Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: New crew chief sparked Bernstein’s stellar season

Thursday, June 28, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

Kenny Bernstein started his impressive run to the top of the NHRA Top Fuel standings with a victory at the SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in April.

Since "running the table" in Las Vegas -- setting low elapsed time, top speed, qualifying number one and winning the race -- Bernstein has added three more victories and enters next weekend's Pep Boys 50th Anniversary Nationals in Pomona, Calif., with an 80-point lead over Larry Dixon as he chases his second Top Fuel championship and sixth overall.

But to hear Bernstein tell it, his banner season actually started in February with the hiring of crew chief Tim Richards.

"With Tim and the team we have right now, it's really fun going racing every week," Bernstein said. "We know we have a chance of winning every time we pull to the starting line (and) that's a great feeling. But at the end of the 2002 season, we'll be ready to step from the cockpit.

"In all truthfulness, if it weren't for the team and the success we're having right now, we probably would have called it a day at the end of this season."

Bernstein announced earlier this year that next season would be his last in the cockpit of the Budweiser King Dragster. In 2003, Bernstein will turn the wheel over to his son, Brandon, who scored a Federal-Mogul Dragster win in Las Vegas on the same weekend his father won the NHRA national event here.

"We're very proud of Brandon's accomplishments," Bernstein said. "He has been fortunate to become very successful from the start. When Brandon steps into the seat of the Budweiser King, he's going to be under a lot of pressure to perform. Another year driving in the Federal-Mogul dragster class will just give him that much more experience."

Bernstein said he is looking forward to next weekend's event at Pomona -- a track on which he has experienced a great deal of success. Bernstein has been to the final round 12 times at the Pomona Fairplex, winning three times in the Funny Car category and three times in Top Fuel.

NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Angelle Savoie isn't the only female making news in drag racing. Three women are ranked among the top in the Street division of the National Performance Center E.T. Bracket Racing Series at The Strip at LVMS.

Lynn Farnum, in only her third year of drag racing, leads the Street division points standings, Stephanie Jones is third and Becky Landram is fifth.

Jones has several theories on why the women are faring so well at The Strip.

"Well, first, some of the guys get weird about women racing," she said. "They put more pressure on themselves because they don't want to 'lose to a girl' and then they make a mistake. All three of us (women) have really consistent cars. We don't fiddle with them or make adjustments, so we know what they're going to do every time we go down The Strip.

"And, I think I heard somewhere that women's reaction times are supposedly better (than men's), but who knows."