Antron Brown Motorsports will head into the NHRA season finale at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip with a major milestone to celebrate and a difficult loss to carry. Angelle Sampey has earned her Top Fuel license after a 3.68-second pass at 337 mph in Las Vegas, but she and the team will also be racing with heavy hearts after the death of her mother, Abigail Sampey.
For Brown, the weekend brings together two sides of drag racing at its highest level: the focus required to finish a season strongly and the personal realities that can shape a team’s mood away from the track. Sampey’s move from motorcycles to four wheels has already produced a significant step forward, and Pomona offers a familiar setting for a driver who has twice won there before.
Sampey’s Las Vegas breakthrough
Sampey’s licensing run in Las Vegas marked an important moment in her transition from Pro Stock Motorcycle to Top Fuel. The pass, completed after the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals, confirmed that she is moving deeper into the next phase of her career and gave Antron Brown Motorsports another reason to feel encouraged heading into the finale.
Brown, who made the switch from Pro Stock Motorcycle to Top Fuel before helping Sampey with the same transition, knows how demanding that step can be. His support has been part of the backdrop to this development, and the timing makes the achievement even more notable.
Sampey is not entering this weekend as a newcomer to Pomona, either. She won Pro Stock Motorcycle titles at the season-ending event there in 2001 and again in 2004, so the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip is already a place linked to some of her biggest moments.
Heavy hearts in Pomona
The emotional side of the weekend is impossible to ignore. During the same period as Sampey’s licensing progress, Abigail Sampey was struck while taking her afternoon walk, airlifted to a hospital, and later died from her injuries. Brown said the team would be ready to race in Pomona, but acknowledged they will do so with heavy hearts after the passing of Sampey’s mother.
Sampey said she will be racing with an extra heavy heart this weekend, while also making clear that her competitive aim has not changed. She said the goal remains to take home a Diamond Wally, and added that the last week has been incredibly tough.
Still, her words also reflected why the track matters so much in moments like this. Sampey said that if there is one place that feels like home, it is the racetrack, and she added that she cannot wait to get back out there and do what she loves.
That is where the story now sits for Antron Brown Motorsports at the NHRA Finals. The team arrives in Pomona with a fresh technical milestone, a familiar track for Sampey, and a personal loss that will sit alongside the racing all weekend long.
