<img src="http://gallery.nitromater.com/files/6/5/a_brown.jpg" alt="a_brown" align="left"borders="0"/><img src="http://gallery.nitromater.com/files/6/5/A_Sampey.jpg" alt="A_Sampey" align="left"borders="0"/>
By the time Brown and Sampey take to the track on Friday for qualifying, they will have been on the sidelines for almost a month.
"It's been a while since we last raced on Labor Day (at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals)," said Brown. "I'm not used to not competing for such a long time. I just hope the weather is fine this time around in Pennsylvania. We've got a points battle to deal with."
Brown, who hails from nearby Chesterfield, N.J., currently holds second-place in the standings, eight points removed from leader, Andrew Hines.
"Tony talks about it being crunch time -- it's actually worse for us because we've got one less race left than him," related Brown. "It's time for us to put the hammer down."
Sampey will likely have to put two hammers down over the remaining events since she's 98 points behind Hines in third-place.
"There's time to get back into this thing, but I can't make any more mistakes," said the three-time world champ. "I can't be giving away wins like I did in Indy when I fouled out with a red light. That's got to stop."
The good news for Sampey is that she's headed for a track that she's "owned" over the years.
"I do have six career wins at Maple Grove, which helps my confidence," she said. "But, that doesn't mean everyone is going to roll over and play dead for us. Like always, we're going to have to go out and earn everything we get."
Crunch Time for Brown and Sampey
By the time Brown and Sampey take to the track on Friday for qualifying, they will have been on the sidelines for almost a month.
"It's been a while since we last raced on Labor Day (at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals)," said Brown. "I'm not used to not competing for such a long time. I just hope the weather is fine this time around in Pennsylvania. We've got a points battle to deal with."
Brown, who hails from nearby Chesterfield, N.J., currently holds second-place in the standings, eight points removed from leader, Andrew Hines.
"Tony talks about it being crunch time -- it's actually worse for us because we've got one less race left than him," related Brown. "It's time for us to put the hammer down."
Sampey will likely have to put two hammers down over the remaining events since she's 98 points behind Hines in third-place.
"There's time to get back into this thing, but I can't make any more mistakes," said the three-time world champ. "I can't be giving away wins like I did in Indy when I fouled out with a red light. That's got to stop."
The good news for Sampey is that she's headed for a track that she's "owned" over the years.
"I do have six career wins at Maple Grove, which helps my confidence," she said. "But, that doesn't mean everyone is going to roll over and play dead for us. Like always, we're going to have to go out and earn everything we get."
