That’ s Dave Schultz, the‘ Milk Man,’ all in white!’ I remember going out there and seeing people like Joe Amato, Darrell Gwynn, Mark Oswald,( Raymond) Beadle, all the greats of the sport. And I saw John Force when John Force wasn’ t the John Force that he is today; you get what I’ m saying? He was talking the same, but he was still trying to make it happen. When I was able to see all that, it started giving me that sense of I can be here someday.
“ I started seeing it and putting it together in my mind, and when you get something like that from a sport— and I’ m living that dream that I had when I was a kid— it’ s automatic to give it back to the youth so they can experience the same experience I had, so they can have that ray of hope that I had, so they can field their dreams and make them a reality. That’ s what I think our Mello Yello Drag Racing sport is all about. It’ s walking that walk, but you want to end up going through that finish line and making it happen. I think it’ s all our responsibilities as professional drivers to give that back and to be that type of ambassador for the sport.”
It can be said that a career in professional drag racing was more attainable when Brown was growing up. However, he doesn’ t see it that way.
“ The thing about it is I see that this generation has a lot more options than what I had when I was growing up. They didn’ t have Jr. Dragsters when I was growing up. Kids can start racing Jr. Dragsters now at five years old, and then you can go into a street car at 14 years old,” he points out.
Beyond the driving aspect, today’ s young people can find a wealth of opportunities throughout the sport. Perhaps more importantly, they’ re exposed to those opportunities more frequently than ever before.
“ The awareness is at a whole new level, especially with the U. S. Army doing the Youth Education and STEM program, bringing high-school and college kids out to see what we’ re all about at the NHRA. These kids get to see the different opportunities, where they can go to school. They can come out of high school and get a degree from UNOH, from Lincoln Tech, from Western Tech, from all these different tech schools and colleges, and actually get a degree in High Performance or Race Performance Mechanics or Engineering, and they’ ll come over into our sport.
“ That’ s been making our sport grow, and not
August 2017
“ When you get something like this from a sport— and I’ m living that dream that I had when I was a kid— it’ s automatic to give it back to the youth so they can experience the same experience I had.” just grow‘ out,’ but also just the intelligence factor of it. We’ re bringing the science into the sport. That’ s why you’ re seeing our cars go down the track 90 percent of the time. Back in the day, if you had a car that would go down the track 70 percent of the time, you would’ ve won all the races. Now we’ re going down the track and we’ re running within a thousandth of a second of each other. That’ s because of all the new modern technology and all these kids who are coming out of college, coming right in and bringing that new way of thinking into our sport.”
Just as he’ s seen the talent side of the sport growing rapidly, Brown has noticed a new wave of fans coming through the gates, filling the grandstands and tuning in on television. He believes the NHRA’ s new television package with FOX Sports, effective at the onset of the 2016 season, has helped the sport’ s audience become“ bigger, better and wider” through an extensive live TV schedule and a selection of races being aired on the national FOX network.
“ We’ ve got people coming out to our races that have never been before,” Brown says.“ Once they see it in person, they’ re done; they’ re hooked like a big-mouth bass. They fall in love with the sport because it’ s like no other. That’ s what’ s great about our sport. TV helps get it out there, but now with the national and worldwide exposure, we’ re getting people to come visit. We’ re getting sold-out crowds; we saw it on the Western Swing and we’ re going to see it at the Countdown races. It’ s going to be out of control. That’ s what I’ ve been seeing with our sport. Our sport is at the pinnacle where it’ s about to explode.”
A rising mainstream interest in drag racing has been attractive to Brown’ s cast of supporters, another consistent factor behind the team’ s success.
“ Our sponsors have been very excited about where drag racing is going. I’ ve been fortunate with our sponsors. Matco just signed a contract last year all the way through to 2020, and the same thing with Toyota. Pennzoil has stepped up and Hangsterfer’ s Metalworking Lubricants has also stepped up on our car, and not just helping our shop out with the products, but also with money to help us with outreach. Streamlight Flashlights has also stepped up. We have a lot of new partners that are coming on board, and then with Papa
John’ s being a part of all of DSR here, being on a national ad campaign with them, it’ s been huge,” Brown says, referring to the commercials and pizza boxes emblazoned with the image of teammate Leah Pritchett’ s Papa John’ s car.“ And I’ ve been loving it.”
It’ s easy to see why brands are jumping at the chance to be involved with Brown, the Matco Tools team and the Don Schumacher Racing organization as a whole. Gone are the days of applying a sponsor’ s branding to the race car, equipment and team uniforms, and maybe doing an appearance here or there. Few racing outfits understand the complex 21st-century sponsorship game better than DSR.
“ We do a lot of outreach with our sponsors 24 / 7,” Brown notes.“ One thing that is unique here at Don Schumacher Racing, which a lot of the teams— besides Force and Kalitta— don’ t have, is we’ re able to intertwine and do some really good B2B( business-to-business) deals with our sponsors.
“ Like for the U. S. Nationals we’ re tying in Mello Yello and they’ re going to be on our car, but then Mello Yello and Coca-Cola are actually doing product( sales) with Matco on their tool trucks now. You’ re tying them in with each other to give them a direct return on their investment where they’ re making money off it. At the end of the day, it’ s business. It’ s not just about branding and putting their name out there. It’ s about them getting a return on their investment right away. That’ s what I think we do well here at Don Schumacher Racing.”
Just as he uses a voice of authenticity to promote the sport, Brown represents his sponsors in a way that inspires confidence in the products he’ s pitching. It’ s a personal policy of his to only do business with brands he believes in and uses. His daily driver, a Toyota Tundra, can be found in his garage, alongside Matco tools and toolboxes he uses to wrench on his kids’ Jr. Dragsters during the week.
“ Myself, I’ m always out there shaking the bushes and being a spokesperson for various companies. A lot of people know that I don’ t stand for anything that’ s a gimmick,” assures Brown.“ Anything that I put my name on and I’ m backing, it’ s something that I truly believe in and is actually helping people out in a way. I want their product to perform the same way we perform on the race track, and that’ s at a championship level. Those are the only people I support and the only people I believe in. When I back something and I put my stamp on it, people can believe that it’ s the real deal Holyfield.”
rown’ s lovable personality
B and knowledge of all things automotive have helped him connect not only to drag racing’ s core fan base, but also to a mainstream audience through appearances on cable television. He appeared on a 2012 episode of A & E’ s Storage Wars, then was featured prominently in an hour-long episode of Idris Elba: No
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