Brown starts off the DSR pre-Brainerd report with a Visit to the St Louis Cardinals
BROWNSBURG, IN – Antron Brown had a few stops on his way to Brainerd International Raceway for this weekend’s NHRA Mello Yello event in northern Minnesota.
Last weekend, as a crew chief, he helped 8-year-old son Anson win his second NHRA Jr. Dragster title that puts him within the 37 Wally trophies won by his father.
While Anson was in school Tuesday, Dad headed to St. Louis for a media tour to promote the Sept. 27-29 Mello Yello event at Gateway Motorsports Park and capped the daytrip by going to that night’s Pittsburg Pirates-St. Louis Cardinals baseball game where he threw out the first pitch.
“It’s been a busy day but I love Gateway and I won there last year,” Brown said. “I would’ve liked to try to steal a base instead of throwing out a pitch but they wouldn’t let me show my speed.”
Brown will wait to show off his speed Friday when qualifying begins for the Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd where he was runner-up a year ago after winning the title in 2011. Before moving to Top Fuel dragsters in 2008, Brown won four Pro Stock Motorcycle titles at the track and is tied with Kenny Bernstein for the third most Mello Yello titles at five and one behind Joe Amato, who has six.
“It’s just special to be in the same sentence with those great drivers. But I don’t know if I’ll ever catch (John) Force,” Brown said of the Funny Car driver who has won 11 times at Brainerd.
But milestones aren’t as important to Brown as locking down a spot in the NHRA Countdown to the Champion six-race playoff, which is for the top-10 drivers after the U.S. Nationals in two weeks.
Brown, whose Matco Tools team with crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald has won two titles this season, is ranked fourth in points behind points leader Shawn Langdon of Al-Anabi Racing and Don Schumacher Racing teammates Tony Schumacher and Spencer Massey.
Last year after qualifying No. 2 at Brainerd, Brown advanced to the championship round where he lost to Morgan Lucas marking Brown’s sixth trip to the final round at the track about 130 miles northwest of the Twin Cities.
Beckman was given the key to the City of Norco, Calif., on Saturday during “Fast Jack Beckman Day” in the Southern California city where he lives with his wife, Jenna, and their two children.
It was the city’s way to honor Beckman for winning the 2012 NHRA Mello Yello Series Funny Car world championship and for his work as a national spokesman for the Chemotherapy: Myths or Facts campaign.
“It was a very nice day and I was able to see some old friends, but I’m not really the kind of person and likes that kind of attention,” Beckman said. “But I like the attention our team gets after we win. I still can’t believe we haven’t done that yet this season.”
Beckman, who will drive the Don Schumacher Hall of Fame Tribute Dodge Charger R/T this weekend at Brainerd International Raceway in northern Minnesota, has advanced to only one championship round this season after winning three titles a year ago.
He ranks seventh in championship points with two events remaining before only the top-10 drivers are qualified for the Countdown to the Championship. Beckman set Brainerd’s Funny Car elapsed time record a year ago when he won the pole with a time of 4.018 seconds before losing in the second round to Don Schumacher Racing teammate and current points leader Matt Hagan.
Beckman has yet to win a title at Brainerd and has a lot riding on this weekend’s outcome.
His lead over the No. 11 spot in the standings is a precarious 113 points so solid performances – if not a win – this weekend and at the U.S. Nationals two weeks later near Indianapolis are musts.
He and crew chief Todd Smith also are working toward qualifying for the $100,000 Traxxas Nitro Shootout all-star event held within the U.S. Nationals. The Shootout field of eight teams is for the first seven event titlists of the year along with the No. 8 contestant who will be selected by a fan vote between Brainerd and the U.S. Nationals.
Six drivers are qualified and the seventh will be the Brainerd winner if he or she has yet to win a title this season or will go to the driver without title in 2013 who is highest in points. According to the current standings, that would be Beckman.
– The Mello Yello drag racing community was stunned at the last event when Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car didn’t qualify for championship eliminations of the Northwest Nationals near Seattle.
The Don Schumacher Racing team had won the title six days earlier at Sonoma, Calif., but all teams, including Capps’, were tossed a wicked curveball when Friday’s two qualifying sessions at Pacific Raceways were rained out.
The NAPA team lost traction in the first of two sessions on the following day and were stunned when Capps almost immediately smoked the tires on his last try that left them ranked 17th for the 16-car eliminations field.
