March 24, 2025 • 37 mins
Antron Brown is off to another solid start to an NHRA Top Fuel season, and we’ve got him fresh off a win to reflect and look ahead. Brown starts, however, with his takeaways from a visit to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for NASCAR racing and getting a different perspective in person; looking as good as a chocolate bar joke; the pedal fest at Gainesville where Brown won to start the season; explaining what pedaling the car is and the easiest mistake to make; what he learned about his team during a tough weekend; the boost of winning the first race of the season after ending the previous year as champions; how a team prepares for a new season after winning the championship; his optimism for a very competitive Top Fuel class; being up for a new challenge in competition; chasing prize money for being regular-season champion; the impending departure of Toyota from the sport and if a team can go without a manufacturer partner; the many hats of being a team owner; what keeps him going after decades of success of in the sport.
Original music created by Tony Monge.
Follow me here: https://linktr.ee/kellycrandall
Original music created by Tony Monge.
Follow me here: https://linktr.ee/kellycrandall
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey, everyone, welcome to the Racing Writers Podcast. I'm your host,
Kelly crandall. Our guest today is Antron Brown, the owner,
driver of AV Motorsports and NHA Top Fuel Competition. We're
catching up with Antron fresh off his win in Gainesville
to start the season, and then over this past weekend
he was eliminated in the second round in Phoenix, but
a solid start to the year. We're mostly going to
(00:28):
focus on Gainesville because that's when this conversation was recorded,
how that win played out, how that weekend played out,
and many different things that the teams had to adapt
through because it was just such a wacky weekend. Antron
also spent time recently at Las Vegas Motor Speedway catching
up with his NASCAR friends. We're going to talk about
that as well as just looking ahead to this twenty
(00:48):
twenty five season in NHARA Top Fuel Competition because he
is so optimistic of what type of season we're going
to see, how everyone is performing a new challenge with
the competition in this class right now, as well as
what a team goes through when they win a championship
and then prepare for a new season, how that carries
over trying to just continue doing the right thing. So
(01:10):
really insightful conversation. Antron is always entertaining, always full of information,
and I think you're going to enjoy this conversation because
of that. So let's jump into it. Here is Antron
Brown on the Racing Writers Podcast. Let's start Atron, what
(01:31):
you just said, because you're coming off of a weekend
spending some time in Vegas with us roundy round folks.
And I'm always curious when you go out and make
those appearances and get to see your Toyota teammates, what
do you get out of just going and visiting and
having fun. What are you really there to do?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Helpman, just to enjoy the race atmosphere. You know, I'm
always going crazy at my racetrack and focus on racing.
And so cool to see other people in their element
to see how they do it, would they do how
they get into it, and see the passion and drive
and to see who's got that want to And when
I was there, man, you could see the people that man,
they got that drive, brother, and those teams got that
(02:08):
drive and it was really really cool. Where Like it
was cool to see the people at the front. But
I've seen in NASCAR many times you got to be
in the right place at the right time. But the
ones that really were like driving their tail off. Man,
I saw Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson was like they
were going at it people. I mean I was watching
(02:29):
him after like you know, they came back in. They
were like midpack and they were working away all the
way back up to getting like close to the top ten.
I was like, these cats are driving. They're like they're
passing people like it's going out of style, you know
what I mean. And they were on it. And see
how close all those cars are wide open, and how
(02:50):
it's hard to make gains. It's hard to do different things,
like your car's gotta work a little bit better, and
you got to put yourself in the right position, the
right spot to make the passes and do the things
and and uh. And you could see when the other
certain people's cars work better than others and see how
they can navigate through that pack.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So it gives you a different perspective when you can
see it live and in person versus on TV, right,
because you can see the battles that maybe TV isn't
showing that drivers coming through the field. You mentioned Belle
and Larson they were having a heck of a battle midpack.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
They weren't even out the front yet, No, they weren't.
And uh and Larson he was way out front. But
it just shows you when you got to do your
strategy and do your mindset and your chest match right,
you get what I mean, Like, you got to make
the right moves at the right time. And when I
saw Larson was up front, when he was up front,
he was gapping the field. He was gap in the
(03:42):
field like he was like, all mean, I'm like, well,
if they don't have a restart, that joker stay out
front all day long, you know what I mean? And
then you saw, you know, and I saw the other
four go up there, and I saw I don't know
what happened to Bubba. I saw Bubba up there, and
he was in the top four for a long time.
And then some got mixed up on like when it
came in for or restarting or something happened that we
didn't see. I didn't see during a race where he
(04:04):
might have got into another car, another car got into
him and his car didn't run right where he was
just like just doing the laps at the end just
to stay on the same lap. And it's like it's
so much happening with so many different cars at certain times,
but there's so many good teams and U man, it's
it's unbelievable where I mean, anybody could win, and I
(04:25):
think that's what you got going on for NASCAR right now.
But Christopher Bell won those first three races of this year,
and I was just like, man, I was like, this
joker's on fire. And you could tell their team has
it going on because when he'd gotten the midpack with Larson,
you saw him and Larson going back and forth. We
actually passed Larson for a little bit, Larson got back
around him and then he stayed tane them, and then
(04:47):
Larson pulled away from him, but they were still passing
people through the whole field, and that was exciting for
me to see. I was like, this cat's going after it.
Look at it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, I'm glad you had a good time. It was
always good to see you. One more thing I wanted
to bring up from the weekend because you had all
of us in the media center just falling over laughing
when you made when you made this comment, so I
need to repeat it for folks who, of course didn't
hear it. You said, when's the last time you opened
chocolate bar? And it didn't look good talking about you,
of course, because the comment had been made that you
found the fountain of youth, because you still look as
(05:17):
good as when folks first saw you way back in
the early two thousands. So listen, my man. I need
to know how long you've been practicing that or you've
just been waiting to pull it out, because that came
out very quickly.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
The funniest part of it is is that Gill. You
gotta remember. It's like, I'm a man of many words
and I don't know. Sometimes I don't think about what
I'm want to say before I say, and I should
be a little bit more professional. But the funniest part
of it was real. They're sitting there and he just
queued it out. He chewed it up for me, cueued
it up for me. He goes, and tron if you remember,
(05:50):
he goes, I don't know what's happening, man, But I've
been knowing you now for twenty years and you haven't changed. Like,
I don't know what you got, what's got going on about?
I always think about, man, when you ever opened up
a chocolate bar and you look at it. When has
a chocolate bar ever looked bad to anybody? Tell me?
(06:11):
Tell me? Am I lying thinking, are you laughing right now?
I know? I know, and look, and I came to
my mind, like, what's the last time you ever opened
a chocolate bar didn't look good? And then I literally
gave it a little look on TV two. I guess
that looked like and I dropped the mic. I did
a mic drop after that. That's all I needed to say.
(06:31):
And then everybody in the media center was busting out laughing. Look,
that was the start of a good day. That was
a good day. It was.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
It was the perfect way to end it. It was
very much a mic drop a moment. So I got
a good kick out of that. Cody and I from
Toyota were laughing about it. Afterwards. I said, Cody, go
get your man. He's teed up now, he's just ready
to go. All right, So let's shift and talk about
what you've had going on. By the time this airs,
you may have won again. But let's rewind to Gainesville
(07:00):
coming out of there with a victory to start off
the year, and Tron first off of course, that was
kind of a messy Sunday there with a lot of
pedal fests, and that was a big topic of conversation.
I want you to break it down for me, what
is a for folks who don't know, a pedal fest
and kind of explain the motions to us and kind
of what you have to do to keep that car
(07:20):
going down the racetrack.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, the thing of it is is that when you
lose traction, So pedal fest is when you lose traction
and you have to actually pedal the top fuel car
to get it down the racetrack, so you lose traction.
And Gainesville brought that scenario to everybody except for Tony
start the first round. Well, actually, after we had an incident,
they came back and redid the racetrack and scraped all
(07:44):
the dead rubber off of it and prepped it even
harder and better and over prepped it so the other
cars can make it down. So the last several pair
of top fuel got to get a prep track and
that's when you start seeing them run mid seventies. But
before that, like the first few pair, we didn't have
a chance. We didn't have a chance at all, and
we were a fourth payer going up and we went
(08:05):
up there, every car was losing traction. And when it
went out there about one hundred feet the car started
spinning or started shaking. And when it did that, they
had to figure out how to apply it and get
it down the racetrack. And uh. And for me, I
went in with my mind sets, I'm up the pedal
this race car, I gotta get ready for this. So
for me that that's just showing your skill set of
(08:25):
what you're going to have to do. And when my
car lost traction against Krysta Baldwin, I heard her on
and off the gas as I was applying mine, and
I had to tell myself, hey, I got to be
smooth on this pedal. So I was trying to be
really smooth. So I just cracked it open and just
really just rolled into the gas and I wasn't not
full throttle until I got the half track and uh,
(08:47):
and that that took a little bit of doing, because
the thing about is when you're in that mindset of
that battle, you're trying to get back on it quick
as possibly. Figure. If you get on it really quick,
you're on it quicker than the other person. Get to
the other end quicker. But what happened is that it
doesn't happen that way. It makes your car spin the
tires again, makes it jump off the ground, makes you
do all kinds of different things. And you got to
be very fluent in getting on the pedal to get
(09:09):
it down the ranks track. And that's what took to
get the job done. So that's a pedaling deal where
you have to be very smooth on the pedal. It's
kind of like a dirt tracker on a really slippery surface.
