Antron Brown team, local instructor both beat in Northwest Nationals

Published 3:58 pm Monday, August 5, 2013

Antron Brown took the No. 6 qualifying spot Saturday in the National Hot Rod Association Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Kent.

Brown and his Matco Tools Top Fuel Dragster team made it as far as the second round on Sunday of the weekend competition. His time of 3.799 seconds at 315.42 mph, was beat by part-time racer T.J. Zizzo, with a time of 3.975 seconds, according to a release from Brown’s team.

“We pushed a little hard on that run and didn’t back it off enough,” said Brown, who moved up one spot to fourth in the “Mello Yello Drag Race” series standings. “We’ve still got a little work to do to get some stuff figured out.”

Brian Thompson, Renton Technical College instructor, raced two Ford Mustangs in the Sportsmen, non-professional competition.

“Oh, I got my butt kicked,” said Thompson of his experience in the “Stock Eliminator” and “Super Stock Eliminator” races.

The instructor often competes at local speedways and encourages RTC students to participate in events and get to know the industry. Thompson was in the crowd last Thursday at the college when Brown gave a series of motivational speeches to students and community members.

Brown encouraged students to pursue their passion. He is the 2012 NHRA Top Fuel world champion, with a best career speed of 328.78 mph.

“There’s no rocket science to doing anything in life; you have to put yourself around it,” Brown said to the audience last Thursday.

He played a video of his career highlights, asking the crowd to pay attention to what they viewed. When it was over, Brown acknowledge students who picked up on the team work and wins portrayed in the video. He noted it takes his team 35 minutes to completely tear down and rebuild an engine.

He was the first African American to win a major U.S. auto racing season championship. Brown currently lives in Pittsboro, Ind. with his wife, Billie Jo, and their three children.

Thompson is RTC’s Ford ASSET instructor.The two-year program places students at Ford Motor Company dealerships for mentoring throughout the program and a job at the end. Thompson has taught the course at the college since 1997.

His class is typically between 15 to 20 students. Typically students go directly into a job at a dealership after the program, but some automotive enthusiasts, like Thompson, find themselves on speedways.

“If you’re passionate about what you do, you don’t only do it during the week, you do it on the weekends too,” Thompson said.

The instructor had a false start in one drag competition during the weekend and was beat in his other race at Pacific Raceways.

“Reaction time is the core of what we do,” Thompson said. “You have to have good reaction time and a car that is predictable.”

Thompson explained that the majority of race car drivers aren’t in “heads up racing,” which is first-to-the-finish, professional racing. Other racing competitions are determined by various factors in the technical and driving craft of the sport.

For more on Antron Brown, visit www.antronbrown.com and for Renton Technical College information, visit www.rtc.edu