NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

From the Wally Parks NHRA Studio, NHRA reporter Lewis Bloom takes a look back at current Top Fuel points leader Antron Brown’s nail-biting 2012 Top Fuel championship run and all the drama that surrounded an unforgettable moment at the Auto Club NHRA Finals.

Brown that year started the Countdown with a first-round loss in Charlotte, but recovered quickly with wins at Dallas and St. Louis followed by a runner-up in Reading to Khalid alBalooshi. The key fact to the Reading race is that Brown set the national e.t. Record during the event and earned an extra 20 points which, in effect, gave him the points equivalent to a third Countdown win. Brown, however, then lost first round in both Las Vegas and Pomona to set up another classic dramatic finish in NHRA Top Fuel history at the Finals. It came down to Tony Schumacher needing to win the final round against Brandon Bernstein.

Maybe it was not as dramatic as “the Run” in 2006 by Tony Schumacher but it was close, and the raw emotions from Brown, his wife Billie Joe, and the Matco team when Schumacher lost and the championship was clinched is an indelible moment in the sport’s history.