You got to kind of feather into the throttle. You
just can't go like wide open goes well, or the
car will just kick out and do something stupid. You
(09:29):
got to roll into the gas smooth. And that's the
approach I took on that.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Is that the easiest mistake to fall into as a
driver wanting to get back on the gas too quickly.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yes, And I speak from experience because I used to
do that a lot, because I was too quick, too
quick to react to it like I'll get off and
get back on it. Where you have to get off
and be patient to get back in it. And you
have to tell yourself that this time I was preparing
myself going in, I said, all right, we got to
be easy when it comes up on the gas to
roll back into it.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
When I was looking and watching Gainesville, it just seemed
like the weekend was kind of just JINXD from the
start or curse from the start, right, I mean Friday.
Friday wasn't so bad. There was a little bit delays
with Funny Car because Austin PROC had an issue. Saturday
was a washout. Sunday the first round issues with the
racetrack as you were talking about, then the power went
off when y'all were getting ready to start again. What
(10:22):
did a weekend like that, between everything that teams had
to adapt to with what was going on out of
y'all's control, and then coming in first race of the season,
what did that weekend and trying you think teach you
about your race team or show you about your race team.
Going through all of that and coming out with a victory.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Well, it shows how versatile my race team is, and
it shows me how strong our senior people are, like
Brian Karate who's the crew chief of the car, Brad Mason,
which is his right hand man, and then Chris Watson,
our car chief on a car working with all of
our Macu Lucas little boys that they were just resilient.
They never quit. And we had some moments when we
(11:05):
came back from runs that we had some parts failure too,
that we had to change the engine block because we
pulled a side stud out of the main and then
we actually pulled the threads out and we put the
side bolt in for the main cap. And then we're
almost all we done on our service and we had
to take that block out put another block in. Then
we had another deal. We came up. We tried to
(11:26):
fire the car up and the car wouldn't fire up
because we lost a coil. A coil and the trigger
was banned on the car, so we had to replace
the coils and the triggers on a car to get
that done. So and then we just made it up there.
And that was the semi final matchup against Steve Tarrant,
who gave us all the time in the world, and
our hats go off to that team because they wanted
to raise somebody and we gave the time and we
(11:47):
still made it on time, but man, it was really
really close. I came up in stage lanes already strapped
in the car ready to go down to the racetrack.
So when you go through that, it starts teaching you
and going Man. I got a team that's built the lag.
I got a team that can weather the store and
to come out. And that's what it takes to win
these races. Like you, you have to adapt to every
situation and you have to be versatile to take what
(12:10):
comes your way. And I'm very blessed to be on
a team that's that that's capable of doing that, a
team that has that no quid attitude and that doesn't
break in high pressure situations. That we were able to
rise to the occasion. And I think that was what
helped us win the championship in twenty twenty four, is
because we were that team that was able to do
(12:30):
that in Pomona. Because Pomona we have the same similar
circumstances that happened to us with whether we didn't get
all the qualifying runs, the track was in turmoil and
we had to get through and then shoot you or there.
We even had a plane crash, We had a playing
crash that was right before me and just Nashalie. Before
just Nationalie and myself raced so that's a lot going
on a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
You're rare it is. It's a lot. And your race team,
as you said, you guys have have gone through a lot,
You've won a lot, You've had the highs and lows
to end the year for as you just said, as
champions on a high note, to then come into twenty
twenty five and win right off the bat, what kind
of confidence are shot in the arm is that for
a race team to show, Okay, what we're doing is
(13:13):
carrying over. We're still making the right decisions. Everything we
did from championship to winner to the first race, we're
on the right path.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
You know it make it makes you feel good like
it is like when you when you're seeing all that
come to fruition. This is because this is your game plan.
This is what you set out to do. This is
this is the path you want all your people and
your personnel to be on. Is to have that mindset
and to see it come to fruition. Even on the
off season, hearing our crew chief Brian Karate saying, Hey,
(13:42):
we're gonna work on making this thing quicker. We're gonna
work on making this thing where we could be the
number one qualifier we're gonna work on getting that strategy
down because he has it. I mean, he's always been
one of the best racers period out there when it
comes to race data strategy, you know what I mean.
Like Brian Karate's kind of like the NASCAR, Like we're
always in race mode even when we're qualifying. And when
(14:02):
you're qualifying, sometimes those runs that you throw out are
not the runs you're gonna use on race day, you
get what I mean, Like when you go out there
and run three sixty three, three sixty four, three sixty five,
you're not necessarily gonna run out on race day. You're
gonna if if it's the sixty five, you're gonna probably
run a race mode where you're gonna run at sixty seven.
Because when you run those crazy ets, they don't make
(14:24):
it down the racetrack, you know what I mean. They
can either go or not go. And you want to run,
that's gonna go the best run you can put forth
and when we're and that's what we do all the time.
And now this year he goes he's gonna last, heir
out a little bit, It's gonna let it fly a
little bit, you know what I mean. So I get
excited about that. But the thing about is you gotta
know when to pull it back and still be able
to race. And that's what Rian Karanney knows how to do.
(14:44):
He knows how to do that for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Okay, so that's a good segue because what I wanted
to ask next was when a team wins a championship
one year. From the outside, looking in our US couch
crew chiefs would probably sit here and say, well, don't
touch anything.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
What you did worked.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
But I'm sure, of course on the inside that's not
how it works, right. You don't just stay content and
stagnant going from season to season. So coming off a
championship year, I think you were just touching on it
there with what you said about Brian, what has been
the focus after you win a championship and you get
ready for a new season. What's been the focus for
this race team now? Of okay, how do we keep
this going and do new year?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Our main focus is how do you do it better?
You're always looking on how to do it better. And
the thing about it is there are cars that were
outperforming us, like running quicker than this, and the thinking
about it is you want to be on that same
competitive path. You want to be able to be the
quickest at times, and you want to be able to
be in the top three at times. And right now
I'm going to give you a prime example. Look at Gainesville.
(15:42):
The number eight qualifier was a sixty nine with an
eight or seven or nine or something like that, and
we were number one with a sixty eight with a five, right,
And when you look at it, you're like, man, you've
got eight cars separated less than fifteen thousands of a second.
You know what I mean. That's mind bogg when where
you know, you go in and you go, all right, well,
(16:03):
now we're all on the same playing field. But it's
it's the team that wins with the best package. So
you have to have a car that performs well. You
got to have a crew that can put it together.
We go up there and repeat and do those runs
over and over again without problems happening. And then you
have to have a driver that keeps in the groove,
that leaves on time, that gets the most out there,
that doesn't take away from the car, because the cars
(16:25):
can go out there and run when it set the run.
But then you the only thing you could do is
just slow it down by driving it all over the
place or getting it out the groove and doing doing
stuff that way. So you've got to have the full
package now to get the job done. And that's one
thing that lean on my team about is that we
have that and and you got to have all of
us have to show up every time to get the
(16:46):
job done. So when I'm looking back and seeing what
we've done on the off season, have we prepared for it? Yes,
we've been doing the necessary changes. But the thing about
it is it's so awesome to see it come to
life because you have a plan, but the play and
sometimes always don't go the way you wanted to go.
And it did it when we were testing in that
Pro Race deal down in Brandon and Florida or Pro
(17:08):
shootout with Pro and we pulled our other car out
the trailer and we still went for it and we
went out there a QUI flight number one. There we
went to sixty four with a four and that was
an early shut off run. I shut off at eight
hundred and seventy feet of the run. That car is
going to run at sixty three. So when you see that,
that's pretty special. That's very very special. And now we
know that we have a deal that we can run
(17:29):
with anybody and everybody out there.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
You sat down and had chatted with Brian Loans after
the Gainesville win, and one of the comments you made
Aron that I wanted to ask you to expand upon
that got my attention was you had told Loans that
this year is going to be off the chains in
top fuel. So what are you seeing or what are
you getting from the vibe so far from the pro
race and then from Gainesville that has you so optimistic
(17:52):
of the competition we're going to see in that class
this year.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
It's just seeing how well everybody's running and how determined
everybody is, Like everybody went back home and did work,
you know what I mean. And Steve Tars came out there.
