so tough, the only time we had lane choice was in the first round against Rob Passey and the Utah team. It really didn’t faze our team. We didn’t think the lanes were any different and that says a lot about the track and the Safari.

After we won, it felt so rewarding to finally get the win at Denver because there have been so many times I raced there and finished second. It felt so great and was a relief to finally get that “W” after four runner-ups. I just have to give props to my entire MAR Matco Tools team for doing a great job last weekend and all season long. We have an awesome team from all the Matco distributors to Brian and Mark calling the shots for our dragster.

Sunday was a great day for Matco Tools. To see great friends in Chris Lamb, a Matco Tools distributor from Las Vegas, and his son, Justin, win in Super Stock was awesome. Chris has been one of the top distributors for many years and Justin got his second win of the year and fifth national event “Wally.” It’s so cool to sit back and see a young gun in the sport living a dream and having great success at such and early age. I can see Justin driving a Pro Stock car real soon. Here’s a picture of me, Chris and Justin in the winner’s circle on Sunday at Bandimere.

Well, stay tuned because next we’ll fill you in on our epic journey from Denver to Seattle through Wyoming and Montana. Until then, I’m out like shout with a little love, peace and Lucas Oil grease.

Antron

We left home on Tuesday evening and flew to Tulsa. We had a Matco Tools vocational school display with our Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster on Wednesday at OSU Institute of Technology in Okmulgee. We do seven votech school visits each year, and it’s so great to have the opportunity to meet and greet the future mechanics and technicians of the world. I wanna thank my homie Michael Brown, a district manager with Matco, for the great hospitality in the Sooner State. Here is a group photo of Michael and a bunch of his Matco distributors who drove up four hours from Oklahoma to hang out with us for the weekend.

After the OSU visit, I hopped in the big rig with my boys Brad Mason and Wayne “Red” Waite and rode up to Topeka. The boys all ate dinner together once we got to the hotel. It’s good to get the team together away from the track and just kick it and cut up and relax and have a good time before the hectic race weekend begins. Thursday was a lazy day for the brothaman. I slept in and got caught up on my rest and then headed over to Dick’s Sporting Goods to get me some new Nike running shoes so I can stay in tip-top shape to take on all these young guns like Shawn and Spencer.

It’s cool driving into Heartland Park on Gary Ormsby Drive. Gary was and still is one of my racing idols and a great NHRA champion. He’s very missed by all of us. Friday was a really good day for our MAR Matco Tools team to throw down a 3.84. That was a really stellar run, and I couldn’t be any more proud of my guys. This is what makes racing so fun, is to have great teamwork and have it all come together at the perfect moment. I rolled back to the hotel with the boys, and since they did such a great job, I treated them to a quick run through the McDonald’s drive-thru for a late night snack. The brothaman was hungry after a long day at the track. I got to bed right after midnight and didn’t get to see any of the Lakers series-clinching win over the Nuggets.

I got to the room and cranked up the AC and cooled things off to about 62 degrees. I like it cold when I sleep, and my roomie for the weekend, Nick Corradi, the Corradi Kid, slept right and tight too. Nick is the oldest son of our crew chief Brian. Nick is 20 and goes to Toledo, so he’s hanging out with the team since he’s out of college for the summer. I didn’t hear even a peep from him all night long. The cold room means no snoring and a good nights sleep for old A.B.

We started things off on Saturday by doing a radio interview with the Racin’ Boys on WHB-AM 810 in Kansas City, then it was off to my racing duties, liking mixing fuel for the car and mingling with all our loyal Matco Tools distributors and guests and all the great fans at Heartland Park. We had a great turnout of Matco distributors and guests this weekend, and we just want to thank them all so very much for the great support for our race program here at MAR. All the fans, too. The fan turnout was awesome. This is a cool race because we meet people from Kansas and Iowa and Nebraska and Missouri and Oklahoma.

Let me tell you, Saturday was a tough day on the track. The track was the trickiest I’ve seen in a long time. When you walked on the track, the rubber was like bubble gum, so it’s really a tough challenge to maneuver these high-horsepower Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars down the track. We made that great run on Friday night but were just too aggressive on Saturday as our results showed. But we’re not alone. Only Spencer Massey and our Matco Tools teammate Clay Millican got down the track on Saturday. All the great tuning minds got things figured out because there was some awesome racing on Sunday. Let me tell you, I had a firsthand view of what it’s like to lose a really close race.

After we finished qualifying Saturday, we hit the shower and got revived and we headed across the street to Old Chicago to watch the Cavs/Magic game. It was a heartfelt game watching with my Cleveland boys, Brian Corradi and his son, Nick, but it was obvious the better team won the game and made it to the NBA Finals. I’ve got to commend Old Chicago, they have some kicking’ pizza. The Finals should be good with Kobe and Dwight Howard. That kid’s like me, always smiling.

We rolled to the track early on Sunday morning to take in the RFC chapel service with my good buddy Larry Smiley. Then it was off to our normal duties. I started mixing that nitromethane. Then it was time for the car warm-up. It was smooth as always. Then I went up into the driver/crew chief lounge, and I made like Superman and came back out with my bright blue Matco Tools Impact! Racing firesuit on. Then we slide over to the starting line for driver introductions, and we did the No. 1 qualifier speech with Bob Frey. If you didn’t see us in Sports Illustrated’s Pop Culture Grid last week, we called Bob NHRA Gossip Girl. LOL It was a heartfelt speech to all the Topeka fans, and they responded with a big applause for the brothaman. Topeka is one of the many great tracks we visit each year, and I’m glad to be competing at all 24 races so we can meet the great NHRA fans in each market.

We proceeded up to the line for our bye run and made the fourth-quickest lap of the round at 3.981-seconds. It was a good run for our MAR Matco team to get down the hot, slimy track at Heartland Park. After we struggled in qualifying in the heat, it was great to get down and make a good run. That gave us lane choice over Shawn “the Kid” Langdon in round two. Shawn is my top choice for rookie of the year. He’s doing an awesome job in that Lucas Oil car. If you don’t know Shawn, you will. I know him real well after Sunday. LOL He’s going to win some races this year.

We knew it would be a tough match-up against Shawn. The last time we raced them, at St. Louis when we won the race, we won a really close race. It was just the opposite this time. It was a great side-by-side again, Shawn ran a 4.034 to our 4.044, and we lost by three-thousandths of a second. It was a great drag race, but we were on the short end. The track was better than we anticipated. We’ll take our butt whopping like men and tip our caps to those boys over at Lucas Oil and move on to Chicago and do it all over again.

