Fast Break

Drag racing

Brown’s wins make history

Antron Brown became the first driver in NHRA history to win races in Pro Stock Motorcycle and Top Fuel (above), beating Larry Dixon in the Top Fuel final Sunday in the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Baytown, Texas.

Brown, who also joined J.R. Todd as the only black Top Fuel winners, followed Del Worsham (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) into the winner’s circle at the fourth of 24 races in the series.

Brown, a 16-time winner in Pro Stock Motorcycle before making the jump to the 7,000-horsepower Top Fuel class this year, sped past Dixon in a terrific final, finishing in 4.605 seconds at 320.28 mph to Dixon’s 4.621 at 309.06.

Worsham beat John Force in the semis and Ashley Force in the final, 4.933 at 316.60 to 4.971 at 302.62, en route to his 22nd career win, but just his first since 2005.

Anderson’s win in 6.692 at 207.37 over a tire-shaking Kurt Johnson (13.425 at 64.01) was the 53rd of his career.

Smith (7.060 at 187.76), sailed past Matt Guidera (7.140 at 185.03) to claim his first win of the season.

NHL

Red Wings help Howe enjoy 80

The Detroit Red Wings celebrated Gordie Howe’s 80th birthday with a ceremony before Sunday’s game against the Nashville Predators.

Howe, who turns 80 today, was presented with a framed No. 17 jersey – his number his rookie year before he got No. 9 his second season. He also was presented with a leather jacket; when he signed, part of his bonus was a leather Red Wings jacket.

“I’ve been treated like an angel,” Howe said after the ceremony.

The Hall of Famer known as “Mr. Hockey” played for Detroit from 1946 to 1971 before returning to the ice with the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association in 1973-74 along with sons Mark and Marty. The trio also played with the WHA’s New England Whalers. He played in the WHA for six seasons before he returned to the NHL with the Hartford Whalers via the NHL-WHA merger in the 1979-80 season.

His 801 NHL goals are second to Wayne Gretzky and his 1,850 points have only been surpassed by Gretzky and Mark Messier.

College basketball

NBA likes Final Four teams

North Carolina, Kansas, Memphis and UCLA, the four No. 1 seeds headed to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament, have placed a total of 32 players on current NBA rosters. The Tar Heels and Bruins lead the way with 10 each.

The school with the best representation in the league this season is Connecticut, which was the No. 4 seed in the West Region. The Huskies have 13 players on NBA rosters, including 2008 All-Stars Ray Allen (Boston), Richard Hamilton (Detroit) and Caron Butler (Washington).