Look what you saw from him this race last year?
He had a really good car and uh and Steve,
like you know at some races last year he wasn't himself.
He was cutting eighties and seventy lights. Steve Tars never
(18:19):
cuts eighties and seventy lights. He's a he's a fifty
to forty light cutter, you fool, what I mean? In
this race here in Gainesville, Steve was cutting forty lights.
You get what I mean, Like he was on a forty.
He was on it. He cut a forty two against
me or forty four, and I cut a thirty four
like like we were on it. Because we're bringing that
(18:39):
mode back. It's like people are not talking about winning
no more. They're doing the deals to come out to win.
And look at the Colleta cars. Look at Sean Langdon,
look at look at Doug Kaletta, look at Britney Force,
Britney Forth coming out there throwing out runs. I mean
pro shoot out run. She went three hundred and two
mile an hour when three sixty four or something like that,
but went like three hundred and two mile hour a
half track. I mean out there now like everybody's out there,
(19:02):
like justin Ashley's back where he was at from before,
you know what I mean. So you're gonna see so
many cars, Clay Milliken, so many teams out there is
doing their work, man, and I'm just looking at them,
just like good Lord is. Like Tony Stewart's cars come around,
he went to the semifinals. They're racing well, but they
seed to work on their qualifying stance. You get what
(19:24):
I mean, and their car is just as fast as
anybody on any given time when they step up the
plate and he's doing the job or driving it. So
when I'm looking at the class as a whole and
seeing where everybody's at, it's like, you gotta step your
game up and you're gonna start seeing what people are
made of because this class is gonna start pushing people
to doing things they don't normally do. You're gonna start
seeing red lights, You're gonna start seeing people smoke the
(19:46):
tires because they're pushing it too hard. It's gonna push
us to a different realm and it's gonna be so exciting,
not just for the fans, but for me as a
racer to see it because I'm gonna be in it,
you get what I mean, and knowing what we have
to do and how we have to do it, and
I'm coming out with like a new stance on all this,
you know what I mean, And it's got me rejuvenated
(20:06):
and I'm lit up to come out there and bring
some and bring some drome out there.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Well, that was gonna be my next question. It seems
like you're excited about having kind of a new challenge.
I mean, you've been Andreinia, You've been doing this for
a long time, right, and you've experienced and come up against,
you know, many different competition. But it seems like, as
you said when you use the word rejuvenate, that you're
excited by the fact of Okay, this is going to
be a new type of class and challenge this year.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yes, because you're going to see how people handle different situations.
And for me, I love it. I love competition. I
thrive on competition. The rougher, the tougher it is, I
love it. I love it. Like. The thing about it
is is that it pushes me and makes me want
to step up on the pedal harder. It makes me
(20:56):
want to get up on the chip a little bit more.
It's like it takes me out of mindset that I
have stuff to lose. I don't have nothing to lose now.
All I have is the game because it's so stiff.
It's like you go out there, you go, I ain't
worried about messing up. I gotta give it all I
can get it, because if I don't give it all
I could get, I ain't gonna get nothing, you know
what I mean. And and the thing about it is
you're going to see who's the hungriest and who can
(21:16):
sustain it and who can run this marathon race, especially
with the new way the points system is. We have
a normal season champion now like we have a regular
season champion that's crowned at the US Nationals. Now, we
gotta fight for that. We want that, you know what
I mean. And then if you get that, you want
to set up and do you got to go for
(21:37):
the last six you know what I mean, for the
for the world championship where all the money's paid out.
So so we have so much stuff going for us
now and I'm just thrilled to have it and be
a part of it. All right.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
See, you're such a professional, you're not just a driver.
But you're setting up my next questions along the way
because over the weekend I'd asked you about that regular
season championship that you all are chasing. Now it comes
with some extra money, and I know Andron the team owner,
you all about getting some money, right, you gotta pay
for these cars now. So I wanted to bring that
to the podcast. Well, I wanted to just bring that
(22:09):
to the podcast well that they let the audience hear
about what your answer was about trying to trying to
chase that prize money.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Well, this is the thing you gotta realize, is that
every it takes money to feed these things. And needless
to say is that, like our race, winds are not
just bonuses that help feeds the kids, you know what
I mean, because they love that bonus money. Everybody loves
that bonus money. And I love it too. I love
(22:37):
it too. And I tell people one thing about is
Jackie on our team, Brian's why she always tells us
she goes, stay humble and stay hungry. When you're humble,
you stay hungry. And uh, and we're very, very hungry.
And every time I look at those things, those those tropes.
I love the trophies, but we look at those checks. Boy,
I tell you what, boy, that's lunch money. That's lunch money.
(23:00):
That is the difference of going to like Subway and
then going to Chick fil a, which one you want,
you know what I mean? So like at the end
of the day, we want to get some steak, you
know what I mean? And uh, And I tell all
of our peeps that we got to work hard on that.
We gotta work hard on that. And Uh, it's up
there and who wants it the most. That's why I
(23:23):
tell everybody old time, who wants it the most, You're
gonna show it down on the race track. You ain't
gonna talk about it, You're gonna be about it. And Uh,
that's one thing I love about us is that we
put our head down and it's gonna be rough and
tough this year. I'm telling you, when I'm telling you
is that That's what I get excited about, is that
we're gonna have a challenge daddy, Like we got the
car win loser drawing that final on Games deal from Langdon.
(23:44):
If Langdon would have beat us, or we would have
beat him and we had that type of race, you
get out and just shake your head, say that was
a race that we meet Langdon and I were excited
because we're racers at heart. And if you would have
beat me the same way that we beat him, I
would have been just as thrilled and excited because we
put up a good shot and we just lost. You
get what I mean is nothing to hold your head
(24:04):
down about. Is he was forty on a tree and
he ran sixty eight. I guarantee you if you would
have told me that in a file, that's what we
would have ran. I would have told you were winning
this race. If I were in the sixty and I
could have forty light, we're going to win this race.
And I mean, and that's what they threw up. I mean,
that's what they threw out there, and we threw the
same thing out there. It's just our package was just
a little bit better, you know what I mean. And
(24:25):
that's what made that race so great is that we
just threw up our package. It was a little bit better.
And uh, I think that's what you're gonna see this
whole race season, is that if you throw those type
of package out that you still have a chance to
win and lose. So I'm looking at it this year here.
I'm just going through it. We're just going through everything
we have out there and see what we can see
what we can end up with.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Toyota announced coming into the year this is going to
be their last in NHA competition, which I think took
a lot of people by surprise. They've been around for
so long. For you, Anton, who's been an nhr A
partner for quite a while, now, what does that mean
for the future of your team? And what do you
think it just means for the future of NHR losing
such a partner like that he's been so involved in
the sport.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Well, I think from a manufacturer standpoint is that for me,
I don't want to see them go. I want Toyte
to stay. I'm like, where you go, don't go. But
from mansfactorer standpoints, you have new regimes that come in
and they go different directions and they and they come
and go no different than when like Mopar has done
in the past, Chevy has done in the past. You
(25:29):
even see it a NASCAR. You see the IndyCar. Toota
used to be over an IndyCar. Then you know they
used to be over in F one and they come
and they changed their marketing directions and there's all marketing
directions on what they want to do. The sad part
is that you see that over the last year we
just got the Manufacturer Cup and out of all the
other forms of motorsport, we have won more races than
(25:51):
any other motorsports that Toto has been in the last
several years. We're like, we're the ones that are bringing
the trophies home and putting all their engineering and technology
the use, and I think that's very crucial. And they
have given us those benefits over all these years that
we're truly grateful for. So what that being said is
that hopefully uh is not a long stin away, is
(26:12):
that they end up going away and the and the
powers of BC and go man, we should never left,
you know what I mean? And and they come back
and uh, and that's another deal down the road. But
for us, we just got to keep keep our head down,
keep moving forward, and it's try to do the best
we can and see if we maybe we could bring
some new manufacturers to our support that's never been to
our support. And that's that's the thing, is getting some
(26:33):
new manufacturers in our sport. And uh. And I see
a NASCAR you guys gonna like it because Mo Parts,
Dodgers coming back in the truck Series, you know what
I mean. So they're they're swaying back over there a
little bit, and maybe we can get other people in
this sport. I don't know what the manufacturers are or
who it can be, but uh, but it's a lot
of opportunities, especially with all the great things that's around
(26:55):
the around the way that's coming into our sport. In
our series and uh and our fans are very very
loyal and you could tell by the parking lots when
you see them all pulling up with the vehicles that
they drive. But we'll see. I don't know what my
futures bring, Kelly, but maybe you could bring somebody on
your podcast and say, AB is a great representative and
I could drive anything. Hey, I could drive some skit steers.
