NHRA Top Fuel Driver Antron Brown Wins ON DEBUT in a Pro 275 Ford Mustang!
It’s been theorized by some that if a good driver can get into a well-prepared ride, it should only be a matter of outings before victory comes to fruition. Antron Brown proved that theory on Sunday evening at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, as in his first-ever start in a small-tire radial car, he picked up the win in the Pro 275 class behind the wheel of Manny Buginga’s 2003 Mustang known as Fred.
Antron Brown stands atop the Manny Buginga Mustang “Fred” after clinching the Pro 275 win at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
A former Top Fuel champion with a total of 71 national event wins in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association), Brown acclimated himself to the ProCharger-boosted Mustang quickly, qualifying number two in the field with a 3.74 at 201 miles per hour, a mere five thousandths of a second off the top qualifying spot. He then sliced his way through eliminations with a trio of runs between 3.75 and 3.78-seconds, to face the number one qualifier Marcus Birt in the final round.
Birt, a multi-time winner in the radial-tire world, rolled into the finals fresh from beating Buginga himself in the semifinal round. In a pressure-packed title round, Birt got the better reaction time and ran his best pass of the weekend, a 3.73 at 201.79 miles per hour. But Brown unloaded low e.t. of the weekend, a 3.71 at 201.91 miles per hour, to get to the finish line a mere three thousandths of-a-second in front of Birt for the win.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photo by Mike Pryka.