The competition can only wonder when the sophomore jinx is going to kick for Antron Brown.

The former Pro Stock Bike standout turned Top Fuel championship contender scored his fourth win of the season at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Wash. The event represented his seventh final round of 2009.

The six-time Top Fuel winner stands two-thirds of the way from a clean sweep of the NHRA’s Western Swing.

Brown wasn’t the quickest in qualifying or on race day but managed to win when he needed to. Last race in Denver he was the quickest in qualifying but on race day managed to get lost when the track heated up.

 

The competition can only wonder when the sophomore jinx is going to kick for Antron Brown.

The former Pro Stock Bike standout turned Top Fuel championship contender scored his fourth win of the season at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Wash. The event represented his seventh final round of 2009.

The six-time Top Fuel winner stands two-thirds of the way from a clean sweep of the NHRA’s Western Swing.

Brown wasn’t the quickest in qualifying or on race day but managed to win when he needed to. Last race in Denver he was the quickest in qualifying but on race day managed to get lost when the track heated up.

“On any given day, if you miss it in qualifying, it sets you back,” Brown said. “We had the quickest car in qualifying in Denver but on race day when the sun came out … that’s been like our Achilles heel. When the sun comes out and because we are making so much horsepower, it’s hard to keep that car stuck to the track.”

The track temperature in Seattle exceeded 120 degrees all three days of competition making the event a tuner’s challenge.

“Friday we actually had it backed down too much and went a 3.95,” Brown confided. “We ran a 4.00 and spun at the big end. I knew then we had a good car for race day.”

Brown cut through the field on Sunday like a knife through hot butter with convincing [and consistent] wins over Clay Millican, Morgan Lucas and Spencer Massey before getting the best of Tony Schumacher in the final round.

“I knew we were in the bottom half of the field so we were going to have to race the best of our ability today,” Brown recalled. “We spun the tires in the first round and we kept backing it down.”

The track started to come around in the later rounds.

“Our car was on point all day,” Brown said of the Mike Ashley Racing dragster tuned by former Funny Car tuners Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald. “The track came back to our tune-up and when it gets hot like it was today, these tracks get slick and greasy. That’s what we shot for. We could run that killer run out there on Friday night but it won’t do a thing for us on Sunday.”

And in one statement, Brown summed up where his sophomore jinx has been.

 

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