(27:17):
I'm really good when land moving equipment.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
I wanted to ask that next of what you're kind
of saying there about Hey, you know, I don't know
what the future is. Can a team go without a
manufacturer partner? Obviously it's better if you have one, right
because of the resources they bring and the track side
support and all of the technology they help with. But
can a team go without if they had to, it'd
(27:42):
probably be harder, I'm assuming.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
I mean it's definitely harder. You have to do other
things and bring up other engineering backgrounds to you to
help you out on your standpoint. Yes, I mean there's
teams out there that do it. Now, you know, there's
teams out there that don't have back as they have
local car dealerships and stuff like that they give them
support vehicles and stuff like that. But that's not the
deal that really really helps you out, you know what
I mean, that gets you from A to B across
(28:05):
the country. What really really helps you out is the
engineering support on the arrow packages to the finite annalyncing,
testing on like parts and different pieces and stuff like that.
That can actually make you better is all the small
things that adds up on the engineering standpoint side that
helps your car be more reliable and more efficient, That
(28:26):
helps you with the races. And that's the stuff that
the TRD program has bought to us over for many,
many media years. And that's the part that you have
to that you want to replenish and replace and you
don't want to you want to be just as good
or better. And you got to look at who has
that and who could supply to help you with that.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Okay, I appreciate that answer. A couple more things for
antroon before I let you go. Antron the team owner.
Things are going well on the top fuel side. There's
been talks about eventual expansion, right every team's looking at,
you know, can we bring in more drivers, more funding.
You've got the A fuel stuff going well with Angel
it seems like, and I know she's having a blast
(29:05):
doing that. Anson continues to just man, he's coming right along, right,
I mean, he's just taking those those next steps. So
Anton the team owner, how are things for you of
splitting your time looking at all the pieces you need
to look in that regard of you know, what's going
on Angel, helping her, keeping an eye on Anson, what's
going on Anson? And then again just the having also
(29:28):
have an eye on the future. You got a lot
of got a lot of hats you gotta wear there.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
I know it's it's it's going crazy. And and also, uh,
we took on the out of part this year too,
is my daughter is doing is under antson now and
she's coming and doing some uh doing some bracket racing
and doing some super comp racing at some national events
too this year. So we just got to get her
in the car and get her feet what she's got
her liking for it already. So we have all that
(29:52):
stuff going on and it's just man, it doesn't stop.
And uh, but you know that's what drives me. I'm
not gonna lie to you. Uh, it's good to see
them grow. And I tell people and people go abe
when you're gonna rest. When When are you going to
slow down? When are you going to stop? Or I'm
not I'm gonna do that one day when I can't
do nothing no more, you know what I mean? The
(30:14):
Good Lord says, your wrest will be there when you
can't open your eyes no more. So until I can't
open my eyes, that's when I'll rest. And I'm gonna
keep on pouring my heart and my soul into the
people that are around me and into the sport that
I love and uh and I just love it. And
it's just so awesome to see everybody grow and achieve
what they want to achieve. And if I could see
(30:34):
them hold some some trophies up, that's a win. And
when they win the championship, that's gonna be my biggest
accolade I think ever is when I see like like
somebody that upcoming, if I can ever see angel hoist
up a top fuel trophy, if I can see Antson
win the world championship and hoist up a top fuel
trophy one day, or my daughter drive as long as
(30:57):
she wants to drive or what she wants to do,
or maybe it's her like she's in the background, everybody
is sleeping on her and she does what she wants
to do, or anybody else that I bring up through
the AB Accelerate program and see like Sean Reid, that
was awesome to see him win that Pro shootout race
because he's underneath for AB Accelerate program, but it's going
to be awesome. I get to see him win his
first NHRAE trophy, his Ntra Wally, that is going to
(31:21):
be the ultimate feeling go and feel like I did
a slam dump and like I just we just wanted
World Championship inside of itself, because I think that's one
thing that I really thrive on, is just being able
to help other people and give them opportunity to achieve
the things that they want to achieve.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Did you ever think you would be the driver that
folks are now going to as a mentor. You had
plenty of those along the way, but now you are
that guy to someone else. Did you ever you ever
think the tables would turn like that?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Well? I always thought that you have to give back,
and I've been helping people before people even knew I
was helping people like just Nash have been with Justin
ever since the step of Away you know what I mean.
When I forgot an a fuel car, I helped him
get into a top fuel car and was there for Himan.
My crew chief Brian Karate looks at him as being
like his little nephew too, you know what I mean,
Like like we're really close to that, to the Ashley family,
(32:15):
and to help justin achieve the things that he's achieved,
and he's done it on his own. The kids are
natural adit. To be honest with you, I wish everybody
could be that, you could take credit for somebody being
so great, But I can't because the kid's just that good,
you know what I mean, And he's a student to
the game. But to be a part of stuff like
that makes you feel so good, you know. And I
(32:37):
just love being a part of stuff like that. You know,
it makes you feel good inside because you get to
give back from what people have given you.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, all right, laugh. Thing for you, Antron is you
were kind of touching on this of what you love
so much right now? What's driving you? I wanted to
ask that to wrap this up, what's the biggest thing?
After four championships in Top Fuel at least four championships,
all these wins. How long you've been doing this, what's
the biggest thing that keeps you coming back for more?
(33:03):
Or is it something that you still haven't accomplished that
we don't know about yet. No.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
I think for one thing is being part of history,
is making more history, you know what I mean? What
drives you is the people that's in front of you
is the people that's chasing Tony Schumacher's in front of
me for the winning this top fuel driver of all time.
He's got eighty eight wins. We've got sixty five, you
know what I mean. So he's still quite a ways
ahead of us. That's twenty three more wins. But the
(33:31):
thing about it is I'm not stopping and h and
he's still racing. He's still active drivers, so he can
make it very tough to catch, you know what I mean.
And but for me, I'm not stopping and I love it,
and I think would I think what drives me is
that we won four championships. But what drives me is
(33:54):
is if I can do it again, That's what drives me.
And uh, I don't stop. And when we got beat down,
we fell short. Our last championship was in twenty sixteen.
We came close in seventeen, we came close again in
like twenty twenty two, We came close in other years
(34:14):
and then, but it just doesn't stop, you know what
I mean. We've got another one. And the thing about
is what's ahead of us is can we do it again?
And only we can answer that question. And that's what
I like about it, all right.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
The drive for five is alive. As we've used that
slogan and Nascar. I'll let you have it, the drive
for five, the drive for five and trying. I always
enjoy getting to chat with you. That's right. You need
one for the thumb. That's another expression I've heard too, Right,
one for the thumb.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
So there, Yeah, that's it, that's it, that's it all right.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
I always enjoyed getting a chat with you. It's good
to see you over the weekend. I'm sure I'll see
you again soon. But appreciate all the time as always,
and good luck. Like I said, by time this drops,
maybe you'll have won some more. So just keep it right.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I hope, so, Kelly, I hope, so, I hope, I
hope I get to come back on again.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
You are always welcome, my friend. If you keep winning
you'll just have to keep coming back. Maybe it'll be like,
you know, a little good luck charm.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
I love it. I love it. Well, thank you so
much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
All Right, there we have it. Let's wrap up this
conversation with another thank you to Antron for coming on
the show, return guests to the podcast. He was back on. Gosh,
it's been a couple of years now, but I always
enjoy catching up with Antron. We have a lot of fun.
He is one of the greatest personalities I think in
all of motorsports, So always appreciating getting to spend time
with him, his insight, his outlook on racing and on life,
(35:41):
just as I said, a great personality. So thank you
Antron for coming on my thanks as well to Ali
McCormick for coordinating and getting this on the calendar. Antron
one Gainsville, as you heard us talk about, was eliminated
in the second round at Phoenix over the weekend where
he qualified fourth. Now the attention shifts to be back
in action this weekend. NHA moves to Pomona for their
(36:04):
third race of the season, and Antron, we'll be back
in action, so you can catch that coming up soon.
If you enjoyed the conversation, please leave a rating and review.
Appreciate all the feedback. Appreciate you clicking and listening downloading
each week. The support has been tremendous, so please leave
a rating and review, click the follow button, click the
subscribe button. However you are listening to this podcast, don't forget.
(36:27):
You can also go to social media. My handle is
at Kelly crandall on x on Facebook, on Instagram, very
easy to find me there. You can also find me
on LinkedIn, blue Sky, and just on many different platforms.
