Top Fuel driver Antron Brown can only hope his Matco Tools has finally found a stable home. The former Pro Stock Motorcycle standout who made the jump to Top Fuel prior to 2008, has taken a rollercoaster ride of uncertainty for last two seasons and with Don Schumacher’s purchase of Mike Ashley Racing’s assets, he’s on his fourth team owner.
 
Brown said this kind of movement comes with the territory of a professional athlete, but even he admits four times is a bit much.
 
“Drag racing team members are like professional stick and ball sports players, one year he could be here and the next he could be traded,” Brown explained. “That’s the same way out here. Now I feel like we are at home.”

Ask any racer, and those that are honest will admit that while drag racing may be addictive, winning makes it even more so.  Guys like Summit Racing Equipment Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson, who has a house full of NHRA national event trophies interspersed with the occasional POWERade Series championship gold, know what it’s like to win.  With winning comes losing.  It’s just the natural order of things.  But, it’s how you handle those losses that will ultimately determine your reputation.  Throwing your helmet, for example, is not the way you ingratiate yourself to your fans and sponsors.

Anderson has had, by almost any standards, a very good season in 2009.  He’s won some races – and that’s more than a lot of other drivers can say – but he’s lost some, too.

Within days of parting company with Tony Pedregon, Dickie Venables could have gone to work for John Force, Don Schumacher, Kenny Bernstein and a couple others.

Instead of jumping at the first opportunity, Venables picked up his fishing pole and headed to the lake to catch his breath and a big one or two. When he was done fishing, Venables decided to go to school.

For the two-time championship tuner, the lure of learning from who many have proclaimed as the best drag racing tuner in the business, Alan Johnson, was an attraction to hard to resist.

Top Fuel drag racer Cory McClenathan remains firm on one aspect of his drag racing career. The veteran driver of the Fram Top Fuel dragster has given himself until his 50th birthday to win a championship and then, win or lose, he plans to embark on a new life outside of the cockpit.

Currently McClenathan stands third in a three-way championship battle with Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher and Al-Anabi driver Larry Dixon. Newly announced DSR teammate Antron Brown is fourth.

At 68 points out of first, McClenathan’s chances are remote, but not impossible, with eight possible rounds of completion remaining. Last year he finished third in the championship points behind the same two drivers.

For the first time this season, Top Fuel team owner Alan Johnson gave high marks to the overhauled U.S. Army team.
 
It is the team he left last November but remains linked to for his guidance in five of Tony Schumacher's six championships. The soldier-sponsored team is marching on toward a seventh series title with an entire new crew -- his seasoned troops followed General Johnson to the Al-Anabi Racing team with driver Larry Dixon.
 
Johnson indicated the Army team is building on his five years of performance development at Don Schumacher Racing and isn't squandering any of the advantages.