Anybody who knows NHRA \ Top Fuel owner-driver Antron Brown should know better than to think he would lose faith and lose confidence in himself and the people with whom he has chosen to surround himself. 

He might have lost some races – well, he did, 30 of them in a row . . . 13 this year and 17 last year since the May event at Atlanta. But he never lost sight of his goals. He’s all about goal-setting and working hard, and that combination produces positive results. 

It finally did Sunday for Brown at the Menards Nationals presented by PetArmor at Topeka’s Heartland Motorsports Park. He broke through for his first triumph as a team owner in his first final-round appearance since the 2021 season finale. 

Brown did it by beating winless and equally hungry four-time and current champion Steve Torrence. Brown, in the Matco Tools Toyota Dragster, used a 3.902-second, 309.49-mph performance on the 1,000-foot Topeka course to disappoint Torrence, who clocked a 4.443-second elapsed time and 201.49-mph speed from his Capco Contractors Dragster. 

That 53rd Top Fuel victory moved Brown past retired legend Joe Amato and into sole possession of the No. 3-ranked slot on the class’ all-time victories list. Had Torrence won, he would have tied Brown and Amato at 52. 

But his tears of joy at the top end of the track Sunday afternoon represented a deep sense of relief, of reaffirmation, of rejuvenation. 

“For me, I've been through some rough roads. Been there, done it, been through it. Know what it takes and what works, and the mindset you need to have,” he said, not allowing himself to be deterred by public opinion. 

“And you can even see on some people's expressions, some people's faces. The media writes you off. There's no difference than what you see in every day. It's like people believe in what they see. They don't know what's going on behind the ropes and what goes on in the shop,” Brown said. “And I saw the chemistry change, I want to say, before we went on the Western Swing. We brought a new intern in, hired them full time, and you can see the chemistry and the guys expressing on their face, even though we're struggling. 

“And for me, I'm just going, ‘Brother, if you stay at it, it will change. Just like the weather,’” he said. “The weather never stays the same. You just got to stick with it. Tornadoes come and knock the whole city down. Hurricanes blow things over. But you know what you got to do? You've got to rebuild. And we just kept on building, and I never lost the faith. And all of our partners that are in this, they go, ‘You guys will be fine. You're going to be fine.’ And when sometimes it's your lowest point, you go back by those ropes and those fans come to you and go, ‘This is y’all’s week. You gonna get it.’ And when you get that, and even some of the people on your team, they go, ‘AB, what do we got to do?’ 

“It's got to be at the right spot at the right time,” he would answer them. 

His family always has told him things happen when they’re supposed to. And they did. 

He told his team, “We got to beat numerous cars first round, just qualified in the wrong spot. Takes a little bit of luck of chance.” 

And, with his eternally optimistic spin on any situation, Brown said, “Then once you get your chance, you got to shine on it. And from here on out, we're only going forward. Like AB Motorsports, we put that one on the map and this won't be the last.” 

Just like Torrence said Sunday when some might have been surprised that he advanced to the final round, “We didn’t get here by accident.” Neither did Brown reach the winners circle by a fluke. 

“This has been a lifelong dream, and we never imagined we're going to struggle like we did,” he said. “But I can tell you one thing: we all got through it together. 

“It was always high emotions and for my family. I just wish that my grandma would have been here to see it. We lost her in December, and I know Brian's [crew chief Corradi’s] got a heavy heart, too. He lost his mom a year prior, too, and it's one of those deals where it doesn't feel real because it's a dream. This is literally a dream when you think about where we came from. We worked for motorcycles. Brian worked on cars. All of us as teammates, we all worked on stuff and worked on stuff. Never in a million years we thought that we could own a team as a whole, all of us together. And we talked about it for years. My wife, my family, TY [team business manager Ted Yerzyk], we talked about it and we're like, ‘Man, we could do this. We could make these changes. We could do that.’ But you never think it's a possibility,” Brown said. 

“And when you have so many different people going, certain people going, ‘You will never do this. You can't do it. Cost too much money. It takes too much of this.’ And to surround yourself by the right people at the right time from all of our staff at ABM to Allie who does our PR, Ted does our B-to-B, I mean, you got my wife doing hospitality, you got Brad [Mason] running crew guys, you got Brian and Mark [Oswald] leading the helm on the performance side. And then we're just working our tails off to get the support from Matco, Lucas, all the people on our deal from Hangsterfer’s, from Sirius XM, Toyota with GRR and then Western Tech Summit coming aboard, Oakley, all the people that make this possible,” he said. 

Brown said he’s no different a person than he was before this December, when he made the move officially: “The only difference is I just sign the checks.” This is our whole team as a whole, and we're all in this together. We split things they get a bonus. We all split everything on this race car. Only thing you don't get to split is when we have some chaos. And right now, our team, AB Motorsports, everybody is together, we're all in this together. And that's what AB Motorsports is all about. It's family. We're family, and we're sharing in this. And everybody's holding up from every end, the whole team as a whole, all of our people, everybody that I said earlier, they're all in this together. So that's what makes it so special right now. It makes it really special because we're doing this as family.”

The progress, he said, is gratifying. “And when you get this all to come together and you look where you came [from], to where we're at now, and brother, the struggle is real, but this makes it all worthwhile,” Brown said. “And when you hear people, [they’re] not even talking about you anymore. They're not even talking about your team.” 