We got home for about a day, and now it’s time for Chicago. I’m loading up in the minivan with the fam and we’re driving up to the Windy City this morning. I’m going to do the press luncheon and some media work this afternoon and hit up the tool truck with my boy Tony Mores near Joliet on Thursday morning. Then we’ll definitely take in game one of the NBA Finals tomorrow night.

Just a few notes, we’re doing Twitter contests before each race, and you could win a 2009 Matco Tools dragster diecast or other cool items. Be sure to follow us a www.Twitter.com/MARnews. Also, the replica crew shirts of our awesome 2009 crew uniforms are on pre-order at www.antronbrown.com. They’re just like the shirts our Matco team wears, so make sure to buy them up and represent at the NHRA races.

Thanks for reading, and as always, love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout.

God bless,

Antron

We’re back on the scene all my Nitroholic crew. I just want to tell you all about last week at St. Louis. We started off by having a great time at our visit to Linn State Technical College in Linn, Mo. They have a really awesome state-of-the-art facility. They have a CNC and machine shop that is out of this world. Brothaman was in heaven! Our boy Randy gave us a great tour of the machine shop. He and his brother Ricky are fellow drag racers too. They race an NMCA Camaro that looks like a Pro Mod. I want to commend them on their world champion in NMCA Pro Street. I just want to thank everyone at Linn State, like Carla and Ashley, for all the great hospitality. The BBQ at Carla’s place was awesome.

After we got done at Linn State last Wednesday, we had a chance to stop by and see Fast Lane Dave. He’s a buddy of our team manager Tom and owns Fast Lane Classic Cars in St. Charles in Missouri. He owns a really awesome shop and they use Matco Tools too! He’s got everything to buy from a ’57 Chevy to a Ferrari. If you want a hot car, Dave’s your guy.

I had to get up early last Thursday morning. I got to do a morning TV deal with Tim Ezell of the FOX affiliate in St. Louis. Tim is a crazy guy. So crazy that we raced on the track at Gateway and he lost and thought he won. We had to get up early, but it was worthwhile to have the chance to promote NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing with Tim on the highest rated morning show in St. Louis. Thanks to our boy Brandon Mudd at Gateway for hooking us up.

That brings us to the O’Reilly Midwest Nationals at Gateway. On Friday, we went out and it was really cool to interact with all the fans at the autograph session. It was a good chill out day to hang out and cut up with some drivers and all the fans. They get an awesome turnout of fans at the tent in the top end near the Darrell Russell Memorial Grandstand. They line was full of fans for more than an hour and we appreciate all the great fan support.

At this race, we debuted a new race car that was upgraded by Chuck Hosse in Louisiana and we were flying the colors of DirecTV. We had a few bumps in the road during qualifying, but it was nothing that our MAR team couldn’t handle. We got in the field in the No. 7 spot at 3.90. On race day, Brian, Mark and our team got into a groove. You could see the hunger and desire to win and we employed that on the race track and our DirecTV/Matco car just got faster and faster with each round. The consistency was awesome. Let me tell you, the competition is really stiff out there. Right now, a driver that I think a lot of people aren’t giving enough credit to is Shawn Langdon. That Lucas Oil team is doing a phenomenal job. If he doesn’t get rookie of the year, I don’t know who deserves it more because he is a true rookie. In the final round, it was a great drag race against Brandon with the Budweiser team. It felt really good to come out victorious as our team has been working so hard. The effort is showing with our results. That’s one thing that I like to tell everyone that they don’t get to see. To be here everyday and see the desire and passion is awesome, and I’m so proud and honored to be a part of our MAR team here with Matco.

I also want to send a shout out to DirecTV for supporting us and partnering with us at St. Louis and also to Matco and all the Matco Tools distributors; and if you want to be part our race team at MAR and be a part of our hospitality, make sure you contact you local Matco distributor or call 888-MY-MATCO so you can join the MAR team and you can see, up close, what it’s like to be on our side. It was also cool to see my old teammate Hot Rod back out at the track. It was so cool to have him in my corner giving me the support and it was my honor to defend his title from St. Louis 2008. Also, thanks to Impact! Racing for hooking up our awesome DirecTV unis last weekend. We looked great and even won Best Appearing Crew.

After the race, we celebrated at Applebee’s in Collinsville, Ill. I had my favorite dessert, the Blondie. It’s AB approved and the best dessert on the planet. We got to come back to Indy on Monday and we’re been doing some photo shoots this week at the shop for Fatheadz; so keep your eyes open because the Wallyz are coming to your area soon. Like my daughter Arianna says, they’re mini-Trons. The Wallyz are really cool and soon enough, you too, can take a mini Antron home with you. We’re all working hard and we want to create some Thunder in Thunder Valley in Bristol next weekend. Come check us out next weekend and for the rest of the crew we check back in on the next blog. Love, peace and some Lucas Oil grease, and I’m out like shout on a new route. Oh here is a pic of me doing the blog. I have to get into the right mental state. LOL
 

My racing hero and the legend himself called, of all people, me. I was a little star-struck, so I got myself together and I called him back a few minutes later. “Big” left his phone number and we talked about drag racing in general. He told me about some runs back in the day when he was driving. He also gave me a lot of compliments on how I drive the race car and how I race. That was mind-boggling to me because this was a guy I’ve always looked up to. I remember way back in 1986 at the Summernationals in Englishtown and "Big Daddy" flipped his Super Shops dragster over. That was a race that stayed in my memory. I even remember that K.B. won in Funny Car, but it was so cool when "Big Daddy" jumped out the car and got a standing ovation. Then, he went back home to Florida and fixed his own chassis and went on to win the world championship that year in Top Fuel. He led the points standings after all but the first race of the ’86 season. The line that stood out the most on the phone was how he used to “weld them to the starting line.” He didn’t just beat people, but he left on them, too. That’s one thing he noticed about me, that I was a good leaver. All I was thinking in my mind was that I want to be like “Big Daddy;” not Mike, but Big Daddy.

And then on Monday after the Vegas race, me and my boy TY strolled over to meet up with our good friend Craig Darling and his family and we stopped off at the UFC gym where they film the reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter. Craig is the guy that builds the “Octagon” before each UFC fight. The facility is first class.