So I appreciate all the feedback and engagement that comes
with the conversation with the podcast, and I again thank
you for clicking and listening every week. So with that,
(36:50):
we're going to close down this episode. Next week we're
going to have a truly fascinating conversation with a legend
in motorsports. Lynda Saint James is coming to the podcast,
and gosh, we sat down for about forty five minutes
and you just throw a question at Lynn and she's
gonna give you just tremendous insights. So we're gonna dig
into the world of motorsports female and motorsports women in motorsports,
North America, and everything in that regard next week right
(37:13):
here on the Racing Writers Podcast.
Hey, everyone, welcome to the Racing Writers Podcast. I'm your host,
Kelly crandall. Our guest today is Antron Brown, the owner,
driver of AV Motorsports and NHA Top Fuel Competition. We're
catching up with Antron fresh off his win in Gainesville
to start the season, and then over this past weekend
he was eliminated in the second round in Phoenix, but
a solid start to the year. We're mostly going to
(00:28):
focus on Gainesville because that's when this conversation was recorded,
how that win played out, how that weekend played out,
and many different things that the teams had to adapt
through because it was just such a wacky weekend. Antron
also spent time recently at Las Vegas Motor Speedway catching
up with his NASCAR friends. We're going to talk about
that as well as just looking ahead to this twenty
(00:48):
twenty five season in NHARA Top Fuel Competition because he
is so optimistic of what type of season we're going
to see, how everyone is performing a new challenge with
the competition in this class right now, as well as
what a team goes through when they win a championship
and then prepare for a new season, how that carries
over trying to just continue doing the right thing. So
(01:10):
really insightful conversation. Antron is always entertaining, always full of information,
and I think you're going to enjoy this conversation because
of that. So let's jump into it. Here is Antron
Brown on the Racing Writers Podcast. Let's start Atron, what
(01:31):
you just said, because you're coming off of a weekend
spending some time in Vegas with us roundy round folks.
And I'm always curious when you go out and make
those appearances and get to see your Toyota teammates, what
do you get out of just going and visiting and
having fun. What are you really there to do?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Helpman, just to enjoy the race atmosphere. You know, I'm
always going crazy at my racetrack and focus on racing.
And so cool to see other people in their element
to see how they do it, would they do how
they get into it, and see the passion and drive
and to see who's got that want to And when
I was there, man, you could see the people that man,
they got that drive, brother, and those teams got that
(02:08):
drive and it was really really cool. Where Like it
was cool to see the people at the front. But
I've seen in NASCAR many times you got to be
in the right place at the right time. But the
ones that really were like driving their tail off. Man,
I saw Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson was like they
were going at it people. I mean I was watching
(02:29):
him after like you know, they came back in. They
were like midpack and they were working away all the
way back up to getting like close to the top ten.
I was like, these cats are driving. They're like they're
passing people like it's going out of style, you know
what I mean. And they were on it. And see
how close all those cars are wide open, and how
(02:50):
it's hard to make gains. It's hard to do different things,
like your car's gotta work a little bit better, and
you got to put yourself in the right position, the
right spot to make the passes and do the things
and and uh. And you could see when the other
certain people's cars work better than others and see how
they can navigate through that pack.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So it gives you a different perspective when you can
see it live and in person versus on TV, right,
because you can see the battles that maybe TV isn't
showing that drivers coming through the field. You mentioned Belle
and Larson they were having a heck of a battle midpack.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
They weren't even out the front yet, No, they weren't.
And uh and Larson he was way out front. But
it just shows you when you got to do your
strategy and do your mindset and your chest match right,
you get what I mean, Like, you got to make
the right moves at the right time. And when I
saw Larson was up front, when he was up front,
he was gapping the field. He was gap in the
(03:42):
field like he was like, all mean, I'm like, well,
if they don't have a restart, that joker stay out
front all day long, you know what I mean? And
then you saw, you know, and I saw the other
four go up there, and I saw I don't know
what happened to Bubba. I saw Bubba up there, and
he was in the top four for a long time.
And then some got mixed up on like when it
came in for or restarting or something happened that we
didn't see. I didn't see during a race where he
(04:04):
might have got into another car, another car got into
him and his car didn't run right where he was
just like just doing the laps at the end just
to stay on the same lap. And it's like it's
so much happening with so many different cars at certain times,
but there's so many good teams and U man, it's
it's unbelievable where I mean, anybody could win, and I
(04:25):
think that's what you got going on for NASCAR right now.
But Christopher Bell won those first three races of this year,
and I was just like, man, I was like, this
joker's on fire. And you could tell their team has
it going on because when he'd gotten the midpack with Larson,
you saw him and Larson going back and forth. We
actually passed Larson for a little bit, Larson got back
around him and then he stayed tane them, and then
(04:47):
Larson pulled away from him, but they were still passing
people through the whole field, and that was exciting for
me to see. I was like, this cat's going after it.
Look at it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, I'm glad you had a good time. It was
always good to see you. One more thing I wanted
to bring up from the weekend because you had all
of us in the media center just falling over laughing
when you made when you made this comment, so I
need to repeat it for folks who, of course didn't
hear it. You said, when's the last time you opened
chocolate bar? And it didn't look good talking about you,
of course, because the comment had been made that you
found the fountain of youth, because you still look as
(05:17):
good as when folks first saw you way back in
the early two thousands. So listen, my man. I need
to know how long you've been practicing that or you've
just been waiting to pull it out, because that came
out very quickly.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
The funniest part of it is is that Gill. You
gotta remember. It's like, I'm a man of many words
and I don't know. Sometimes I don't think about what
I'm want to say before I say, and I should
be a little bit more professional. But the funniest part
of it was real. They're sitting there and he just
queued it out. He chewed it up for me, cueued
it up for me. He goes, and tron if you remember,
(05:50):
he goes, I don't know what's happening, man, But I've
been knowing you now for twenty years and you haven't changed. Like,
I don't know what you got, what's got going on about?
I always think about, man, when you ever opened up
a chocolate bar and you look at it. When has
a chocolate bar ever looked bad to anybody? Tell me?
(06:11):
Tell me? Am I lying thinking, are you laughing right now?
I know? I know, and look, and I came to
my mind, like, what's the last time you ever opened
a chocolate bar didn't look good? And then I literally
gave it a little look on TV two. I guess
that looked like and I dropped the mic. I did
a mic drop after that. That's all I needed to say.
(06:31):
And then everybody in the media center was busting out laughing. Look,
that was the start of a good day. That was
a good day. It was.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
It was the perfect way to end it. It was
very much a mic drop a moment. So I got
a good kick out of that. Cody and I from
Toyota were laughing about it. Afterwards. I said, Cody, go
get your man. He's teed up now, he's just ready
to go. All right, So let's shift and talk about
what you've had going on. By the time this airs,
you may have won again. But let's rewind to Gainesville
(07:00):
coming out of there with a victory to start off
the year, and Tron first off of course, that was
kind of a messy Sunday there with a lot of
pedal fests, and that was a big topic of conversation.
I want you to break it down for me, what
is a for folks who don't know, a pedal fest
and kind of explain the motions to us and kind
of what you have to do to keep that car
(07:20):
going down the racetrack.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, the thing of it is is that when you
lose traction, So pedal fest is when you lose traction
and you have to actually pedal the top fuel car
to get it down the racetrack, so you lose traction.
And Gainesville brought that scenario to everybody except for Tony
start the first round. Well, actually, after we had an incident,
they came back and redid the racetrack and scraped all
(07:44):
the dead rubber off of it and prepped it even
harder and better and over prepped it so the other
cars can make it down. So the last several pair
of top fuel got to get a prep track and
that's when you start seeing them run mid seventies. But
before that, like the first few pair, we didn't have
a chance. We didn't have a chance at all, and
we were a fourth payer going up and we went
(08:05):
up there, every car was losing traction. And when it
went out there about one hundred feet the car started
spinning or started shaking. And when it did that, they
had to figure out how to apply it and get
it down the racetrack. And uh. And for me, I
went in with my mind sets, I'm up the pedal
this race car, I gotta get ready for this. So
for me that that's just showing your skill set of
(08:25):
what you're going to have to do. And when my
car lost traction against Krysta Baldwin, I heard her on
and off the gas as I was applying mine, and
I had to tell myself, hey, I got to be
smooth on this pedal. So I was trying to be
really smooth. So I just cracked it open and just
really just rolled into the gas and I wasn't not
full throttle until I got the half track and uh,
(08:47):
and that that took a little bit of doing, because
the thing about is when you're in that mindset of
that battle, you're trying to get back on it quick
as possibly. Figure. If you get on it really quick,
you're on it quicker than the other person. Get to
the other end quicker. But what happened is that it
doesn't happen that way. It makes your car spin the
tires again, makes it jump off the ground, makes you
do all kinds of different things. And you got to
be very fluent in getting on the pedal to get
(09:09):
it down the ranks track. And that's what took to
get the job done. So that's a pedaling deal where
you have to be very smooth on the pedal. It's
kind of like a dirt tracker on a really slippery surface.
