NHRA News: Brown busy assembling ingredients for championship run (12/01/2000)

Brown busy assembling ingredients for championship run

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
12/01/2000

"I have to admit, it's nice to be the quickest and fastest Pro Stock Bike rider in the world."
-- Antron Brown

Pro Stock Bike rider Antron Brown credits a pretty easy formula for his drag racing success -- he simply works harder than anyone else in the class. So far, it would be hard to argue with the strategy of the 24-year-old from New Jersey. In three years on the circuit he has three top 10 finishes in the Winston points, including a career-best third-place ranking at the end of the 1999 season.

Brown, whose team is owned by his cousin, cornerback Troy Vincent of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, has racked up six national event wins in eight final-round appearances over the course of his short career. He is one of the few drivers in the class to have held his own against top guns Matt Hines and Angelle Seeling, posting equal amounts of wins and loses against the two champions over the past two seasons.

The most with the least
What's incredible is that Brown is getting the job done on a sliver of the budget of most of the top teams. So far, he's been getting by on hard work and a smile, but he knows the need for a large infusion of cash is tantamount to his future success.

"We're competitive and hungry and willing to outwork anyone else out there," Brown said. "We're small-time when you compare our budget to the budget a lot of the teams have. But our results have been pretty darn good. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished, especially when you add in the budgets and compare us to everyone else. We definitely get the most out of every dollar.

"The biggest thing missing for us is research and development money. That's what makes me nervous because eventually that's going to catch up with us. This off-season has been dedicated to finding that major sponsor we need to get to the next level. And I think we only have one more level to get to at this point. We're good; I'd like to be better. We need money to get there."

Brown boasts a laundry list of strong associate sponsors. Vanson, Simpson, Champion, Mac Tools, and Hermann and Sons Natural Style Beef Jerky all remain on board for next season. The missing ingredient is a title sponsor.

"We're still in negotiations with Anythingovernight.com," said Brown, referring to his main 2000 sponsor. "I hope and pray something comes together there. If not we'll keep after everyone else on our list. The nice thing for us is that we're a turnkey operation. I already have all the stuff we need so we're more affordable. Some company out there could have title rights to our team for as little as $300,000.

"Angelle and Matt have big companies behind them. They're great riders -- the best out there obviously because they have won the last four years -- but I think they'll tell you that the support they have had has definitely helped them.

"We'd like to get there ourselves. We need the R&D and we need a few more people on the team. Once we take this next step, it'll be unreal what we can accomplish. We've done a lot with not much. If we had the funding, watch out."

World's quickest and fastest biker
Brown hasn't let his search for a sponsor slow his preparation for the 2001 season. Remarkably, although the Y2K campaign ended just two weeks ago, Brown has already made several moves towards improving his program's performance. Along with several other NHRA pros, Brown attended and competed in the AMA/ProStar World Finals in Gainesville, Fla., over the Thanksgiving weekend.

As usual, Brown was the star of the show, racing his powerful Suzuki GSR to a new world record elapsed time and speed during a stunning 7.04-second lap at 193 mph, albeit under the AMA ProStar rules that allow for four-valve engines. He also stirred the rumor mill when he took a few laps down the strip on six-time Winston champion Dave Schultz's Sunoco Hayabusa in the Pro Mod category, recording three laps in the 7.2-second range.

"I have to admit, it's nice to be the quickest and fastest Pro Stock Bike rider in the world," Brown said, emphasizing the word nice. "I have to give credit to Byron Hines. He had a brand-new four-valve Vance and Hines motor out there and we put it on my race bike and let it rip. Those things are animals, not very easy to tune. But Byron and my crew chief Mark Peiser figured it out and I flew down that track. It was awesome.

Brown also made some runs on Dave Schultz's Sunoco Hayabusa in the Pro Mod category, recording three laps in the 7.2-second range.

"Riding Dave's bike was cool also. What a nice piece that Hayabusa is and I'm glad I was able to get Dave some exposure for that body. The Hayabusa is such a nice riding bike. I think anyone starting out would really love that body style because it removes a lot of the thinking you have to do. Without even thinking about it the Hayabusa body puts the rider in perfect position right at the front of the bike. It's very stable. My very first lap I was like, 'Man, I feel right at home on this thing.' "

Brown wouldn't go as far as to say that he'd be switching to the Hayabusa next year. He is still in negotiations with long-time supporter Suzuki and is hoping to work out a deal with them that would probably call for him to ride a GSX-R.

"We've had a lot of success with the Suzuki GSX-R," he said. "I know that bike like it's a part of my body. I think our record against Matt and Angelle, and the other big-time riders like Craig Treble, Tony Mullen, and Geno Scali, prove that the GSX-R is a killer bike. I have confidence in it and that's why we've done well when we race.

"I love competing in the NHRA. It's the best. You have to dig deep and rise up to the challenge every lap because everyone out there is good.

"Mark and I have learned so much in a short time. We think alike and work well together. Our first three years have been awesome. If we can get the proper funding, 2001 could be the best one yet."

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