Brothaman was ready to put on some gym clothes and get to working out. They had it all to get your workout on. One of the coolest deals they had was a peg board where you could climb to the top and I wanted to see if I still had it in me. I know I’m still in decent shape, but I wanted to see if I could climb to the top.

I made the climb to the top and climbed back down safely without any injuries. Just to let all the UFC boys know, if I was younger, those boys would be in trouble. LOL I just really admire all the fighters in the UFC and MMA because those guys are very intense and outstanding athletes. I give those cats the upmost respect.

That’s all for now. But first I got to give a shout out to all my new friends from Linn State Technical College. We had a great Matco Tools TechEd visit at LSTC yesterday and it was great getting to meet everybody. Now, I’m out like shout and we’ll be back on the blog after St. Louis.
 

Alright to all my friends and fans. I’m back on the scene, crispy and clean. LOL Atlanta was definitely a good outing for us here at MAR. We wanted the win again, but it doesn’t always happen that way. We had a very consistent car in qualifying running 3.86 three times and had one of the cars to beat on race day. Things happen and that’s why we live to race. We’re back at the shop working on our Matco Tools dragster getting it right and tight for St. Louis and we’re going in there with our heads high and take things one run at a time this weekend at Gateway.

Before the race, I went on a tool truck ride with my boy Steve Granby in Georgia. He took me to some cool garages near Buford and Frazier’s Harley-Davidson too. It’s so cool to get personal with the customers and see how big drag racing fans these techs really are. It’s always great to meet all the Matco Tools customers and talk drag racing before many of the NHRA races.

The highlight of the weekend for me was getting to spend some time with my older brother, Carlos, aka Los. He flew in from Philly for the Atlanta race and we had an awesome time hanging out and catching up. I also want to thank Clay Millican for stepping in on Monday when we were doing a tire-test for Goodyear. Clay is an awesome dude and a very loyal member of the Matco Tools family. It was a hard time for me to step away, but I also need to thank all our friends and family for the well-wishes for my mom. I couldn’t have a better team and support group to allow me to be with my family in a tough time. My mom is doing very well and thanks for all the kind wishes from everyone.

Now, we’re back in Indy for a few days before St. Louis. My good friend Carlo came up from Louisiana with his family. They came up for the christening of our baby son Adler. Carlo and Kelly are now the god-parents of the little man. We just hung out and chilled at the house this weekend. Big daddy brought out my Bob Vila skills and painted a bathroom this weekend. Someone normal would have painted it a lot quicker than me. It took the brothaman a long time, but it turned out perfect. My momma is back at it and Ms. Judy even came over to fry some wings for everyone. It was a nice weekend to chill out at the pad with the nice warm weather here in Indy.

I need to give a few shout outs before I go. First to Jeg’s. We’re going to have the in-car camera on our dragster this weekend at St. Louis, so thanks to Woody and everyone at Jeg’s for hooking up the in-car cam. Make sure you check out ESPN2 this weekend for the cool shots of our DirecTV/Matco dragster. Also, remember to sign up and follow us on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/MARnews. We’re going to start and do some trivia and prize giveaways before each race. And, did you know that the brothaman and Mike Ashley hold the track speed records at Gateway? We set the TF speed mark last year at 331.94 mph and Mike in 2007 at 331.77 mph in FC.

With everything said, I’m out to Linn State Technical College to go out there and enlighten students on careers in racing and more and talking about using the best tools in the business, Matco Tools. If you’re in central Missouri, we’ll be at Linn State from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Wednesday. Until next time, make sure you have a little love, peace and hair grease. I’ll update in a few days with a couple of cool stories that are sure to interest you.

Antron

It’s always good to go back down South to Houston. We had a lot of fun, as always, at Houston. The race weekend was good for our MAR team. We qualified on the pole at 3.819 and we lost to Cory Mac in the second round. It was a great drag race. Cory did a little “Russian Roulette” and we ended up taking the bullet, but that’s just the way racing goes. The FRAM guys made a good run that was better than that 3.90 that come up on the board. Houston is always fun because I always get to eat some good Cajun food and crawfish. My boys Kevin and Carlo hooked it up at the campground area. I felt like I was back living in Louisiana with the catfish and shrimp. It also was good to see family, like my mother-in-law, Linda, back at the track smiling and lighting us all up after the battle she had with cancer. After the race, my wife, Billie Jo, and my mom, Judy, back went to Louisiana to help out with a benefit dinner for Linda that went over very well. I just want to thank all the racers who contributed items to be auctioned off. The turnout was fantastic. We thank everybody for the great support.

I also need to tip my hat to Matco Tools distributor Bryan Robinson who is doing an awesome job for Matco, not just pushing the tools and tool boxes, but being a great supporter for our MAR Top Fuel team. It really impressed me to see my name in lights on a big board going down I-10 at all the motorcycle shops. We had an awesome truck ride with Bryan and saw so much great support for NHRA drag racing. Our dinner at Outback was great with 28 people supporting us for the weekend. Bryan also sold 68 hospitality tickets to the race, so we have to give Bryan a big shout out. Here’s a photo of Bryan and some of his loyal Matco customers at the track.

The Monday after Houston, I got to ride in the big rig from Houston to El Paso with my MAR teammates Brad and Red. Even though my CDL license is still current, my boy Brad wouldn’t let me get behind the wheel of the big truck, so I spent my time between the passenger seat and the bunk to get some rest after a busy weekend at Houston. We got to El Paso on Monday night and on Tuesday we did our first of seven votech school visits for Matco. The visit was at Western Technical College and they had an awesome book/tool store for all the votech students. Matco offers a great discount for all the Western Tech students involved in the votech program. This is one part of the job that I really enjoy. To be able to speak with young adults about their futures and their career is awesome. It’s great to talk to the kids and tell them about what we do and all the different career opportunities available in NHRA drag racing. Before we flew out from El Paso to Vegas, we stopped over at MSD to see our boys Joe and Ray. They gave us a full tour of the MSD facility, including the engineering department, which was very fascinating to see how they develop and troubleshoot our high-tech ignition systems.

My boy Tom Abbett, our MAR team manager, and I got into Vegas on Tuesday night and we checked into one of our favorite hotels, the Golden Nugget, down on Fremont Street. The Nugget is a great hotel with an awesome pool and restaurants and it’s only 20 minutes from the Vegas track. Vic & Anthony’s steakhouse is one of the best in the nation. I ate there twice. Wednesday was a nice kickback, relaxing day for the brothaman to just relax and knock back some e-mails and bills online. Thursday night, we did the autograph signing session at The Palms. It was nice to see all the fan support and to interact with the fans without being busy at the race track.

