EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT 3X NHRA TOP FUEL WORLD CHAMPION ANTRON BROWN
Behold, the most interesting man in motorsports.
By Devin Pangaro | March 01, 2024
Spend five minutes in the presence of drag racing legend and AB Motorsports team owner/driver Antron Brown and there’s a good chance you’d swear you just came face-to-face with a modern-day superhero.
The Justice League. The Avengers. The X-Men. Heck, with his winning smile, confident cadence, dynamic race suit, and nitro-spewin' Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel dragster in tow, he’s a natural fit to head up just about any team (except Alpha Flight of course, they’re Canadian).
Now that we're partnered up with the New Jersey native for the 2024 NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing Series, we wanted to take a chance to catch you up on the championship pedigree and awe-inspiring origin story of one of the NHRA’s finest.
ANTRON'S FACTS
BORN: 03/01/1976
BIRTHPLACE: Chesterfield, New Jersey
RESIDENCE: Pittsboro, Indiana
TEAM: AB Motorsports
SPONSOR/CAR: Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster
CREW CHIEFS: Brian Corradi/Mark Oswald
ANTRON'S STATS
NHRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: 3 (2012, 2015, 2016)
CAREER EVENT TITLES: 74 (Top Fuel: 58, Pro Stock Motorcycle: 16)
CAREER FINAL ROUNDS: 132 (Top Fuel: 100, Pro Stock Motorcycle: 32)
CAREER #1 QUALIFYING POSITIONS: 49
TOP ELAPSED TIME: 3.667 seconds (Phoenix, 2017)
TOP SPEED: 335.73 MPH (Charlotte, 2022)
HE’S A RUNNER. HE’S A TRACK STAR.
Speed comes in many forms. Showcasing his athletic talents in a completely different sport, the fleet-footed Brown excelled at Mercer Junior College in his home state of New Jersey, registering a 10.3 second, 100-meter dash time. His success qualified him to compete in the U.S. Olympic trials and set him up for a full ride to Long Island University before he decided to opt out.
AN ALL-PRO NFL CORNERBACK GOT HIM INTO MOTORSPORTS
Troy Vincent, who also happens to be married to Brown’s cousin, brought him into the fold early. The future Philadelphia Eagles Hall-of-Famer started his very own racing team before he ever intercepted an NFL pass, recruiting him to ride Pro Stock Motorcycles and igniting a new career path for the eventual world champ. Though Vincent disbanded the team to focus fully on his football endeavors, Brown did notch 16 event titles.
Photo Credit: Antron Brown - Facebook
HE MADE THE SWITCH TO TOP FUEL IN 2008
A natural fit for the nitromethane-fueled dragster and funny car industry, Brown swiftly took to the full-throttle action, making a name for himself as a formidable driver and a championship contender. Turns out life at 300+ MPH has its perks.
3X
HE'S A 3-TIME NHRA WORLD CHAMPION
But you already knew that, didn’t you? He clocked his first championship back in 2012, while driving for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR), becoming the first African American driver to win a major US auto racing series championship. He added two more titles to his storied career in both 2015 and 2016.
HE WAS NAMED AUTOWEEK MAGAZINE’S ‘TOP
FUEL DRIVER OF
THE DECADE’
Earning the prestigious title in 2019, Brown was celebrated for his decade-long run of excellence behind the wheel. In addition to his three championships, Brown also logged 42 wins during this period, cementing himself in motorsports history and jumpstarting a legacy of lightning-fast reaction times and horse-powered highlight reels.
Photo Credit: Antron Brown - Facebook
HE FORMED HIS OWN TEAM IN 2020 WITH HIMSELF AS DRIVER/OWNER
AB Motorsports was first announced in 2020, but due to COVID-19, an official launch was delayed ‘til 2022. Making up for lost time, Brown quickly asserted himself as the driver and owner, taking with him the core crew from his long tenure at Don Schumacher Racing.
The team ended up ranking number two in the standings during their rookie season, giving Brown his 25th consecutive Top 10 finish.
Photo Credit: Antron Brown - Facebook
HE’S APPEARED ON SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOWS
From guest starring as an appraiser on the hit A&E reality show Storage Wars to instructing actor Idris Elba how to race on the aptly-titled Idris Elba: No Limits, Brown’s found
his way in front of the camera on multiple occasions.
Perhaps most famously, he stepped in as co-host of Top Gear America in 2017 alongside Tom Ford and William Fichtner on BBC America.
HE TEAMED UP WITH FIRE DEPT. COFFEE TO FILM POSSIBLY THE GREATEST GOVX COMMERCIAL YET
What happens when the coffee-slangin' crew meets the champ? Well, you’re just going to have to watch for yourself. Fire Dept. Coffee will also serve as the Official Coffee of the NHRA and as an AB Motorsports sponsor alongside GOVX.
DRIVING IS A FAMILY AFFAIR
The drive to win runs strong in the Brown family. His father, uncle, and grandfather first participated in drag racing in the 1960s. Brown has since passed this passion on to his own children, as his daughter Arianna and sons Anson and Adler have all hit the track over the years. In 2013, Anson even won six races as a rookie driver.