Catching Up With: Kenny Bernstein

Richard Dunn

In the twilight of his career, legendary drag racer Kenny Bernstein

is going out on top entering his final season in the Budweiser King seat.

Bernstein, whose 29-year-old son, Brandon, will take over behind the

wheel in 2003, will remain as owner of the dragster and continue

traveling with the team.

But at 58 by next season’s end, Bernstein is ready to hand over the

keys and ride off into the sunset like a true cowboy. After all,

Bernstein was raised in Lubbock, Texas, where drag racing in the late

1950s and early ‘60s was more popular than malt shops and bebop tunes.

“Cars were very important in that era,” Bernstein said. “It started

with hot rods and customizing cars. You had to have a hot rod in West

Texas, and drag racing is what we did as kids ... I just liked doing it

and enjoyed the competition. Growing up in West Texas, you’re exposed to

it. I’m sure if I’d grown up in Charlotte, North Carolina, I’d be driving

stock cars. You’re really a product of your environment, and that’s what

happened to me over the years.”

Bernstein went to college towing a race car and parked it outside his

dorm, but it wasn’t long before the dean told him to make a decision

between academics and racing. So Bernstein chose racing.

His rise to the top was as quick as his Budweiser King dragster, which

can exceed 320 mph in powerful quarter-mile runs in 4.5 seconds.

In the National Hot Rod Association’s poll of its top 50 drivers of

all time, Bernstein ranked No. 6. And that was before he won both the

Winston Top Fuel Championship and the Auto Club NHRA Final last month.

“It was a phenomenal year,” Bernstein said. “When you put it all on

paper, it was pretty awesome. There were a lot of accomplishments besides

winning the (NHRA Winston) championship. It was our best year since the

‘80s, when we dominated the Funny Car.”

Bernstein has captured six NHRA world championships, four in Funny Car

(1985-88) and two in Top Fuel (1996 and 2001). This year he won 61 rounds

of drag racing competition, the most in one season in NHRA Top Fuel

history, while winning eight NHRA national events, including at the

Pomona Fairplex Nov. 11.

Further, Bernstein established the world elapsed time record (4.477

seconds), the fastest time in the history of the sport, in June at the

Route 66 Raceway in Chicago. He also set a national speed record (332.18

mph) in Reading, Pa., Oct. 7.

The Nov. 11 victory marked Bernstein’s 61st career win and his 31st in

Top Fuel, while he and his son made NHRA history at Las Vegas in April,

becoming the first father/son duo to win their categories at the same

national event, then repeated their efforts two months later in Chicago.

“We’re ready for a break now, but we’ll be prepared to kick off the

Forever Red farewell tour in February,” said Bernstein, referring to his

final year in the cockpit. “It has been an honor for me to represent

Budweiser for 22 years (the longest current racer-sponsor association in

all of motor sports), Mac Tools for 14 years, along with Winston and NHRA

throughout my entire career.

“My dream when I was growing up was to be able to race professionally

and to make racing my livelihood. Without Budweiser and the opportunity

that NHRA Winston drag racing has afforded me, I never would have been

able to realize this dream.”

A part-time Newport Beach resident since 1980, Bernstein built a home

in Corona del Mar in the late 1990s and settled for good. Well, sort of.

As owner of the dragster and company with a 12,000-square foot

facility in Lake Forest, Bernstein will continue to travel 200-to-225

days a year with the Budweiser King team.

“That’s a lot of time on the highways and a lot of hotels,” said

Bernstein, who, after 30 years of racing Top Fuel dragsters, is ready to

relinquish the driver’s seat to his son.

“I’ve been fortunate because (the team) has accomplished a lot,” added

Bernstein. “I’ll be 58 by the end of next year and it’s time for someone

else in the car. I’m excited about my son taking over and I feel like I’m

going out on top of my game. It’s nice to quit then.”

One of these days, Bernstein also plans on playing more golf. The

Santa Ana Country Club member has yet to play in a member/member

tournament.