The weekend at The Strip was pretty good. Friday we had some really high winds, so we didn’t get to do much other than wait around. Saturday we were No. 3 after the first session and we ended up No. 2 and we had a good race. I have to give it up to rookie Shawn Langdon for edging us with a 3.874 and getting his first career pole. We lost to Brandon in the semis, but we went rounds and got some more points on the board. We left Vegas with some good feelings, even though we were worn out (see the photo of me sleeping in my chair at McCarran airport), and it was good time go home and regroup over Easter weekend and gear up for Atlanta. We have to tip our hats off to Tony and the Army team for winning again and taking that top spot from us. But we’re not going anywhere anytime soon. We’re in it for the long haul.

I’ve been doing some honey-do’s for the wife and momma Judy cooked up an awesome Easter dinner with some ham, string beans, mac and cheese, roasted chicken, cornbread, and a whole bunch of other sweets and treats. Of course, we went to church on Easter morning. Then we had a big Easter egg hunt with 108 eggs in the lawn and the kids found all the eggs. Arianna and Anson were very happy and Adler is starting to walk around the house my little man is starting to warm up and be less shy around strangers.

I’ve got to throw this in for my boy Angelo back at Lend America in New York. MAR is on Facebook and Twitter. You can find both me and Mike Ashley Racing on Facebook and if you want to get Twitter updates on MAR, click this link and we’ll hook you up with the latest news from MAR: http://twitter.com/MARnews.

I just want to again thank everyone for their ongoing support for our MAR team. We really wouldn’t be who we are without the support. With that, I must draw it to an end and say a little love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout until next time. We’ll see you at the ATL this weekend.

Antron
 

The last two weeks were very eventful, and we had a lot of fun. We started off at Vegas on March 8 at Caesar’s Palace at Matco Tools Expo ’09. We got in bright and early on Sunday morning like at 9 a.m., and needless to say, we couldn’t get into our rooms until later that afternoon, so we made the best of it and sat by the pool and took our shirts off and took in some of the sun rays for the first time in ’09. We also walked around the Expo show and watched all the vendors finish setting up for the big show on Monday and Tuesday. We got in our rooms and got dolled up for the Matco National Business Conference, which was an unbelievable show. It was such an amazing feeling when they asked us on stage along with Mike Ashley. It was incredible. For all six years I’ve been going to the Expo, I’ve never head an applause like that. The support from our entire Matco family was very humbling and means so much to all of us here at MAR. Thanks Matco!

Expo is always a good time because we get to interact with so many distributors and do things that don’t get to do at the race track, like hang out, eat dinner, and just talk. I’m really, really excited about next year’s Expo, which is in Cancun, Mexico. So, if any of you all want to jump on the train and become a Matco Tools distributor, now’s the time. Your first tool Expo will be in Cancun. You can join that Matco Tools team by just calling 888-MY-MATCO.

After the Expo was all done, we did a real cool deal on Tuesday night. I had never been to a Vegas show before, and we went to see Cher at the Coliseum thanks to our good buddy Dave Stoltz. She’s a great entertainer. She was very fun on stage with her awesome stage presence. Baby girl can still sing her tail off, and she likes to change outfits. I was very impressed, and I tell my wife every day, if she looks like Cher when she’s 70, she ain’t got nothing to worry about. LOL And brothaman did alright on the blackjack tables, too. I took the C out of Caesar’s. After Expo was all over, all the long nights took a toll on my body. We also had an awesome view from our room, and here you can see the water show at Bellagio from the Brown room at Caesar’s.

We got home at like 9 p.m. on Wednesday night. My wife stayed up late again, this time washing clothes, and we were up bright and early on Thursday morning to catch a flight to Florida. When we got to Jacksonville, we hit up some TV stations to help promote the Gatornationals and made it just in time for our 7 p.m. dinner with Darryl and Shelly and Chip of Matco. We couldn’t miss the restaurant because they had my name on the big board. Here’s a picture of the sign with me and Shelly Pritchett after dinner.

The Gainesville race was beautiful. The weather was sunny and great. Friday morning, I woke up early and went to the YES Program. There were more than 2,500 kids that we got to speak to and motivate. It’s great that Matco is getting involved in Votech programs, and we’re going to do seven school visits with the race car this year. We’re bringing big blue to you tech students. Qualifying went pretty well even though it was hot out. We qualified No. 7 with a 3.94 on Saturday. We had some pretty cool stuff going on with a lot of our sponsors like Toyota and Goodridge. It’s always good to see my boys Andre, Don, and Ed from Toyota. It was like family reunion too because my uncle Andre was there and Angelle and Seth were there too to hang out with us. Sunday was my uncle Andre’s birthday. It’s nice to win, but you can’t take them all home. We also did NHRA Race Day on Sunday morning with Mike Dunn and Dave Rieff and my good friend and old crew chief Steve Tartaglia. It was good to talk about Top Fuel and the bikes. It was a very busy race because I know I’m leaving out about half the stuff we did during the week. That’s probably why I ended up with a sinus infection. I’m getting well, and we’re getting rested and healthy for Houston, which is going to be another big and busy race.

I want to thank all the fans for our support and all the e-mails. And I want to let all the fans know they can get souvenirs at the NitroMall at the track or online at www.NitroMall.com or www.antronbrown.com. And with that it’s time for a little Love, Peace and Hair Grease, and I’m out like shout. And we’ll catch you on the flip side at Houston Raceway Park.

Antron
 

Speaking of food. Since we didn’t get to celebrate Sunday night after the big win at Phoenix, we did a team dinner at home here in Brownsburg. The team got together on Tuesday evening for a nice, relaxing meal at Boulder Creek. Mark and Brian were in town working from the shop, so it was the perfect time to get us all together. I snapped this photo of the MAR team at dinner.

I just want to sign off by thanking all the fans for all the support and e-mails and by sticking by us and keeping us going strong. Remember, if you want to come out and see us and be part of the MAR race team, check out your local Matco Tools distributor and you can sit in the hot seats right next to me in the hospitality. And, you can share a little love, peace and hair grease with me at the Iron Eagle Club. We’re off to Matco Tools Expo ’09 in Las Vegas this weekend, and then we’ll see you all at the Gators next weekend.