You got to kind of feather into the throttle. You
just can't go like wide open goes well, or the
car will just kick out and do something stupid. You
(09:29):
got to roll into the gas smooth. And that's the
approach I took on that.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Is that the easiest mistake to fall into as a
driver wanting to get back on the gas too quickly.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yes, And I speak from experience because I used to
do that a lot, because I was too quick, too
quick to react to it like I'll get off and
get back on it. Where you have to get off
and be patient to get back in it. And you
have to tell yourself that this time I was preparing
myself going in, I said, all right, we got to
be easy when it comes up on the gas to
roll back into it.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
When I was looking and watching Gainesville, it just seemed
like the weekend was kind of just JINXD from the
start or curse from the start, right, I mean Friday.
Friday wasn't so bad. There was a little bit delays
with Funny Car because Austin PROC had an issue. Saturday
was a washout. Sunday the first round issues with the
racetrack as you were talking about, then the power went
off when y'all were getting ready to start again. What
(10:22):
did a weekend like that, between everything that teams had
to adapt to with what was going on out of
y'all's control, and then coming in first race of the season,
what did that weekend and trying you think teach you
about your race team or show you about your race team.
Going through all of that and coming out with a victory.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Well, it shows how versatile my race team is, and
it shows me how strong our senior people are, like
Brian Karate who's the crew chief of the car, Brad Mason,
which is his right hand man, and then Chris Watson,
our car chief on a car working with all of
our Macu Lucas little boys that they were just resilient.
They never quit. And we had some moments when we
(11:05):
came back from runs that we had some parts failure too,
that we had to change the engine block because we
pulled a side stud out of the main and then
we actually pulled the threads out and we put the
side bolt in for the main cap. And then we're
almost all we done on our service and we had
to take that block out put another block in. Then
we had another deal. We came up. We tried to
(11:26):
fire the car up and the car wouldn't fire up
because we lost a coil. A coil and the trigger
was banned on the car, so we had to replace
the coils and the triggers on a car to get
that done. So and then we just made it up there.
And that was the semi final matchup against Steve Tarrant,
who gave us all the time in the world, and
our hats go off to that team because they wanted
to raise somebody and we gave the time and we
(11:47):
still made it on time, but man, it was really
really close. I came up in stage lanes already strapped
in the car ready to go down to the racetrack.
So when you go through that, it starts teaching you
and going Man. I got a team that's built the lag.
I got a team that can weather the store and
to come out. And that's what it takes to win
these races. Like you, you have to adapt to every
situation and you have to be versatile to take what
(12:10):
comes your way. And I'm very blessed to be on
a team that's that that's capable of doing that, a
team that has that no quid attitude and that doesn't
break in high pressure situations. That we were able to
rise to the occasion. And I think that was what
helped us win the championship in twenty twenty four, is
because we were that team that was able to do
(12:30):
that in Pomona. Because Pomona we have the same similar
circumstances that happened to us with whether we didn't get
all the qualifying runs, the track was in turmoil and
we had to get through and then shoot you or there.
We even had a plane crash, We had a playing
crash that was right before me and just Nashalie. Before
just Nationalie and myself raced so that's a lot going
on a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
You're rare it is. It's a lot. And your race team,
as you said, you guys have have gone through a lot,
You've won a lot, You've had the highs and lows
to end the year for as you just said, as
champions on a high note, to then come into twenty
twenty five and win right off the bat, what kind
of confidence are shot in the arm is that for
a race team to show, Okay, what we're doing is
(13:13):
carrying over. We're still making the right decisions. Everything we
did from championship to winner to the first race, we're
on the right path.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
You know it make it makes you feel good like
it is like when you when you're seeing all that
come to fruition. This is because this is your game plan.
This is what you set out to do. This is
this is the path you want all your people and
your personnel to be on. Is to have that mindset
and to see it come to fruition. Even on the
off season, hearing our crew chief Brian Karate saying, Hey,
(13:42):
we're gonna work on making this thing quicker. We're gonna
work on making this thing where we could be the
number one qualifier we're gonna work on getting that strategy
down because he has it. I mean, he's always been
one of the best racers period out there when it
comes to race data strategy, you know what I mean.
Like Brian Karate's kind of like the NASCAR, Like we're
always in race mode even when we're qualifying. And when
(14:02):
you're qualifying, sometimes those runs that you throw out are
not the runs you're gonna use on race day, you
get what I mean, Like when you go out there
and run three sixty three, three sixty four, three sixty five,
you're not necessarily gonna run out on race day. You're
gonna if if it's the sixty five, you're gonna probably
run a race mode where you're gonna run at sixty seven.
Because when you run those crazy ets, they don't make
(14:24):
it down the racetrack, you know what I mean. They
can either go or not go. And you want to run,
that's gonna go the best run you can put forth
and when we're and that's what we do all the time.
And now this year he goes he's gonna last, heir
out a little bit, It's gonna let it fly a
little bit, you know what I mean. So I get
excited about that. But the thing about is you gotta
know when to pull it back and still be able
to race. And that's what Rian Karanney knows how to do.
(14:44):
He knows how to do that for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Okay, so that's a good segue because what I wanted
to ask next was when a team wins a championship
one year. From the outside, looking in our US couch
crew chiefs would probably sit here and say, well, don't
touch anything.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
What you did worked.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
But I'm sure, of course on the inside that's not
how it works, right. You don't just stay content and
stagnant going from season to season. So coming off a
championship year, I think you were just touching on it
there with what you said about Brian, what has been
the focus after you win a championship and you get
ready for a new season. What's been the focus for
this race team now? Of okay, how do we keep
this going and do new year?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Our main focus is how do you do it better?
You're always looking on how to do it better. And
the thing about it is there are cars that were
outperforming us, like running quicker than this, and the thinking
about it is you want to be on that same
competitive path. You want to be able to be the
quickest at times, and you want to be able to
be in the top three at times. And right now
I'm going to give you a prime example. Look at Gainesville.
(15:42):
The number eight qualifier was a sixty nine with an
eight or seven or nine or something like that, and
we were number one with a sixty eight with a five, right,
And when you look at it, you're like, man, you've
got eight cars separated less than fifteen thousands of a second.
You know what I mean. That's mind bogg when where
you know, you go in and you go, all right, well,
(16:03):
now we're all on the same playing field. But it's
it's the team that wins with the best package. So
you have to have a car that performs well. You
got to have a crew that can put it together.
We go up there and repeat and do those runs
over and over again without problems happening. And then you
have to have a driver that keeps in the groove,
that leaves on time, that gets the most out there,
that doesn't take away from the car, because the cars
(16:25):
can go out there and run when it set the run.
But then you the only thing you could do is
just slow it down by driving it all over the
place or getting it out the groove and doing doing
stuff that way. So you've got to have the full
package now to get the job done. And that's one
thing that lean on my team about is that we
have that and and you got to have all of
us have to show up every time to get the
(16:46):
job done. So when I'm looking back and seeing what
we've done on the off season, have we prepared for it? Yes,
we've been doing the necessary changes. But the thing about
it is it's so awesome to see it come to
life because you have a plan, but the play and
sometimes always don't go the way you wanted to go.
And it did it when we were testing in that
Pro Race deal down in Brandon and Florida or Pro
(17:08):
shootout with Pro and we pulled our other car out
the trailer and we still went for it and we
went out there a QUI flight number one. There we
went to sixty four with a four and that was
an early shut off run. I shut off at eight
hundred and seventy feet of the run. That car is
going to run at sixty three. So when you see that,
that's pretty special. That's very very special. And now we
know that we have a deal that we can run
(17:29):
with anybody and everybody out there.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
You sat down and had chatted with Brian Loans after
the Gainesville win, and one of the comments you made
Aron that I wanted to ask you to expand upon
that got my attention was you had told Loans that
this year is going to be off the chains in
top fuel. So what are you seeing or what are
you getting from the vibe so far from the pro
race and then from Gainesville that has you so optimistic
(17:52):
of the competition we're going to see in that class
this year.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
It's just seeing how well everybody's running and how determined
everybody is, Like everybody went back home and did work,
you know what I mean. And Steve Tars came out there.
Look what you saw from him this race last year?
He had a really good car and uh and Steve,
like you know at some races last year he wasn't himself.
He was cutting eighties and seventy lights. Steve Tars never
(18:19):
cuts eighties and seventy lights. He's a he's a fifty
to forty light cutter, you fool, what I mean? In
this race here in Gainesville, Steve was cutting forty lights.
