She might be gone from this world, but Antron Brown is still leery about stepping out of line, fearful Grandma Lossie might somehow "slap him upside his head."

When Brown turned off the track following the final round at zMax Dragway after winning the NHRA Carolina Nationals, he could envision her standing there. Grandma Lossie, who earned the nickname when she got lost in New York City when she was younger, passed away earlier this year.

"I can just remember her little face, and her little hands, and her arms," Brown said, fighting back emotion. "And she used to shake [her hands] like this, with both fists together. And she used to say, 'Y'all go get 'em boy. Y'all get 'em. Y'all get 'em."

"And she used to close her eyes tight together. And she used to smile. And she never opened her mouth. Cause she never wanted people to see that she ain't got no teeth. And she used to do that with all her strength and will. That image just stuck in my head. When I turned that corner, and I looked up, and I said, 'Grams that's for you."

We were researching for another article, and came across this 2008 article focusing on the dynamic for one of NHRA's most personality-driven individuals and his equally entertaining Grandmother.

 

Originally published 8-18-2008

A tough upbringing led to success in drag racing …
 

Antron Brown knew he’d better straighten up and fly right or there’d be consequences.

Grandma Lossie was coming to the drag races at Englishtown to see her grandson race. She was so serious about attending the race, she impressed upon her grandson that she planned to put her teeth in, so as not to embarrass him.

When one thinks grandmothers the connotation of little old ladies baking cookies and spoiling their second generation offspring immediately comes to mind. If only this were the case for Brown.

Grandma Lossie was coming just to see that her grandson wasn’t acting the fool or conducting himself irresponsibly.

She remains both his toughest critic and strongest motivator. Grandma Lossie, a.k.a. Dolores Brown, is one of Brown's greatest inspirations to succeed in life.

Brown has no other choice but to be good, for fear of retribution. Despite her years, we’ll just say in excess of 70 years old, Lossie will still smack her grandson in the back of the head to get him back in line if need be.

The NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals in Englishtown, N.J., was the first time Grandma Lossie had come to watch her grandchild race one of the 300-mile per hour Top Fuel dragsters. He still remembers the time he told her he was giving up the Pro Stock Motorcycles to race the dragsters.

“My Grandma’s exact words, she looked at me, and said, ‘Boy, you alright? Are you out of your bleeping mind?” Brown said, recalling the exchange.

“She said that seriously but she would come back and say if you think you can do it, I know you can do it,” Brown continued. “She was fully supportive in everything I did but her main issue was the safety. She said ‘Make sure you got a good life insurance policy for the family.'”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brown is quick to point out his grandmother can go from joking to serious quicker than his Matco Tools-sponsored dragster can encompass the quarter-mile. She takes her drag racing seriously.

“She was the one that taught all of us how to race,” Brown said. “My dad … my uncle … if they didn’t race right she’d jump in the car and show them how to drive it. My grandma’s in her seventies now. It’s funny because she still drives,” Brown explained.

It’s ironic the race that Grandma Lossie attended was the same Englishtown, N.J., facility that Brown sat in the grandstands as a kid, aspiring to be just like those who monster down the drag strip.

As far as he could remember, Brown remembered getting in trouble and while drag racing may not have been the cause for all of his childhood troubles, they were intermingled within the mix. He learned at an early age that work and chores come first and everything else a distant second.

“I wanted to go out and race and play before I did my work at the house,” Brown said. “At my house we called my Grandmom the drill sergeant. That’s what she was. She loved the boys because she could just crack the whip and be hard on them. I remember back in the day hiding out in the cornfields because my Grandma told me do something and I didn’t want to do it, I wanted to go play or something. I wanted to go ride my dirt bike or go out in the street and race with my boys. So my Grandma used to come in there and say ‘Boy, you better get your behind in there and feed these dogs.’

“Everybody always said, ‘What’s the big deal about feeding a dog?’ It wasn’t a big deal feeding the dog but it’s a different story when your grandma has over 30 dogs. That’s the biggest deal. You go through 50 pounds of dog food a day -- 50 pounds of dog food in one day! That’s how many dogs she had. That’s not to count the dogs she had inside of the house. I used to try to get out of it every once in a while and do other stuff. You know you’re a kid, you want to have fun. That’s what I used to get in trouble for the most was I would not only skip out on chores but on hard manual labor kids aren’t supposed to be doing.”

Back then, Brown would have been labeled as a dreamer. He’d watched an uncle and his dad tinker with drag racing long enough to know that’s what he wanted to do. He learned marketing 101 from Lossie because she’d dealt with her boys long enough to know how to field her grandson’s dreams.