Oh, and I do know my crew chiefs names are Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald. LOL I’m going to have NHRA hold cue cards at the top end from now on.

Now I’m out like shout.

Antron

A.B. is back on the scene, crispy and clean. Hello again everyone. We’re back at the shop in Indy. The boys got back safe and sound from Phoenix and it’s all good.

If you would have asked me in the off season about how our first two races would start out, I must say, I couldn’t have dreamed for things to have gone any better. Unless you’re Ron Capps. LOL To go into Phoenix and qualify No. 3 and to go out there and win the race and take over the points lead is something that I’m very proud of for our race team here at MAR for how we all pulled together in the most trying times. And with all the Matco support from the distributors standing behind us, I couldn’t feel more proud to drive this Matco Tools dragster. How about this picture with our Matco family in the winner’s circle Sunday at F.I.R.!

Let’s take you frame-by-frame and tell you how the Phoenix week transpired. We flew from Indy where it was about 20 degrees and landed in Phoenix on Wednesday evening about 8:30 p.m. and it was 60 degrees outside at nighttime. We love that warm weather. The next morning, I met up with Steve Marsden, who is a true asset to Matco. Steve is a very upbeat guy who gives all his customers what they need, when they need it. He had one of the most packed tool trucks I’ve ever seen. That’s the reason he’s one of the top distributors in the country. He took me to a pretty cool place that I must talk about. It was a custom trailer shop that specializes in transporting large cargo across the country. I saw a trailer that was over 200-feet long. I’m not kidding. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. I don’t even know how to describe it. We had a really good tool truck ride with Steve.

That night, we all showed up at F1 Race Factory for some go-karting action with our Matco family from Phoenix like Allen Plunk, Jason Neil and Kent Holladay and a bunch of distributors like my boy Ed Sopher. Ed was rockin’ his Matco crew shirt all weekend at the race track. We gave away some race car parts and Goodyear tires and did a nice speech on the great job all the distributors are doing for Matco. After dinner and giveaways, we headed out to the go-kart track to show them what A.B. could do. They were all making jokes about me going straight, that was until A.B. took the race track. I had a lot of fun and was able to turn in some good times. You see all those 1st place finishes for A-Bomb! It was fun seeing our crew chiefs Brian and Mark dicing it up. It was so funny to see Mark bump Brian out of the way to pass him. Brian came back in the next corner and gave Mark some whiplash. He hit Mark so hard they black flagged him for rough driving. Brian got a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness. It was too funny. It was a very fun event and a great team-bonding night for our MAR race team. It got us all fired up for the real business and that was qualifying for the Phoenix race.

After the first day of qualifying, we ended up second with a 3.830. Dixon nipped us in the Al-Anabi car at 3.80. Saturday we made a good opening pass and then got bumped back one spot by The Sarge and ended up starting third. We were very motivated for race day. The first round was a very close race against Del Cox. We were out in front and it was all good until the engine broke loose. I jarred me so far forward, it felt like I hit the parachute. I was like, “come on finish line.” We got through with a 3.97. Second round was against Morgan Lucas. That was a really tough race. Those guys are growing into a really solid team and we want to thank Lucas for stepping up to help our race team with Lucas Oil and the Slick Mist to keep us looking all bling, bling.

The semis against "the Sarge" was one of those big moments where. Face it, he’s the six-time world champion, and you’ve got to bring you’re A-game when you face the U.S. Army dragster. You know all the hard work and dedication from the off season is going to pay off. And it showed by beating Tony with that great 3.81. It was only the second time we beat the Sarge. The final round was a tough match-up with Brandon. With Rob Flynn and Mike Guger, they have a strong program on the Bud team. I worked with Rob last year during my rookie year and I know how sharp he is. Brandon is no slouch either. His lights have been very good so far this year. I could bet my bottom dollar that has to do with the relationship he established with Rob. With that said, I went up there and put my head down. We wanted to go A to B. I hit the pedal and drove it as straight as I could and I saw the win light come on in the right lane and it was that moment; that moment for all the effort that you put forth. I knew it was time for the celebration to begin. I put my arm around Charlotte Lucas and she handed me the silver “Wally” for the 25th running of the Lucas Slick Mist Nationals. That will be a moment I’ll never forget in my life cause wins come far and few between and you really have to cherish that moment. This year will be the toughest in the dragster class with the stout competition in the dragster class.

Stay tuned for our next installment that’s coming to you next week. Same time, same place, same channel, and as brothaman always says: love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout.

Two quick things. For all the NHRA fans, I have a message board on www.antronbrown.com. Stop by and say hello. And I have to give a shout out to Aaron Rowand and Jackson Williams from the San Francisco Giants who came out to see us win last Sunday. Aaron is buddies with Tommy Johnson and he hung out with us for a bit on Sunday. Here is a picture with me, Aaron and Jackson, an up-and-coming catcher for the Giants.

Well, technically I think we ARE in Kansas, as I look out the window seat, row 8, left side, of one of Southwest Airlines fine 737-300 aircraft. Tommy Nitro here with you as co-pilot on our cross country journey today sports fans. From my 39,000-foot vantage point high above the circular patterned wheat fields below, I can’t help but wonder in amazement at the various topography of these beautiful United States.

This year starts a new chapter in my professional career that is NHRA Drag Racing. For the past 10 years, my contribution to the sport of drag racing and my employer’s, have consisted primarily of the physical working, Eisenhower Interstate System exploring and gypsy lifestyle variety. This year, with Mike Ashley Racing’s acquirement of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Top Fuel dragster, it seems I get to do a little more “aerial” exploration of our great land. So far on today’s trip, which is following the TUESDSAY finish of the season-opening Winternationals, our aerial reconnaissance mission has given me the Ontario, CA area, with a fly-over of the Auto Club Raceway in Fontana, the high desert area of California, Death Valley, and a touchdown landing in Las Vegas. I am assuming that was all below us because due to our early 6:40 a.m. departure, I was asleep the entire time we were in the air.

I am NOT a morning person by any stretch of the imagination and I was getting a little ribbing from the guys the night before if I needed them to make courtesy “wake up” calls for me. For some reason I had not switched my body clock over to West Coast time yet, even though I have been in Cali for ten days at this point, and was awake at around 3:45, long before my 4:30 alarm I have set on my cell phone. I had a pretty rough morning schlepping my overweight luggage to the rental car, onto the rental car shuttle, into the airport and finally on to the check- in stand at the Southwest counter. Ted Yerzyk, Antron and “Mighty” Mike Domagala and I were all flying together and they, being experienced “FIG’s”( that’s Fly In Guy’s) all were laughing at me for traveling so heavy and carrying armloads of newspapers, coats, hats, etc. I really do know how to fly efficiently but this was one of those times that was not going to go smoothly.

