GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Sunday’s Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals featured something not seen very often at a typical NHRA event — a full rounds-worth, if not more, of head-to-head pedalfests.
Lack of rubber due to excessive rain on Saturday made for sketchy conditions during the first handful of rounds. Every Top Fuel pairing endured the same issue during the first round, which made for some fascinating racing.
Last year’s rookie of the year, Tony Stewart, was the only driver in the first round to reach the top end of the race track under full power as he knocked out Brittany Force.
Against Dan Mercier, No. 2 qualifier Tripp Tatum had a wild moment as his dragster veered left and slapped the outside wall before spinning to the other side. Tatum was OK. It was an unfortunate end to the part-time driver, who showed plenty of speed.
The question remains — how do drivers counteract when track conditions force them to almost go into “dirt track mode” at speeds reaching 330-plus mph?
Eventual event winner Antron Brown’s philosophy begins at the water box when he does his burnout. That becomes the gauge of the current conditions.
“I saw all the bald spots in it,” Brown said. “I saw bare concrete, rubber’s coming right off the race track.
“I’m like, ‘Alright, well, man should I leave my hand on the brake?’ That’s what I’m telling myself. But I didn’t. I was like, ‘No, I better not do that.’ Because then it might slow it down too much and do some different stuff.”
Next comes the mental aspect mere seconds before the tree lights up green. Being ready for the effects the track will have on his race car.
“(As) soon as I hit the gas pedal, I was ready for any rattle that I felt,” Brown said. “You didn’t see smoke come off my tires. I felt the rattle before it spun.
“As soon as I felt that rattle, it’s one of those things in your mindset where you go, ‘Alright, what do you do?’
“That’s where the experience comes in where I’m always not patient. I’m very anxious. Where I’m always quick to catch it, but I’m really quick to get back on the gas pedal because I wanna recover quicker to get the deal.
“When those instances come in, you gotta be able to pause yourself and be very slow to react,” Brown continued. “That’s what I did. I literally was slow to react and when I came back onto the pedal, you can look at the video, I didn’t even push the pedal the whole way down.
“I literally cracked them open like you do a burnout. I kept it there until the car go momentum before I rolled all the way into it.”
Brown’s first and only pedalfest on the day came in the first round against Krista Baldwin, who hung alongside the four-time Top Fuel champion for a decent amount of the run before experience won the day.
From there, Brown and his Brian Coradi-led team got better with every pass. They saved their best for last as Brown ran low ET in the finals against Shawn Langdon with a 3.673 ET at 333.99 mph.