You get what I mean, Like he was on a forty.
He was on it. He cut a forty two against
me or forty four, and I cut a thirty four
like like we were on it. Because we're bringing that
(18:39):
mode back. It's like people are not talking about winning
no more. They're doing the deals to come out to win.
And look at the Colleta cars. Look at Sean Langdon,
look at look at Doug Kaletta, look at Britney Force,
Britney Forth coming out there throwing out runs. I mean
pro shoot out run. She went three hundred and two
mile an hour when three sixty four or something like that,
but went like three hundred and two mile hour a
half track. I mean out there now like everybody's out there,
(19:02):
like justin Ashley's back where he was at from before,
you know what I mean. So you're gonna see so
many cars, Clay Milliken, so many teams out there is
doing their work, man, and I'm just looking at them,
just like good Lord is. Like Tony Stewart's cars come around,
he went to the semifinals. They're racing well, but they
seed to work on their qualifying stance. You get what
(19:24):
I mean, and their car is just as fast as
anybody on any given time when they step up the
plate and he's doing the job or driving it. So
when I'm looking at the class as a whole and
seeing where everybody's at, it's like, you gotta step your
game up and you're gonna start seeing what people are
made of because this class is gonna start pushing people
to doing things they don't normally do. You're gonna start
seeing red lights, You're gonna start seeing people smoke the
(19:46):
tires because they're pushing it too hard. It's gonna push
us to a different realm and it's gonna be so exciting,
not just for the fans, but for me as a
racer to see it because I'm gonna be in it,
you get what I mean, and knowing what we have
to do and how we have to do it, and
I'm coming out with like a new stance on all this,
you know what I mean, And it's got me rejuvenated
(20:06):
and I'm lit up to come out there and bring
some and bring some drome out there.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Well, that was gonna be my next question. It seems
like you're excited about having kind of a new challenge.
I mean, you've been Andreinia, You've been doing this for
a long time, right, and you've experienced and come up against,
you know, many different competition. But it seems like, as
you said when you use the word rejuvenate, that you're
excited by the fact of Okay, this is going to
be a new type of class and challenge this year.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yes, because you're going to see how people handle different situations.
And for me, I love it. I love competition. I
thrive on competition. The rougher, the tougher it is, I
love it. I love it. Like. The thing about it
is is that it pushes me and makes me want
to step up on the pedal harder. It makes me
(20:56):
want to get up on the chip a little bit more.
It's like it takes me out of mindset that I
have stuff to lose. I don't have nothing to lose now.
All I have is the game because it's so stiff.
It's like you go out there, you go, I ain't
worried about messing up. I gotta give it all I
can get it, because if I don't give it all
I could get, I ain't gonna get nothing, you know
what I mean. And and the thing about it is
you're going to see who's the hungriest and who can
(21:16):
sustain it and who can run this marathon race, especially
with the new way the points system is. We have
a normal season champion now like we have a regular
season champion that's crowned at the US Nationals. Now, we
gotta fight for that. We want that, you know what
I mean. And then if you get that, you want
to set up and do you got to go for
(21:37):
the last six you know what I mean, for the
for the world championship where all the money's paid out.
So so we have so much stuff going for us
now and I'm just thrilled to have it and be
a part of it. All right.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
See, you're such a professional, you're not just a driver.
But you're setting up my next questions along the way
because over the weekend I'd asked you about that regular
season championship that you all are chasing. Now it comes
with some extra money, and I know Andron the team owner,
you all about getting some money, right, you gotta pay
for these cars now. So I wanted to bring that
to the podcast. Well, I wanted to just bring that
(22:09):
to the podcast well that they let the audience hear
about what your answer was about trying to trying to
chase that prize money.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Well, this is the thing you gotta realize, is that
every it takes money to feed these things. And needless
to say is that, like our race, winds are not
just bonuses that help feeds the kids, you know what
I mean, because they love that bonus money. Everybody loves
that bonus money. And I love it too. I love
(22:37):
it too. And I tell people one thing about is
Jackie on our team, Brian's why she always tells us
she goes, stay humble and stay hungry. When you're humble,
you stay hungry. And uh, and we're very, very hungry.
And every time I look at those things, those those tropes.
I love the trophies, but we look at those checks. Boy,
I tell you what, boy, that's lunch money. That's lunch money.
(23:00):
That is the difference of going to like Subway and
then going to Chick fil a, which one you want,
you know what I mean? So like at the end
of the day, we want to get some steak, you
know what I mean? And uh, And I tell all
of our peeps that we got to work hard on that.
We gotta work hard on that. And Uh, it's up
there and who wants it the most. That's why I
(23:23):
tell everybody old time, who wants it the most, You're
gonna show it down on the race track. You ain't
gonna talk about it, You're gonna be about it. And Uh,
that's one thing I love about us is that we
put our head down and it's gonna be rough and
tough this year. I'm telling you, when I'm telling you
is that That's what I get excited about, is that
we're gonna have a challenge daddy, Like we got the
car win loser drawing that final on Games deal from Langdon.
(23:44):
If Langdon would have beat us, or we would have
beat him and we had that type of race, you
get out and just shake your head, say that was
a race that we meet Langdon and I were excited
because we're racers at heart. And if you would have
beat me the same way that we beat him, I
would have been just as thrilled and excited because we
put up a good shot and we just lost. You
get what I mean is nothing to hold your head
(24:04):
down about. Is he was forty on a tree and
he ran sixty eight. I guarantee you if you would
have told me that in a file, that's what we
would have ran. I would have told you were winning
this race. If I were in the sixty and I
could have forty light, we're going to win this race.
And I mean, and that's what they threw up. I mean,
that's what they threw out there, and we threw the
same thing out there. It's just our package was just
a little bit better, you know what I mean. And
(24:25):
that's what made that race so great is that we
just threw up our package. It was a little bit better.
And uh, I think that's what you're gonna see this
whole race season, is that if you throw those type
of package out that you still have a chance to
win and lose. So I'm looking at it this year here.
I'm just going through it. We're just going through everything
we have out there and see what we can see
what we can end up with.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Toyota announced coming into the year this is going to
be their last in NHA competition, which I think took
a lot of people by surprise. They've been around for
so long. For you, Anton, who's been an nhr A
partner for quite a while, now, what does that mean
for the future of your team? And what do you
think it just means for the future of NHR losing
such a partner like that he's been so involved in
the sport.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Well, I think from a manufacturer standpoint is that for me,
I don't want to see them go. I want Toyte
to stay. I'm like, where you go, don't go. But
from mansfactorer standpoints, you have new regimes that come in
and they go different directions and they and they come
and go no different than when like Mopar has done
in the past, Chevy has done in the past. You
(25:29):
even see it a NASCAR. You see the IndyCar. Toota
used to be over an IndyCar. Then you know they
used to be over in F one and they come
and they changed their marketing directions and there's all marketing
directions on what they want to do. The sad part
is that you see that over the last year we
just got the Manufacturer Cup and out of all the
other forms of motorsport, we have won more races than
(25:51):
any other motorsports that Toto has been in the last
several years. We're like, we're the ones that are bringing
the trophies home and putting all their engineering and technology
the use, and I think that's very crucial. And they
have given us those benefits over all these years that
we're truly grateful for. So what that being said is
that hopefully uh is not a long stin away, is
(26:12):
that they end up going away and the and the
powers of BC and go man, we should never left,
you know what I mean? And and they come back
and uh, and that's another deal down the road. But
for us, we just got to keep keep our head down,
keep moving forward, and it's try to do the best
we can and see if we maybe we could bring
some new manufacturers to our support that's never been to
our support. And that's that's the thing, is getting some
(26:33):
new manufacturers in our sport. And uh. And I see
a NASCAR you guys gonna like it because Mo Parts,
Dodgers coming back in the truck Series, you know what
I mean. So they're they're swaying back over there a
little bit, and maybe we can get other people in
this sport. I don't know what the manufacturers are or
who it can be, but uh, but it's a lot
of opportunities, especially with all the great things that's around
(26:55):
the around the way that's coming into our sport. In
our series and uh and our fans are very very
loyal and you could tell by the parking lots when
you see them all pulling up with the vehicles that
they drive. But we'll see. I don't know what my
futures bring, Kelly, but maybe you could bring somebody on
your podcast and say, AB is a great representative and
I could drive anything. Hey, I could drive some skit steers.