What I really need to do is sit my old buddy Bob Wilber, of Team Wilkerson fame, down for a little tutorial on how to smooth this procedure out a little. And by “old” friend, I mean he has been a friend for a long time, not that he is old, old. Now HE puts the “O’s” in smooth when it comes to traveling. He knows all the perks, the schedules, the pilots, the clubs, the shuttle’s and the shortcuts. I can only aspire to gain half of his worldly knowledge.

Anyway, after a change of planes in “Sin City” we were airborne again within an hour and got to see some beautiful sights on the climb to cruising altitude. Taking off in a Northerly direction, parallel to “the Strip” and banking in plenty of time to miss the Stratosphere’s 1,100-foot-tall spire, we climbed up and out of the valley with a great view of Nellis AFB, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and its companion drag strip in plain view. Lake Mead followed below us and then the Grand Canyon was off to the South and Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam were off to the North. The beautiful snow-capped Rocky Mountains rose part way up to meet our flight and Pikes Peak waved as we passed by. It is such a drastic contrast leaving the southwest area of the United States and entering the Great Plains of the Midwest. The sharp jagged edges of the mountains and the craggily rivulets of erosion that are so majestic from this vantage point give way to the perfectly square farmers fields and 90-degree intersecting county roads that make up rural America. The afore-mentioned “crop circles” are multiplying the farther East we fly. Created by monstrous irrigation systems that help keep the grain healthy in the brutal summer sun, the wheat fields appear as large golden pieces on the world's largest Checkers board. King me!

It appears that the rest of our flight is going to be obscured by white puffy things that are diminishing my view of the ground. We are starting to descend so I am assuming we are somewhere over central Illinois at this point and it won’t be too long before our flight staff issues the warning to turn off and stow all portable electronic devices. This will conclude our field trip at 39,000 feet. Trays tables up, seat backs forward and come back and see us again soon. You’re now free to move about the Country.

Flaps down, landing gear down, put it on the numbers.

Wednesday morning we were back on the Matco truck with my boy Arsen in Fontana. We visited some rental shops and got to meet a lot of his customers who were NHRA enthusiasts. Then I headed over to the track at Pomona to do the press conference with the Force family. It was John, Ashley and Robert and me. By all means, it was a funny session. John was typical John. He made a comment of me being in shape and him getting in shape and not wanting to stand naked next to me. We were all laughing, but we all know how John is. Then he was taking about Obama. I felt bad for Robert and Ashley in between our comedy show. It was a great kick-off for the 49th annual Winternationals. That night I, Billie Jo and PR Ted headed out to Beverly Hills to meet our close friend Laurie Frazier of Motorsports Travel Service. We got our grub on at Mastro’s. It was outrageously good. The dessert tray was phenomenal. I need the recipe for the Mastro’s butter cake. We drove back to the Sheraton Fairplex and it was on to the race.

Despite the rain, we had some fun on Friday morning with my girl Gayle Anderson from KTLA’s morning show in LA. We met Gayle, a fellow New Jersey native, at the Finals in November and she loved us so much, she came all the way back out to the track to help us promote the Winternationals. Gayle is crazy. She did a snow angel in the water on the race track and got soaking wet. It was better her than me. She’s cool people and we don’t mind getting up at 5:15 a.m. to have some fun with Gayle and help promote the NHRA races.

We basically waited around until Saturday for one nerve-wracking qualifying pass. We only had one shot to get in and we powered our Matco dragster to the pole position. Then we got in one run on Sunday and got by Steve Faria even though we dropped a hole at the hit. Never in the world would I imagine that California would be colder than Indy in the winter time. It even hailed on Monday. The weekend was a great weekend for our MAR Matco Tools dragster by us finishing runner-up to Doug Kalitta. We ran a mind-boggling 3.778 in the semis to run the second quickest ever 1,000-foot pass. In the final, it was a great race. We both left great on the starting line and I tip my hat to the entire Kalitta team for doing a great job at Pomona. I look forward to many more great drag races against Doug in the future.

We got home to Indy on Wednesday afternoon and then Thursday morning I flew out on an early morning flight to shoot a Matco Tools DVD with my sister-sister Courtney Hanson. You may know her from Spike TV’s Powerblock. We had a lot of fun talking about all the new products coming out on the tool trucks. They also hooked us up with some delicious Mediterranean food. I got back on the flight later that night to finally get home and chill out with the family on Thursday night. I came home to some strong 60-mph winds where we lost the majority of the shingles on the roof. We lost the shingles, but it ain’t nothing that I can’t fix.

I’m going to spend the weekend home with the family after the marathon race at Pomona to get energized for Phoenix. So until next week, I want to wish everyone some love, peace and hair grease. If you ain’t got none, you better get some. And I’m out like shout.
 

As you all know, if you are faithful blog readers and NHRA.com followers, our preseason testing of the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster went pretty much according to plan. I mean, how can you argue with an out-of-the-box 3.88, a tweaked 3.86 and an early shut off 3.82? If that wasn’t enough to get everyone’s attention, our hole card was a testing-best, and personal best for Ant, 3.781 at a thundering 316.45. First hand accounts from the pressroom at Firebird Raceway reflected a sense of excitement and awe as everyone realized that a shot across the bow had just been fired by the Brian Corradi/Mark Oswald tuning duo. It certainly didn’t hurt that Antron did the most amazing job of staging that I have personally ever witnessed. I can assure you, he didn’t leave an tenth of an inch of roll out on the table on that one. I have seen well over 3,000 nitro car launches and staging jobs in my 11 years in the sport and that one left me in astonishment, as the stage light flickered on and off at least 5 times before settling in to a bright, full filament burn. Do we know how to pick a horse or what?

