For the fourth time in his Top Fuel career and for the first time as a team owner, Antron Brown is a world champion in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, clinching an emotional title following his semifinal round win at the 59th annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals. Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also clinched season championships on Sunday.
Brown qualified just 12th in his Matco Tools/Toyota dragster, but as he’s done all year, the standout was in prime form during eliminations. He knocked off Justin Ashley, who entered the weekend with the points lead, with a run of 3.696s at 331.53 mph in an incredible matchup to open eliminations and then faced off with another title contender in Shawn Langdon. Both drivers ran into trouble, but Brown recovered and advanced to the semifinals against Force.
In the championship-clinching round, Brown rolled to one of the biggest round wins in his career, going 3.693s at 330.88 to defeat Force and pick up his fourth career championship and first since he started AB Motorsports in 2022. He followed that up with a final-round victory against Doug Kalitta, going 3.681s at 330.55 to pick up his sixth win of his season and the 80th in his career
“This is super special. I’ve been dreaming about this day since I shared my vision with [late team owner] Don Schumacher about being a team owner,” Brown said. “This team has been resilient. We never quit and we never stop. When we lined up this weekend and we saw our matchup, it was like doomsday. To get this win, I tell you what, it’s been incredible. It’s truly a blessing and I can’t believe we did it.”
“We found something special in testing after Las Vegas and then we came in here and shot ourselves in the foot during qualifying. We ended up No. 12 and had to race Justin Ashley in round one. I just thought, ‘This is what I have to do. I have to beat Justin.’ And I found the Antron Brown of old form.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1430]
Brown enjoyed a spectacular season, but one also filled with adversity. He won three times during the regular season (Chicago, Norwalk and Sonoma) and entered the playoffs in second. He won the first two races of the Countdown to the Championship, but then won just two rounds over the next three races. That presented a tough challenge in Pomona, but Brown and his team rose to the occasion to score the championship, joining Tony Schumacher, Joe Amato and Steve Torrence as the only Top Fuel drivers with four or more championships.
“We beat Justin and got to the semis, and I knew we just had to get down the track against Brittany [Force],” Brown said. “We got the job done and then in the final I was so calm. I was fine all day. I just let the chips fall where they fell.”
A spectacular season in Pro Stock came down to a thrilling winner-take-all final round, with Greg Anderson defeating KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn with a run of 6.501s at 211.13 to slip past Glenn’s run of 6.516. It hands Anderson a sixth world championship, tying him with Erica Enders and Warren Johnson for the second most in Pro Stock history.
The victory is Anderson’s 106th in his career and he rose to the occasion when it mattered most in the Countdown to the Championship in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. On Sunday in Pomona, Anderson, who hadn’t won since April prior to this weekend, delivered a classic performance, going 6.492s at 211.66 in the opening round against Kenny Delco. He stayed in the 6.40s against Cory Reed and then went an incredible 6.488 at 211.43 to end Aaron Stanfield’s title chances.
That set up an epic winner-take-all final round against Glenn, the 2021 NHRA Rookie of the Year. He left first on Anderson, but the veteran tracked him down to pick up what he called the most meaningful championship of his career.
“We struggled the last three or four months,” Anderson said. “I had a great car but crazy things would happen and every time I’d lose it was like a slug to the gut. I knew I had to figured it out and today we did. Today was like a dream. The sun shined on me and we had a flawless day. Nothing crazy happened. I just hoped and prayed and wished it was me.
“This is my sixth and I think it means the most. These young kids are trying to push me out the door but I keep dragging my feet because I don’t want to go yet.”
Anderson finished the year with three wins and Sunday marked the 15th time he’s picked up a victory at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. It also continued the recent dominance for Anderson and Enders, who still have won every title in the class since 2018, even with a huge collection of young standouts.
“Today’s kids are relentless. They can be 0.00 to teen on the tree like there’s nothing to it. I can do that but it’s like an out of body experience,” Anderson said. “This place is special, especially when the sun goes down. In 2015, Jason Line raced Erica Enders in the final for the championship and I thought it was the coolest atmosphere I’d ever seen, and I always wanted to be in that spot.”
Another dominant season meant another world championship in Pro Stock Motorcycle for Gaige Herrera, who wrapped up his second straight world title after winning in the first round on Sunday.
Herrera entered eliminations with a commanding 119-point lead on the strength of three straight playoff wins and cruised to another championship to open the day. Herrera, who qualified third, went 6.779 to dispatch Clayton Howey, leading to another memorable moment for the class phenom. It culminates another incredible season for the rider of the RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki, one that included 10 wins.
“This is very special,” Herrera said. “When I won the title in 2023, it didn’t seem real. It just sort of happened. That wasn’t the case this year. We had to go out and fight for it every weekend. When Matt [Smith] went back to a Buell we knew he’d be tough and I have to hand it to him for all his hard work. He also forced us to work harder.
In his second season, Herrera has made NHRA history by winning 21 out of 29 events. No NHRA pro in any class has ever delivered more victories in a shorter time frame.
This season, Herrera picked up where 2023 left off, winning the first six races of the season, setting the all-time NHRA record with 11 straight wins and 46 consecutive round wins. After defeats in Seattle and Sonoma, Herrera won the U.S. Nationals for the first time in his career and after a slow start in the Countdown to the Championship, Herrera returned to his dominant self to close out the championship. He’s now 50-5 this season and 100-8 over the last two years.
“I think the first round for the championship was the most nervous I’ve ever been,” Herrera said. “It’s what you dream about as a little kid, but win or lose, I still love this sport. At Indy two years ago I made my debut and at the time I thought it was a one race deal. Now, here we are two years and two championships later. I still can’t believe it.”