But he said he knew the Sonoma race was a turning point for the team: “We just needed to qualify a little better and get in the right spot. And when you get in this right spot when we got here . . . that's the old-school team. It doesn’t matter where we qualify – you put your head down and you grind. And once we got past first round and then we went out there second round and we got to the third, we got to the final with Steve-o in the final, brother, that's old-school right there. You don't know who's going to win. Toss a coin. And when that win came light on, brother, it was just like, BOOM. And is it real? It is real, because look, that's what makes it really that's the way, the hard work.”

He said he knew conditions at Topeka, one of his favorite racetracks, were going to be a challenge but that a weekend at Seattle prepared him. 

“Topeka has always been one of my favorite races, especially since it brings back memories of one of my drag racing heroes, Gary Ormsby, when you turn into the track onto Gary Ormsby Drive. We’ve won at Topeka before  [2017]. We’ve lost some close ones there in the past, and it’s definitely one of those tracks that can hold big numbers. After our Seattle race, I feel that our team as a whole at AB Motorsports has turned a corner,” he said before qualifying opened Friday. “The track is going to be hot. It’s going to be tricky. And those are definitely the types of conditions where we shine.” 

Predictions came true. 

Brown said he has avoided comparing his path and his results to those of his former Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car colleague Ron Capps, who also struck out on his own at the same time to operate his own organization. Capps’ inaugural season as a team owner hasn’t been cushy, but he has won twice in three finals and is third in the Funny Car standings. 

“Well, it tries on your faith and your confidence, of course, but at the end of the day, we didn't do exactly what Ron did,” Brown said. “Like, Ron went out there and he's run all the same stuff that he won a championship with last year. Nothing different at all. We started from scratch. We ran our same chassis, changed the whole clutch program, changed blowers, injectors, changed the body. We changed pretty much 70 percent of the stuff that's on our race car.

“So we knew we were going to come out with bumps and bruises, because we didn't want to come out and be the same that we were. We wanted to be better. And we're getting there now. We're getting there. We know we're starting from scratch with parts that we're unfamiliar with, and we thought that they were better than what we were running, and they are. You just got to figure it out, and that's what we're doing,” he said. “We're going through it. And Ron, he had that short success, short term, where boom – he just left off where he left off last year. And one thing he added to the table that even gave him another boost, he added the Toyota team, you know what I mean? So Toyota, with all the benefits there, with Guido and Medlen [his crew chiefs, Dean Antonelli and John Medlen], the whole team. We started off not with the same team. We have two new guys, and we lost one of them and replaced one other guy. And to get that synergy there, it was a lot. And to get everybody on the same page, atmosphere, and we went through it, it was like the school of hard knocks, bringing everybody together, believing in the same vision. And we're there now. And now [it] only keeps getting better.” 

Torrence understands Brown’s struggles. He has been there before, and he’s there again, for the moment. 

“We’re just using the races before the Countdown to work through some issues,” Torrence said.  “We haven’t been the dominant car all season, but we’re trying to see if we can be the dominant car the last six races.  I feel confident [in the changes we’ve made], even though it hasn’t paid off in wins.  I think that you just have to stay the course.  You don’t get to be on top of the mountain by not having to overcome obstacles.  

"I think we're getting there,” he said.  “I'm starting to see some consistency, which has been the hardest thing to get back to.  I know what these Capco boys are trying to do, and I know what the car is doing. And it’s aligning itself very closely.  We’re just picking away at it a little bit at a time.  It’s a mental game.  We had a plan and to be successful. We know we have to execute that plan to the end.” 

He and Brown are best buddies, but they wipe that from their minds – both of them – when they race each other, especially when the stakes are highest. 

“Let me tell you something. Me and Steve go way back. We're racers. He went through the struggle before and for us. We've been through the struggle. We're in the same boat. He changed a lot of stuff on his car all season, too, and they were working on it to make it better, to be better than what they were. And when we race, brother, I don't care who we race, we go out there and give it all we got and let the chips fall where they fall,” Brown said. 

“And like he is working off from last year. He won a lot of races last year and won the championship, and we won last year in Atlanta. Started off right and we fell back and forth. But, man, right now, I don't care who we're racing, we're going to give it all we got. And brother, when that trophy is up on the line, I ain't got no feelings lost. Ain't no love lost,” he said. 

Torrence, for his part, is trying to make the Countdown work for him rather than trying to resist it.  

“We’re just trying to use the Countdown to our advantage, like Brittany [Force] did [when her 562-point deficit was reduced to 60 for the 2017 playoffs],” he said. “Whether you like the rules or not, if you’re going to play the game, you have to play by whatever’s there. That’s the lesson we learned.” 

Like Brown, he’s looking toward the races at Brainerd, Minn., this coming weekend and Indianapolis during Labor Day weekend. They’re the final two of the regular season. 

“We’ve got two more races to fine-tune everything before we really have to kick it in gear for the Countdown,” Torrence said. “We’re a solid fourth in points and could gain a spot or two.  When Brittany won [the 2017 championship], she started sixth.” 

Brown said his strategy is to go full speed ahead: “Ain't going to stop, ain’t going to slow down. And we went out on that racetrack every run. And we didn't show all that we had on race day. We didn't show what we had in qualifying. So we're right where we want to be, and we just got to keep getting better. So a lot of good came out this weekend, and we're looking forward to Brainerd. Brainerd has always been a great racetrack for us. It's going to be great weather. And we're looking to try and run in the .60s [3.60-second range for elapsed time] again. And once we get that figured out, it's game on. And I think Brainerd four qualifying rounds is going to help us achieve that.”