Top Fuel superstar Antron Brown had just finished mixing fuel for his next run during a private test session at Gainesville Raceway. He started walking towards his Matco Tools dragster, then stopped and looked left. The 11,000 horsepower race car is his occupation, but lately, the car on his left has become his high-speed fling. 

Manny Buginga's Pro Modified entry was parked under the canopy alongside Brown's dragster in an alliance of sorts. 

Brown, the two-wheeled standout who became a Top Fuel champion, has been acting on his doorslammer impulses lately, driving Buginga's PRO275 drag radial car most recently at Bradenton's U.S. Street Nationals. 

Brown readily admits he cannot escape those race cars with doors. Blame it on his roots. 

"Since I was a little kid, I always loved them," Brown admitted. "My dad used to take me to the track. We used to see The Grump all the time. We used to go out there and see the greats like Bob Glidden and Warren Johnson. Bruce Allen, with the Levi Garrett car, with the yellow stripes on the back. We used to go out there and see Tricky Rickie Smith and the STP car. I remember Jerry Eckman in the Pennzoil car. I remember the Mopar boys, like Darrell Alderman and Scott Geoffrion. I distinctly remember Tom Martino, our hometown boy, with the Mama Rosa's Pizza car. You don't forget about that. I remember it because that was the days I grew up in."

Brown will tell anyone who will listen he loved those Pro Stock cars and their alter ego of the day, the Pro Modifieds. 

"I always had a love for Pro Mod," Brown said. "I never got to ever race a door car, like a fast door car. The coolest part is when I got with Manny Buginga. I mean, I tell you what, when I got to drive Fred, the iconic Fred, the 275, the No Prep king monster, it was a lot of fun, man. It's been a lot of fun. But I could tell you this when I got back in my Top Fuel dragster that made the first pass; I forgot how fast this thing is."

For as quick as the return Top Fuel pass was, Brown said it felt eerily similar. 

"What people don't understand is, and I've never driven a Pro Mod yet, but driving a radial car, it drives exactly like a fuel car drives because you got to be progressive on the power, and the G-meter...," Brown explained. "The G-meter is exactly like a fuel car G-meter, but it just does it in less time. 

"A Pro Mod car hits the tire, the G-meter goes up, and it falls on a downhill, where our cars go out there, you get some G-meter, then it goes straight across, then it goes up because you're applying more power."

Brown, the two-race PRO275 superstar, then gives a ringing endorsement for the radial car. 

"If anybody ever wants to learn how to drive a fuel car, you need to drive a PRO275 car first," he explained. "That's the first step. Then you go from that, and then you take baby steps in a fuel car, then go right to the nitro car."

A Funny Car? It's the same thing; at least, that's how Brown sees it. 

"It's the same discipline," Brown said. "Actually, the door car teaches you to steer a funny car. Because you got to be very gentle and do baby steps on it."

One time might have been trying it out, such as his PRO275 win last November in Bradenton, but racing it again like he did last weekend at the U.S. Street Nationals might just be the start of something regular. 

"We're working on it," Brown said. "Right now, we're working with the powers that be and see if we can sneak and get out there. We're working on something really special. So if it comes to fruition, you'll see us a little bit more out there."

And the more he looks at Buginga's Pro Modified next to him, the more he looks like an interested driver. 

"Maybe," Brown hinted with a smile. "Maybe."