Kevin Brown wrap up

Jokers Wild Racing
K. Brown Motorsports

Brown loses close one in round 1

SONOMA, Calif. - NHRA Federal Mogul Dragster driver Kevin Brown came just .007 of a second away from picking up his first national event round win of the year during this past weekend's Fram-Autolite Nationals at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. During Saturday's first round, Brown nearly upset A/Fuel powerhouse David Baca, but came up short by a mere seven-thousandths of a second (roughly two feet at 250 mph).

While he did not accomplish his goal of winning the race, Brown is still happy with the progress his team made this past weekend. The Clearfield, Utah, resident found and cured the culprit to the team's cylinder head problems, which not only kept the team from winning rounds, but put a serious dent in the team's budget.

With those problems behind him, Brown was able to make some respectable laps in his "Joker's Wild" injected-nitro dragster, qualifying No. 9 with a 5.582 second pass at 222.84 mph. In his first round matchup with Baca, Brown took a .037 of a second holeshot off the line, but couldn't hold off Baca, who came around him with a 5.530 at 255.39 mph to Brown's right-there 5.574 at 232.55 mph.

"We ran the last qualifier Saturday morning," said Brown, "and the car moved really good, then went out and dropped cylinders when my timed events started. We got back from the run, and felt that it was too fat (term used for overly rich fuel condition) and made a fuel adjustment. We was thinking that the adjustment would get it past our timed event, and we would be fine. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I was ahead of him all the way down the racetrack, and was quite 'stoked' thinking that I had one of the baddest cars beat. I gave him everything I could, and he beat me by seven-thousandths of a second."

Looking back on the team's 'Western Swing,' although the team struggled, Brown feels the progress the team has made over the last few races was well worth it, along with giving them a fresh outlook on their upcoming races.

"I feel pretty confident about the rest of the year," stated Brown. "You have to be confident no matter what whenever you go out there. I think we have found what needs to be done to the fuel system to cure our cylinder dropping problems. I feel pretty good about our next races. We've learned quite a bit, and I'm proud of my guys. Within three laps, my guys figured out our cylinder head problems, as the same heads stayed on the car all weekend long. As long as you learn something every pass, sooner or later, you're going to win something. Sooner or later, you're going to be the champion."

For more information on the team, visit their website at JokersWildRacing.com

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-JWR-