NHRA champion Antron Brown has no problem going fast, as he regularly hits speeds in excess of 300 mph. The question is can the Top Fuel pilot transfer his skills to NASCAR and turn left?
NASCAR Charlotte 2013: NHRA drag racing champion Antron Brown to test stock car
NHRA Top Fuel champion Antron Brown will test a stock car Tuesday and expresses interest in pursuing a career in NASCAR.
Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE
A stock-car test scheduled for Tuesday should provide us a clue, as Brown will be driving a K&N Series car at the half-mile Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va.
“I just want to compete and when I go out there, I just want to learn the right way,” Brown said Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “I want to take steps to learn everything and actually develop my driving ability to drive ovals.
“I know I can go straight. Now I’ve got to put a left-hand turn in there and see where it goes from there.”
Brown, the first African-American to win a major motorsports championship in the United States, has never driven a stock-car before. He will be driving a car by Rev Racing, which fields cars to minority drivers through NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program.
The defending Top Fuel champion isn’t planning an immediate career change and a switch to NASCAR. But while there is nothing planned beyond Tuesday’s test, he does say that this could open the doors to future opportunities, something he sounds interested in pursuing.
But at age 37, Brown is a long way from competing at Sprint Cup and would need a few years of development in the Truck and Nationwide Series before he could expect to compete at NASCAR’s highest level.
“I don’t think racing has an age anymore,” Brown said. “I think it depends on what type of shape and what kind of level of competition you bring week in and week out. That’s one thing that I pride myself on, staying in shape and condition. I never hold myself back because of an age or a number. It is not a mid-life crisis.”
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