Okay, enough of blowing our own horn, we will just let the performance speak for us from here on out. What I’m most excited to share with you is an exciting experience that took place a few days after testing. When MAR originally made plans for Phoenix test we anticipated a steeper learning curve and had made plans to stay and run thru Tuesday, service Wednesday and fly the boys back home to Indy on Thursday. Even Antron and I were not scheduled to fly out until late Wednesday night. What ended up happening is we ended testing a full day early, so the crew was able to service and pack up on Tuesday, which left a full day of nothing to do on Wednesday. I don’t know how much any of you have been around a fuel crew, but they don’t sit still very well. Something that has been running through my mind for the past couple of years that we have been testing and racing at Firebird started to really pound its way to the front of my cerebral cortex. On the same piece of Sonoran desert real estate is the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. I have often wondered what would happen when you take a group of highly tuned, ultra competitive crew members that were used to seeing the world in a straight line and turn them loose in a world of apexes and s-curves. Every year, twice a year, that we visit this track we are subjected to the squealing of tires, the clouds of wispy white smoke in the distance, and students and instructors at the Bondurant school, torture the never endless supply of Goodyear Eagle street radials. So I put my thinking cap on and hopped on one of Antron’s Suzuki-supplied pit bikes and take a chilly early Tuesday morning ride over to the office of the school and see what’s what.

I was greeted at the door by the – get this stuffy title – Director of First Impressions, Melanie Mooney. A title I must admit, she carry’s off very well. I tell her what’s on my mind and ask if they have a program that will let my guys blow off a little steam, have a little fun and maybe learn something along the way. Melanie directs me to Matt Williams, Corporate Sales Manager for the school and we proceed to work out a program that will fit the bill and the budget. Now, at this point I haven’t said anything to anybody yet and I wanted to run this by the boss, that would be the worlds fastest Funny Car pilot Mike Ashley, and get his blessing before burning up the American Express. We discussed it, he understood the value of this as a team building experience and was on board right away. One of the first rules of Salesmanship 101 is, once you get the customer to say Yes, do not keep selling the idea. Mike said yes so fast, I keep going on about how we saved some money by not testing the extra day, how it was going to cost a lot to fly everybody back home a day early, yada, yada yada… Mike chimes back in, “You sound like my wife, honey, we’re saving money as she is getting out her own American Express card.” Point well taken.

I left Bondurant’s all giddy as I head into the trailer to lay out the news to the crew. Bad news is, we are not flying home a day early. Good news is, we get to run the guts out of some brand new Electric Yellow sixth generation Corvettes. Everyone to a man lit up and I knew I had the right group of guys on our team this year. My first major decision as Team Manager and everyone was on board. Antron, Brian and Mark unfortunately had other commitments and were not going to be able to hang out the extra day, so it left us with eight straight-line addicts to punish four very compliant Corvettes.

Bright and early Wednesday morning we hop in the Toyota Sequoia team support vehicle and head to Bondurant’s. We do a little waiver signing, something about a $6,000 deductible for student induced damage, have a little class time with our instructor Mike Speck, and before you know it, we are getting the once over on how to strap in the drivers seat of some of the brightest Yellow fiberglass that the General has ever produced. We pair up, strap in and follow Mike in the lead car, a Cadillac CTS, like baby ducks following momma duck. Our first experience of the day is what they like to call Evasive Maneuvering and Collision Avoidance. Starting out a mere 25 mph you drive down a coned off one lane strip that empties into a three pronged decision making area. This “decision making area” is where the instructor will turn on a series of lights that will indicate which of the three lanes you are supposed to steer your steed into, with only a thin margin of think time before you must react and make the proper choice without mowing down innocent cones, which in the real world would be people, pets or other vehicles. Sounds pretty easy right? Okay, now you speed up the process a few notches to the 45-50 mph range and suddenly your decision making time is cut in half, you car is moving twice as fast and BLAMMO…innocent cones have to die! Just to keep you guessing, every once in a while the instructor will give you a “panic stop” situation where you get no lane designation but all red lights and you have to whoa the car down before plowing into an imaginary tractor trailer that is suddenly motionless in front of you. Brad Mason, our blower guy, killed us twice, for the record.

Next event is the nine-cone slalom course. Easy enough right? Try it in a 14 passenger van! Mike put us all in the short bus and proceeded to give us the finer points of how to take the cones. Quick turn in, slow recovery, quick turn in, slow recovery, lather, rinse, repeat. The back seat of the van felt like it was going to pass the front by the time we got the last cone in the 35 mph range but it was a fun ride. We pile out, hop back into our Corvettes and tackle the line of cones with abandon. Mike had the illustrious job of replacing the cones that were sent flying from time to time and it seemed like that pesky second cone just would not stay put. You know how some people just don’t make good passengers? Whether it be control issues, where they are trying to drive from the passenger’s seat or just the motion sickness that can come about by not being the one driving? Well it seems that Robb Hauser, our clutch guy, is the latter. This guy is fearless in a straight line, does real well at any speed as long as he is in control, but apparently his equilibrium gets a little rattled when Wayne Waite, our short block guy, is at the wheel, hooking and grooving in and out of the little cones. I’m coming around to get back in line for another run and I see Robb out of the car, holding up the nearest fence expelling the mornings breakfast. Classic, good old team building at its finest I tell you.

I can’t possibly put an entire day's activities in this blog, I am too long winded and want to tell you the story on a play-by-play basis. Suffice to say, we all had a good time, we didn’t wreck anything, although I did slide one of the Vettes out into the dirt a few times on the nine turn road coarse, to which the instructor indicated that I should be wearing a John Deere hat, in reference to all the dust I was producing, and we learned a lot about each other as people, teammates and now friends. We are a better and stronger team because of it.

If you guys want a second installment of this, email me at tom@mikeashley.com and if there are enough requests, I will continue in a few days.

PS: In this last photo, that represents our entire clutch department of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Top Fuel dragster, Robb and Tony Derhammer. The also happen to represent both ends of the awards spectrum as Robb proudly displays the “Cone Killer” award and Tony “the Hammer” Derhammer proudly displays the overall driving title for the days activities. That kid is a natural talent folks, you heard it here first.

Until next time, to borrow Anton’s tag line, I’m out like shout.

We got ready for the final run of the day, and I didn’t know that Brian and Mark were going to throw down the gauntlet. It was funny cause I had a bet with my homie and crew member Brad Mason. He does the blowers and ignition on our Matco dragster. Brad said we’d run 3.80, and I said we’d run in the 3.70s, and the winner had to buy dinner. We got up there and threw it down with a 3.781 at 316.45 mph. That was the second quickest 1,000-foot pass and our quickest run at 1,000 feet. We ran 3.803 at Richmond last fall. The energy was so high with our team after that run. For Brian and Mark and Cameron and Robb, who all came over from R2B2, and my boys who returned, John, Tony, Mike D., Brad and Red, I just want to thank you all for all the hard work this off-season. It was a crazy off-season for all of us, and that 3.78 was the perfect medicine. It’s so amazing how quickly this team has jelled.