(27:17):
I'm really good when land moving equipment.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
I wanted to ask that next of what you're kind
of saying there about Hey, you know, I don't know
what the future is. Can a team go without a
manufacturer partner? Obviously it's better if you have one, right
because of the resources they bring and the track side
support and all of the technology they help with. But
can a team go without if they had to, it'd
(27:42):
probably be harder, I'm assuming.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
I mean it's definitely harder. You have to do other
things and bring up other engineering backgrounds to you to
help you out on your standpoint. Yes, I mean there's
teams out there that do it. Now, you know, there's
teams out there that don't have back as they have
local car dealerships and stuff like that they give them
support vehicles and stuff like that. But that's not the
deal that really really helps you out, you know what
I mean, that gets you from A to B across
(28:05):
the country. What really really helps you out is the
engineering support on the arrow packages to the finite annalyncing,
testing on like parts and different pieces and stuff like that.
That can actually make you better is all the small
things that adds up on the engineering standpoint side that
helps your car be more reliable and more efficient, That
(28:26):
helps you with the races. And that's the stuff that
the TRD program has bought to us over for many,
many media years. And that's the part that you have
to that you want to replenish and replace and you
don't want to you want to be just as good
or better. And you got to look at who has
that and who could supply to help you with that.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Okay, I appreciate that answer. A couple more things for
antroon before I let you go. Antron the team owner.
Things are going well on the top fuel side. There's
been talks about eventual expansion, right every team's looking at,
you know, can we bring in more drivers, more funding.
You've got the A fuel stuff going well with Angel
it seems like, and I know she's having a blast
(29:05):
doing that. Anson continues to just man, he's coming right along, right,
I mean, he's just taking those those next steps. So
Anton the team owner, how are things for you of
splitting your time looking at all the pieces you need
to look in that regard of you know, what's going
on Angel, helping her, keeping an eye on Anson, what's
going on Anson? And then again just the having also
(29:28):
have an eye on the future. You got a lot
of got a lot of hats you gotta wear there.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
I know it's it's it's going crazy. And and also, uh,
we took on the out of part this year too,
is my daughter is doing is under antson now and
she's coming and doing some uh doing some bracket racing
and doing some super comp racing at some national events
too this year. So we just got to get her
in the car and get her feet what she's got
her liking for it already. So we have all that
(29:52):
stuff going on and it's just man, it doesn't stop.
And uh, but you know that's what drives me. I'm
not gonna lie to you. Uh, it's good to see
them grow. And I tell people and people go abe
when you're gonna rest. When When are you going to
slow down? When are you going to stop? Or I'm
not I'm gonna do that one day when I can't
do nothing no more, you know what I mean? The
(30:14):
Good Lord says, your wrest will be there when you
can't open your eyes no more. So until I can't
open my eyes, that's when I'll rest. And I'm gonna
keep on pouring my heart and my soul into the
people that are around me and into the sport that
I love and uh and I just love it. And
it's just so awesome to see everybody grow and achieve
what they want to achieve. And if I could see
(30:34):
them hold some some trophies up, that's a win. And
when they win the championship, that's gonna be my biggest
accolade I think ever is when I see like like
somebody that upcoming, if I can ever see angel hoist
up a top fuel trophy, if I can see Antson
win the world championship and hoist up a top fuel
trophy one day, or my daughter drive as long as
(30:57):
she wants to drive or what she wants to do,
or maybe it's her like she's in the background, everybody
is sleeping on her and she does what she wants
to do, or anybody else that I bring up through
the AB Accelerate program and see like Sean Reid, that
was awesome to see him win that Pro shootout race
because he's underneath for AB Accelerate program, but it's going
to be awesome. I get to see him win his
first NHRAE trophy, his Ntra Wally, that is going to
(31:21):
be the ultimate feeling go and feel like I did
a slam dump and like I just we just wanted
World Championship inside of itself, because I think that's one
thing that I really thrive on, is just being able
to help other people and give them opportunity to achieve
the things that they want to achieve.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Did you ever think you would be the driver that
folks are now going to as a mentor. You had
plenty of those along the way, but now you are
that guy to someone else. Did you ever you ever
think the tables would turn like that?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Well? I always thought that you have to give back,
and I've been helping people before people even knew I
was helping people like just Nash have been with Justin
ever since the step of Away you know what I mean.
When I forgot an a fuel car, I helped him
get into a top fuel car and was there for Himan.
My crew chief Brian Karate looks at him as being
like his little nephew too, you know what I mean,
Like like we're really close to that, to the Ashley family,
(32:15):
and to help justin achieve the things that he's achieved,
and he's done it on his own. The kids are
natural adit. To be honest with you, I wish everybody
could be that, you could take credit for somebody being
so great, But I can't because the kid's just that good,
you know what I mean, And he's a student to
the game. But to be a part of stuff like
that makes you feel so good, you know. And I
(32:37):
just love being a part of stuff like that. You know,
it makes you feel good inside because you get to
give back from what people have given you.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, all right, laugh. Thing for you, Antron is you
were kind of touching on this of what you love
so much right now? What's driving you? I wanted to
ask that to wrap this up, what's the biggest thing?
After four championships in Top Fuel at least four championships,
all these wins. How long you've been doing this, what's
the biggest thing that keeps you coming back for more?
(33:03):
Or is it something that you still haven't accomplished that
we don't know about yet. No.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
I think for one thing is being part of history,
is making more history, you know what I mean? What
drives you is the people that's in front of you
is the people that's chasing Tony Schumacher's in front of
me for the winning this top fuel driver of all time.
He's got eighty eight wins. We've got sixty five, you
know what I mean. So he's still quite a ways
ahead of us. That's twenty three more wins. But the
(33:31):
thing about it is I'm not stopping and h and
he's still racing. He's still active drivers, so he can
make it very tough to catch, you know what I mean.
And but for me, I'm not stopping and I love it,
and I think would I think what drives me is
that we won four championships. But what drives me is
(33:54):
is if I can do it again, That's what drives me.
And uh, I don't stop. And when we got beat down,
we fell short. Our last championship was in twenty sixteen.
We came close in seventeen, we came close again in
like twenty twenty two, We came close in other years
(34:14):
and then, but it just doesn't stop, you know what
I mean. We've got another one. And the thing about
is what's ahead of us is can we do it again?
And only we can answer that question. And that's what
I like about it, all right.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
The drive for five is alive. As we've used that
slogan and Nascar. I'll let you have it, the drive
for five, the drive for five and trying. I always
enjoy getting to chat with you. That's right. You need
one for the thumb. That's another expression I've heard too, Right,
one for the thumb.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
So there, Yeah, that's it, that's it, that's it all right.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
I always enjoyed getting a chat with you. It's good
to see you over the weekend. I'm sure I'll see
you again soon. But appreciate all the time as always,
and good luck. Like I said, by time this drops,
maybe you'll have won some more. So just keep it right.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I hope, so, Kelly, I hope, so, I hope, I
hope I get to come back on again.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
You are always welcome, my friend. If you keep winning
you'll just have to keep coming back. Maybe it'll be like,
you know, a little good luck charm.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
I love it. I love it. Well, thank you so
much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
All Right, there we have it. Let's wrap up this
conversation with another thank you to Antron for coming on
the show, return guests to the podcast. He was back on. Gosh,
it's been a couple of years now, but I always
enjoy catching up with Antron. We have a lot of fun.
He is one of the greatest personalities I think in
all of motorsports, So always appreciating getting to spend time
with him, his insight, his outlook on racing and on life,
(35:41):
just as I said, a great personality. So thank you
Antron for coming on my thanks as well to Ali
McCormick for coordinating and getting this on the calendar. Antron
one Gainsville, as you heard us talk about, was eliminated
in the second round at Phoenix over the weekend where
he qualified fourth. Now the attention shifts to be back
in action this weekend. NHA moves to Pomona for their
(36:04):
third race of the season, and Antron, we'll be back
in action, so you can catch that coming up soon.
If you enjoyed the conversation, please leave a rating and review.
Appreciate all the feedback. Appreciate you clicking and listening downloading
each week. The support has been tremendous, so please leave
a rating and review, click the follow button, click the
subscribe button. However you are listening to this podcast, don't forget.
(36:27):
You can also go to social media. My handle is
at Kelly crandall on x on Facebook, on Instagram, very
easy to find me there. You can also find me
on LinkedIn, blue Sky, and just on many different platforms.
So I appreciate all the feedback and engagement that comes
with the conversation with the podcast, and I again thank
you for clicking and listening every week. So with that,
(36:50):
we're going to close down this episode. Next week we're
going to have a truly fascinating conversation with a legend
in motorsports. Lynda Saint James is coming to the podcast,
and gosh, we sat down for about forty five minutes
and you just throw a question at Lynn and she's
gonna give you just tremendous insights. So we're gonna dig
into the world of motorsports female and motorsports women in motorsports,
North America, and everything in that regard next week right
(37:13):
here on the Racing Writers Podcast.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd is a thought-provoking, opinionated, and topic-driven journey through the top sports stories of the day.