Many eye a flight to a warm tropical destination to relax after a grueling ten-month racing season that culminated with the NHRA Finals in Southern California on Nov. 17, but not newly crowned four-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown. The 80-time NHRA winner will get plenty of Florida sun this offseason and find comforts behind the wheel of a Lexus RCF Procharger-powered Pro Mod as Brown will compete in the Drag Illustrated Winter Series of events at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
Brown, the second-winningest driver in NHRA Top Fuel history with 64 wins, will make his debut behind the wheel of the red Team Buginga Lexus SC Pro Mod, dubbed “Jerome,” at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, Dec. 6-8, at the popular central Florida track. He also will compete in the U.S. Street Nationals, Jan. 24-26, and the World Series of Pro Mod, Feb. 27-March 1, also in Bradenton.
“We’ve been friends with Manny and the Buginga family for some time now and have raced with them in the past, so when Manny called and said I want you to drive our red Lexus RCF Pro Mod, it was an easy decision for me,” Brown said. “It’s been a work in progress for some time and I really enjoy going to Bradenton during the off-season and doing some eighth-mile racing and now, with these three events in December, January, and early March, I’m super-excited. I feel like an NBA player who hoops at the Drew League in the summer.
“There will be so many great Pro Mod racers like Stevie “Fast” Jackson, Erica Enders is going to be a part of it, Melanie Salemi, Lyle Barnett, and so many great drivers. It’s such a cool series with a diverse group of racers who will come to Bradenton to duke it out and I’m very fortunate to be a part of it. I always have fun at the drag strip, but I’m always in it to win it, and that’s our goal. Why go out there if you don’t have a chance to win?”
Brown, who won the Pro 275 category piloting Buginga’s popular “Fred” Mustang at the 2022 Snowbird Outlaw Nationals on Dec. 4, 2022, will drive the Lexus that will be tuned by famed Pro Mod tuner Steve Petty, who was named the DI Tuner of the Year in 2022. The Drag Illustrated Winter Series will pay out more than $300,000 in the Pro Mod division alone and feature 32-car fields.
This story was originally published on December 3, 2024. 
