Kenny Bernstein
Encyclopedia
Drag racing
Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....
and former NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
and IndyCar
IndyCar
IndyCar is the trade name of an American-based open-wheel auto racing sanctioning body. IndyCar sanctions three racing series, the premier IZOD IndyCar Series with its centerpiece Indianapolis 500, and developmental series Firestone Indy Lights and the U.S...
team owner. He is nicknamed the "Bud King" for his success in the Budweiser King dragster, he has also been nicknamed "The King of Speed," because he was the first driver to break 300 miles per hour in the standing-start quarter mile. Bernstein fields the Copart/Lucas Oil
Lucas Oil
Lucas Oil Products is a manufacturer and distributor of automotive oil, additives, and lubricants. It was founded by trucker Forrest Lucas and his wife Charlotte in 1989....
dragster for his son Brandon Bernstein
Brandon Bernstein
Brandon Bernstein is and American Drag Racer, and son of NHRA Legend Kenny Bernstein.-Early life:Bernstein was born in Dallas, Texas on August 2, 1972 the son of 6 time NHRA Champion Kenny Bernstein. He worked on his dad's team when he was a teenager...
in Top Fuel.
Early life
Bernstein attended Monterey High SchoolMonterey High School (Lubbock, Texas)
Monterey High School is a 5A high school located in central Lubbock, Texas, United States. Monterey is part of the Lubbock Independent School District. Established in 1955, Monterey was the third high school to be established in Lubbock, after Lubbock High School and Dunbar High School...
in Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
; he played on the high school's football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team. Bernstein was attending the Arlington State College (now University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington is a public research university located in Arlington, Texas, United States. The campus is situated southwest of downtown Arlington, and is located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. The university was founded in 1895 and served primarily a military...
) in 1966 for business administration when he decided to quit to become a drag racer. He did not have enough money, so he became a traveling salesman for Whistle Stop (a clothing line for teenage girls). He drove throughout Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, and Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
in a Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
.
Drag racing career
Bernstein first became a full-time professional Funny CarFunny Car
Funny Car is a drag racing car class. In the United States, other "professional" classes are Top Fuel, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Funny cars have forward-mounted engines and carbon fiber automotive bodies over the chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers'...
driver in 1979, although he had participated in a few events in preceding years. The following year, he acquired a sponsorship deal from Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. , is an American brewing company. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and 18 in other countries. It was, until December 2009, also one of America's largest theme park operators; operating ten theme parks across the United States through the...
(which, as noted above, is with its Budweiser brand), which lasted for thirty years until the new owner of Anheuser-Busch, InBev
InBev
InBev is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company existed independently for several years - since the merger between Interbrew and AmBev and until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. InBev has operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries...
, elected not to renew his contract. Bernstein won his first Funny Car championship in 1985, and successfully defended his title over the next three seasons.
In 1990, following a change in NHRA rules, Bernstein began to drive in the Top Fuel
Top Fuel
Top Fuel racing is a class of drag racing in which the cars are run on a mix of approximately 90% nitromethane and 10% methanol rather than gasoline or simply methanol. The cars are purpose-built for drag racing, with an exaggerated layout that in some ways resembles open-wheel circuit racing...
Dragster class. Two years later, Bernstein became the first driver in any class to exceed 300 MPH in competition, and won his first Top Fuel championship in 1996, becoming the first driver in NHRA history to win a championship in both of the nitro classes, however, Bernstein states that his 1996 championship was "somewhat tainted", due to the loss of driver Blaine Johnson
Blaine Johnson
Blaine H. Johnson was a professional drag racer.Blaine, along with his life-long crew chief and brother, Alan, were competitors in the NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster Series, a series which they entered in 1988...
. At the awards banquet that year, Bernstein gave up his championship trophy to Blaine's brother, and life long crew chief Alan, who has gone on to win eight more championship trophies himself, as crew chief for both Gary Scelzi
Gary Scelzi
Gary Scelzi, , is an American dragster racer and midget car owner who has won the NHRA Powerade Top Fuel championship on three occasions and the Funny Car title once...
, and Tony Schumacher. Bernstein reclaimed the title in 2001, and is the only driver to have achieved multiple championships in both nitro categories.
Bernstein retired in 2002, handing driving duties of the "Budweiser King" to his son Brandon. However, he was pressed back into action as a substitute driver after Brandon Bernstein broke his back in June. Although he only raced in 15 events, Bernstein picked up right where he had left off, winning four straight Top Fuel events to close out the season, placing him sixth in season points. He returned to running his team after the season, but rumors began to persist that a comeback was in the works.
In September 2006, Bernstein announced that he would return to racing in the Funny Car division the following season, fielding the Monster Energy
Monster Energy
-Distribution :Though it is not widely advertised in the media, Monster receives a large amount of recognition from its sponsorship of various sporting events, including motocross and car racing. Hansen Natural Corporation announced a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch in the U.S. and Grupo...
