Dirt
Will co-host BBC America
show amidst Top Fuel
championship defense
By Jeff Wolf
A
ntron Brown is not one to sit
still for long. Now the three-time
NHRA Top Fuel world champion is
busier than ever with a new project –
host on the new Top Gear America television show
that will air through the British Broadcasting
Company America (BBCA).
Brown, a native of New Jersey who lives near
Indianapolis, will host Top Gear America with
actor and racing enthusiast William Fichtner
and auto journalist Tom “Wookie” Ford on each
of eight hour-long episodes to begin airing later
this year.
Top Gear America will review state-of-the-art
vehicles, along with the vehicles from America’s
car culture past. The show will put viewers in
the passenger seat as they race the most incred-
ible vehicles on the scenic highways and historic
tracks of the American West.
“Somebody better pinch me,” Brown said of
his new role as a TV host. “We’ve started film-
ing and it’s just a blast. I won’t
be going 330 mph like I do in
Don Schumacher Racing’s Matco
Tools/U.S. Army Top Fuel drag-
ster but we’ll be in some awesome
and crazy rides.
“I’ve been interviewed a lot but
I’m a rookie at being a host.”
Brown will fit the filming
schedule into his already de-
manding schedule on the NHRA
Mello Yello Series tour as he at-
tempts to defend his 2016 world
championship. The former Pro
Stock Motorcycle standout is off
to a strong start after reaching the
final round at Gainesville and winning the Las
Vegas spring race with crew chiefs Brian Corradi
and Mark Oswald.
“It’s always one step at a time,” Brown said. “For
us as a whole, we want to win every race that
we go to. We qualified in the top-three at the
first three races, we’ve been to the semis and the
final at Gainesville and we really
felt that was our race to win. The
Army team just did an incredible
job. We had something that bit us
but we’re growing from it.
“You don’t get better by doing
the same things, you only get bet-
ter in life by doing things that are
different. Brian and Mark, that’s
what they do. We are always in-
novating and making new things
and now we’re starting to see
traction from it earlier. Last year
it was later but this year we’re al-
ready seeing the benefits of it. We
just have to keep grinding. This
class is not going to be easy in Top Fuel this year,
it never is. It gets harder every year but we’re
ready to go out there and battle.”
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34 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 121
Antron Brown Joins
Top Gear America Cast