 

 

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“My grandma kind of used that as her edge to make you do more work,” Brown confided. “She said ‘Boy you want to go to the races? You got to get that money from somewhere. So you need to go out here and do this…’

According to Brown, Grandma Lossie tinkered with cars and remained true to the junkyard specials.

“She had enough money to go get whatever she wanted,” Brown explained. “She had a Cadillac, she had a Jaguar and all that kind of stuff but Grandma like to ride around in her ‘Palumpo Pops’ as we’d call them … her Sanford & Son cars, that’s what she did. She’d go to flea markets and buy people's old used beat up cars and fix them up.

“That’s how I learned to be a mechanic at such a young age because I had to work on those old junkyard cars. It’s kind of funny because I never wanted to go to school because every time I missed the bus they always dropped me off in one of those Palumpo Pops in front of the school.”

Brown further clarified, “Palumpo Pops…that’s what they would do…Palump Pop-Pop-Pop-Boom!”

Brown credits much of his calmness under pressure from his time spent at Grandma Lossie’s house. If you could survive the toughness of her house, you could survive anywhere, even the confines of an 8,000-horsepower dragster cockpit.

His family moved in with Grandma Lossie in 1981 when he was only 6-years old in order to assist with the family business.

“Grandma’s house was always tough,” Brown admitted. “I grew up with my Grandma because my Mom and Dad were always working during the day and my Uncle was out running the business. They left grandma with me, my brother and my cousin Andre, who is my first cousin. We were always at the house going to school from the house and it was just comical. It was like I had this little old lady who was only 5’2”, only weighed about 115 pounds and she was like a 6’5” giant the way she cracked down on you.

“She even made you get your own switch. Said ‘Boy, go out there to that tree and get me a switch.'”

“You’d say ‘What’s that for Grandma?’ She’d say ‘That’s what I’m going to tear your behind up with when you step out of line today.’ Because when you stepped out of line, she used the switch. She had to use the switch almost every day. That’s how I got smart. Everybody wonders how I got so quick on my feet, that’s from running from my Grandma.”

 

 

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Brown said his elder doesn’t discriminate when it comes to exhibiting her toughness or her ability to appear much younger

than her age.

“She’s the only woman I know 70 years or older still gets speeding tickets,” Brown admitted. “…then cusses the cop out for giving an old lady a speeding ticket, saying ‘You should get your radar gun fixed instead of giving old ladies tickets.'”

But there’s one person that can keep Grandma Lossie in check and that’s his Great Grandma, who’s still alive and active at 95 years old.

“My Great Grandma didn’t take any junk, she’s full blooded Indian,” Brown said. “It’s funny because my Grandma does the same thing with us but when her mom comes around she’s tight lipped. That’s the general, the four-star general of the family.”

Great Grandma actually named her Lossie because of a trip to New York City when she got lost. The incident was never forgotten and will often inspire a sly smile from her.

With Grandma Lossie, there is no comparison. Not even his crew chief, Lee Beard, rates a close second.

“Shoot Lee Beard is a pooch compared to my Grandma,” Brown said. “Lee Beard’s very easy to get along with; he’s a great coach to this team. He’s a great motivator; also he’s very smart and determined. That’s what the key to our success is. It starts from the top up. To have a great leader like that over here, then everybody is comfortable and is able to put their knowledge in. You’re able to go forward because we’re all working together. But with Grandma, it was straight dictatorship. It was her way or the highway. Let me tell you something…Have you ever seen Full Metal Jacket? You know that drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket? I met that joker plenty of times at the Army shows. Let me tell you something. He ain’t got nothing on my Grandma. My Grandma would cuss him underneath a bed. My Grandma cusses like a sailor. She’ll tell you what you are real quick. My Dad is 55-years old, still to this day my Grandma slaps him in the back of the head and says ‘You stupid blah-blah-blah.'”

Beard doesn’t even have to correct his driver. Grandma Lossie will handle that department.

“When you mess up, she'll smack you behind the head and tell you ‘Boy, wake up.’

“You ain’t cutting a good light, she’ll get on you. You ain’t driving her car or her motorcycle right, yet she’ll get on you. She was very tough on us, but I think that has made us what we are. We never take things for granted because my Grandma always said ‘Nothing comes without hard work.’ Believe me; she worked us like dogs growing up.”

But even her toughness couldn’t hold back the emotion when her grandson stormed to the low elapsed time of Top Fuel qualifying in Englishtown.

“She smiled,” Brown said. “I could tell that was one of those proud of you smiles.”