Dodge Charger
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is an American automobile manufactured by the Dodge division of Chrysler. There have been several different Dodge vehicles, built on three different platforms and sizes, all bearing the Charger nameplate...
for his own team. His return to active competition was not a good one to start, as he failed to qualify for the opening two events in the 2007 season, earning the minimum 10 points each driver gets for making at least one qualifying run. Following those events, Bernstein fired his crew chief Ray Alley and replaced him with Jimmy Walsh, former crew chief for Top Fuel driver J.R. Todd.
Bernstein's results gradually improved over the season, but he did not make the inaugural Countdown to the Championship. He returned to retirement following the season and hired Tommy Johnson, Jr. to drive the Monster Energy Charger for 2008. Bernstein discontinued the team following that season.
Bernstein is the current president of the Professional Racers Organisation (PRO), a group of NHRA drivers, mechanics, and team owners, which has helped influence safety and prize money. In light of the crash that took the life of Eric Medlen
Eric Medlen
Eric Medlen , son of John and Mary Medlen and brother of Eryn Medlen, was an NHRA Fuel Funny Car driver...
, Bernstein has been influential in adjusting safety standards on NHRA race cars and safety restraints.
In 2008, as a direct result of the death of Funny Car Driver Scott Kalitta
Scott Kalitta
Scott Kalitta was an American drag racer who competed in the Funny Car and Top Fuel classes in the National Hot Rod Association Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. He was killed at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, after an accident during qualifying...
, Bernstein, along with help from 14 time Funny Car Champion John Force
John Force
John Harold Force is an NHRA drag racer, a 15-time Funny Car champion driver, and a 17-time champion car owner. Force owns and drives for John Force Racing. He is one of the most dominant drag racers in the sport with 133 career victories...
, six time Top Fuel Champion Tony Schumacher, and NHRA's Track Safety Committee, developed a sensor that monitors the engines of Top Fuel dragsters, and Funny Cars. Should the engine backfire at any time, the fuel pump will automatically shut off, and the parachutes will instantly deploy. This measure is intended to reduce, if not completely eliminate the kinds of circumstances that contributed to Kalitta's death.
On November 15, 2011, two days after the close of the 2011 racing season, Bernstein announced his full retirement from NHRA racing as both driver and team owner.
Owner
Bernstein owned King RacingKing Racing
King Racing was the name of famed NHRA champion Kenny Bernstein's racing team which fielded cars in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series as well as in CART and the Indianapolis 500.-NASCAR:...
, a NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
team that operated from 1986 to 1995. At the same he operated the IndyCar
Champ Car
Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...
team, King Motorsports. Bernstein is the only team owner to record victories in all three categories.
Awards
- Named sixth on the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers, 1951–2000
- Kenny is the second race car driver to be elected into the International Jewish Sports Hall of FameInternational Jewish Sports Hall of FameThe International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame was opened July 7, 1981, in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around the world....
. (2006) Jody ScheckterJody ScheckterJody David Scheckter is a South African former auto racing driver, the Formula One World Drivers Champion.-Career:Scheckter was born in East London, South Africa and educated at Selborne College.-Formula One:...
was elected in 1983. - Bernstein was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of AmericaMotorsports Hall of Fame of AmericaThe Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is a Hall of Fame and museum for American motorsports legends. It was originally located in Novi, Michigan and it moved to the Detroit Science Center in 2009.-Museum:...
in 2009.
Legacy
- Bernstein and former crew chief Dale ArmstrongDale ArmstrongDale Armstrong is a Canadian drag racer and crew chief. After winning 12 National Hot Rod Association and 12 International Hot Rod Association events in the 1970s, including the Pro Comp title in 1975, he became Kenny Bernstein's crew chief. The combination produced four consecutive national...
are often credited with making aerodynamicsAerodynamicsAerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Aerodynamics is a subfield of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, with much theory shared between them. Aerodynamics is often used synonymously with gas dynamics, with...
a key part of Funny Car design, with a series of Ford TempoFord TempoThe Ford Tempo is a coupe/sedan car model that was produced by Ford Motor Company for model years 1984 to 1994. It was a downsized successor to the boxy Ford Fairmont that introduced "jellybean" styling, which would later be shown on the larger 1986 Ford Taurus. and was replaced in 1994 by the...
s used during the 1984–86 seasons and a design loosely based on a Buick LeSabreBuick LeSabre1959LeSabre and all other 1959 Buicks not only got new names, but all-new styling as well, adopting the new GM B- and C-body used on all of the corporation's full-sized cars...
, known as "the Batmobile", during the 1987 season. - Bernstein's relationship with BudweiserBudweiserBudweiser is a German adjective describing something or someone from the city of České Budějovice in Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic.Beer brewing in České Budějovice dates back to the 13th century...
was the longest sponsor relationship in motorsports history with 30 years (either him or his son), that started in 1979.