I also want to echo Mark Oswald’s comments on NHRA.com and thank Lee Beard for everything. Lee has done so much for my racing career by helping me get started in Top Fuel, and he left us a great race car here at MAR. He’ll do a great job at DSR and help all the DSR cars run strong this season.

Real quick, here is a photo of my new buddy Kiah Blank. He’s seven and the son of Jason Blank a Lend America customer. They came out on Saturday to check us out during testing. Hopefully we’ll see Jason and Kiah back during the Arizona Nationals in February.

We’re off to make a few laps today and do a tire test for Goodyear. We love all the great support we get from Carolyn Ashbee and everyone at Goodyear. And with that, as always, a little love, peace and waffle grease, and I’m out like shout.

Antron

Hello from warm and sunny Phoenix. It felt so good to get to Phoenix yesterday morning. Our new team manager, Tom Abbett, and I landed around 8 a.m. and it felt great to go from a beanie and bomber coat to short sleeves and a baseball cap. We stopped and grabbed breakfast at the Waffle House and went straight to the track. It was awesome to bond with our new team at Mike Ashley Racing with Brian and Mark and all the Matco boys. We spent most of the day getting the car together. The warmup went great and we went to the line for the first run of the ’09 for the new look Matco Tools dragster. We had a valve spring break on the burnout and we had to shut off, but we got a good feel for everything and it was a great work day for the Matco team.

Last night we got to hang out with Matco Tools regional manager Allen Plunk and district managers Kent Holladay and Jason Neil, along with a few Matco distributors Mike and Ed. I rode on Ed’s tool truck last February before the Phoenix race. Mike is a new distributor; he’s only been in the business for three months and he’s on a roll selling it up. Times are rough and tough and he’s making a good living as a Matco Tools distributor. If he can do it, you can do it too. It’s a great way to be your own boss and you can start by calling 888-MY-MATCO if you’re looking for a career change or a new job. We ate dinner at Rustler’s Rooster and it was great to hang out with my Phoenix Matco family for a few hours last night.

This morning on the second day of testing ‘09, I got the go-ahead to go to half track on our first run. With our baseline tune-up in the car, it felt really good and made it through the shake zone and it was a smooth, consistent pass. I nipped right at about 850 feet out and we coasted through at 3.88 at 306 mph. It was a really good pass that gave our team a lot of confidence and it gave Brian and Mark a good starting point. It was great to see all our guys with smiles on their faces after the run. We had an issue on the second run. We broke a fuel line and the car shook the tires. After that we gave the car a good look-over and waited for the final session of the day. Spencer Massey and Snake’s team ran in front of us and ran 3.89 and we ran 3.87 at 310 mph to finish our day. It was the quickest and fastest pass of the last session and that’s awesome for our team. Our Matco car has a lot of promise to it. I really feel by the end of the Phoenix test we’ll be up to par with all the top cars. We saw a lot of fans out here today and I took some pictures with a few Matco distributors who were out here with their Hayabusa and a Suzuki bracket bike. It’s always good to chill with my Matco family at the race track.

We’re going to make three to four runs on Sunday and go A to B and try to step it up a little bit. The track will be better, so we want to get up there with the Army car and A.J’s car in the low 3.80s. That’s all for now. As always, a little love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout.

Antron

Well, I’m back in the saddle again and let me tell you something, I’ve been on the bull for eight seconds and the bull isn’t going to kick my butt. It’s been a crazy ride for our team this off season, but I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. I’m happy to see our Matco Tools team moving forward. We’re fortunate that our team is now owned by Mike Ashley, who is a dedicated racer. Our team is very optimistic with Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald turning the screws on the Matco Tools dragster and I’m looking forward to getting the ’09 season underway and growing with our new race team.

Our whole crew has been working like Santa elves in December to get our stuff together to head out West for testing. And let me tell you, brothaman can’t wait to get out West to some sunshine and 70-degree weather. I don’t know where you all live, but Indianapolis has been brutal with negative-degree temps last week. It’s in the 20s today and I’m ready to go from pale yellow to golden brown.

Last weekend I went to the Atlantic City Motorsports Show in New Jersey. The show was put on by Area Auto Racing News. It was an awesome show. I signed autographs at the Raceway Park booth and we had a lot of people from my home state lined up to say hi to A.B. I signed for an hour and 45 minutes before I got a break in the action. My right hand was getting sore. I also got to judge the Miss Motorsports pageant with my NASCAR boy Johnny Benson. He’s a cool dude. Johnny is the NASCAR truck world champion and knows all about drag racing. He knew all about my transition from bikes to Top Fuel.

It was great to hang out with a fellow Toyota racer in Johnny. I need to give a shout out to my boy Andre Jackson from Toyota in California. He keeps our team here at MAR looking sharp with our black Tundra and Sequoia. On Sunday after the show, I got to hang out with some family back at the house in Jersey and enjoy some time with my great grandma and my grandma. My grandma Lossie just got a new Great Dane puppy. He’s only three months old, but he’s already bigger than most grown dogs. My kids could ride that dog like it’s a horse.

This whole week, I’m Mr. Mom getting the kids going to school. But I sure couldn’t do it without my mom, Miss Judy. My wife, Billie Jo, flew back to Louisiana to be with her mom. Her mom, Linda, is going through a surgery, so please keep her in your prayers. Being a fulltime parent sure isn’t easy, and going through the transition on the race team has put us through some trying times. It will only make us a stronger team in the long run.

I’m all geared up for the season. I got some new threads from Matco and new safety equipment from Impact! Racing and I fly out to Phoenix on Friday morning. We’re looking forward to breaking our new rocket in at F.I.R. and getting ready for Pomona. It’s starting to feel good to see all the boys fired up and see their determination and eagerness to win. It really pumps me up. Stayed tuned and we’ll fill you in next week and let you know how testing is going. Maybe we’ll even do a daily blog with results from the National Time Trials. If we don’t see you at Firebird this weekend, then you better be at Pomona Feb. 5-8 for the 49th Winternationals. It’s going to be an awesome race with strong competition in all classes. I’m excited and ready to roll.

Like always, whether you're up or your down, we can all use a little love, peace and hair grease, and I’m out like shout.

Antron