Antron Brown has accomplished a lot. He has been a regular in the top 10, qualified in the No. 1 spot on 26 occasions, successfully leapt from Pro Stock Motorcycle to Top Fuel, and won races each year since settling into the Matco Tools dragster to bring his victory total to 25. One thing he hasn't done? Win in Las Vegas. Yet.

Brown has scored big at 15 racetracks on the tour, and now the exceptionally enthusiastic drag racer is ready to go to the mattresses at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals, the third race on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series tour. He rightfully is of the opinion that this could be the year that he finally strikes gold.

So far this season, in Pomona and Gainesville, Brown has proven his power, qualifying No. 2, and at this event last season, he ran the table with a 3.881, 316.61 mph on the first day of qualifying that held to give him his 23rd low-qualifier award and stood as low e.t. and top speed of the meet. Plagued with tire shake on race day, Brown was halted in round two.

"We try to do the best we can at each and every race," said Brown. "We wanted to bring that win home.
Coming to Vegas, we have to have the chips roll our way a little bit. We've always been in the gamble, but at the end, we always hit snake eyes. I'm ready to hit the jackpot."

After closing 2010 with a win at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Brown went to the semifinals at the season-opening Kragen O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals and picked up a round-win at the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. His Brian Corradi- and Mark Oswald-tuned machine is showing power, and he is doing his job behind the wheel. Brown says that they know what they have to do to get back to the winner's circle before too much more time passes.

"We just have to let it happen," he said. "The biggest thing that's been in our way is ourselves. Everybody on our team, we work so hard and put forth so much effort, and sometimes you just have to let it fall into the groove.

"We have a fast race car, and we work very well together for being such a young team – we've only been together for three years. We're young, but we're right there with all the big boys, teams that have been together for more than 10 years. We just have to keep on plugging and pushing and giving it everything we've got."

The Matco Tools team knows all about climbing mountains effectively; it experienced immediate success when Brown made the transition to a powerful Top Fuel dragster from the two-wheeled class. They qualified No. 1 at their first race together, the 2008 Winternationals; won at their fourth race, the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil in Houston; and went to back-to-back final rounds, finishing second at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to then-teammate Cory McClenathan.

Brown has made incredible and quick progress as a Top Fuel driver, but the spotlight has been on the fellas who have been around longer, especially in the last couple of seasons. Teammate Tony Schumacher and Al-Anabi Racing driver Larry Dixon have put on one of the most dramatic shows in the sport, trading brutal punches over who would be taking off with the big trophy at the end of the season. But Brown doesn't mind the past and only looks to the future. He said, "They've been leading the way, and they deserved [the spotlight], but we're coming. Our job is to take it away."

The spring Las Vegas event could be a solid starting point to make a serious move because the event has historically shown promise for Brown, particularly as a Top Fuel driver. Between his final-round finish in 2008 and very quick numbers in 2010, he was the No. 2 qualifier at the 2009 SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals and trekked to the semifinals.

"This track is definitely one of the best on the tour," said Brown. "The stakes are high, and so is the atmosphere; the facility is just phenomenal. The fans really come out here, and they put our racing at a different level. There is a lot going on throughout the weekend – you can even bet on yourself at the casinos. But [as a driver], you have to block all of the distractions out so that you can win that race.

"This is our boxing arena here," said Brown. "This is where we come to get it on, and it's a stage like no other. We definitely want to win."

TICKETS: For tickets for the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals, call The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 800-644-4444, or log on to www.lvms.com.