It didn’t take veteran crew chief Rahn Tobler very long to determine why the same car that qualified third and won the team’s second title of the season a week earlier could not get off the starting line.
“I wanted them to know what had happened. It didn’t take long once we looked at (computer) data,” Tobler said.
“I screwed up. I was entering a time (in the computer) for the clutch to go off and had the decimal point over by one number. Instead of a particular clutch timer going off at 1.86 seconds it was set to go off at 0.186. In effect, the clutch started to go two-tenths of a second into the run. The car can’t take clutch that early.
“It was important to me that our team knew we didn’t have any issues with the car and that we weren’t lost; that it doesn’t need anything fixed or changed. I wanted them to know right away that it was my fault, my screw up and that I entered the numbers wrong.
“Like anything else that might go wrong, whether they did it or I did it, what’s important is we make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
It was that latest example of why Capps has so much respect for Tobler.
“It’s easy to blame a lot of things, but it’s very special when the crew chief calls a meeting right after he realizes what happened to let us know everything is alright and he admits to having made a mistake.
“Our NAPA team didn’t race on Sunday but we were even closer after seeing our leader be a leader
“I’m relaxed, rejuvenated and just feeling good,” Hagan said of his vacation. “It’s been really cool to just spend some time with my family and do so much stuff that we’ve been missing out on. For me it was great to hit the reset button but still, you always think about racing.”
It’s hard not to, since the Rocky Boots/Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar Funny Car team led by crew chief Dickie Venables has earned four wins in six final round appearances through 16 NHRA events in 2013 and lead the NHRA Funny Car points standings.
“You’re always focused and thinking about what’s coming up next,” Hagan said. “You know you have nine guys counting on you to come back (to the track) and be focused.
“We’re getting so close to this Countdown (to the Championship) right now. Brainerd is just another big piece of the puzzle to make sure we go in in the No. 1 spot. It’s huge and is a relief to know that no matter what you do that we can go into Indy leading the points.”
The Rocky Boots team has a 117 point lead, more than five rounds of racing, over Cruz Pedregon heading into the event located 130 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
“Hopefully we can just increase our points lead in Brainerd and keeping pulling away. We had a couple bad races on the Western Swing and we allowed some folks to get caught up but Dickie really stepped up and made things happen when it counted,” Hagan said about their most recent win at the last event near Seattle.
“It just shows me that this car, even though it has had a few down times, it continues to be consistent all year long and that grows my confidence. I’m just excited how these guys are driven and motivated.
“I think Brainerd is one of those places where it’s easy to lose your focus because there is so much going on with all the fans and all the other stuff going on I think we have to pull our helmet on here and get up on the wheel and just make sure we’re doing everything we can to get another win.”
– The laid back side of Spencer Massey’s personality loves going to Brainerd, Minn., each year. But the competitive streak in him has yet to be satisfied with his performance at Brainerd International Raceway.
Massey can usually be found at a nearby lake with his radio-controlled boats or personal watercraft taking in the mild Minnesota weather, catching some fish and setting up a camp with friends prior the event. But once he straps into his Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher dragster, it’s all business. And he has a lot to take care of this weekend.
Massey has a Top Alcohol Dragster title to his name from the track located 130 miles northwest of Minneapolis but he has yet to see a win light in three previous tries in his professional Top Fuel dragster career.
“I don’t know what it is about Brainerd,” said Massey. “But I really want to see my win light come on there this year. There’s some places you go to that you know you’ve always done well at and this is one that we just haven’t.
“You can’t let that get into your mind though. We just have to stay focused and make good runs and go from there. With only two races left until the Countdown (to the Championship) starts we are in a close points battle with our DSR teammates Antron (Brown) and Tony (Schumacher).
“We’re just really focused on going rounds and that’s been our goal all year. We’ve been to four final rounds and the semifinals six times. That’s a lot of rounds and a lot of points earned.”
The Battery Extender team has reached the semifinal or final round in 10 of 16 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events in 2013, has three titles and sits third in NHRA Top Fuel standings, just five points behind Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher in second.
“I think Brainerd owes us some win lights and this may be the year the track gives back. We just need to go out there, get some good qualifying laps in and not beat ourselves on race day.
“We have a consistent Battery Extender dragster and we just need to keep it up. The guys have been working hard and going great all season and it’s almost crunch time.”
