Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: ‘Retired’ Bernstein wins for injured son in Illinois

Thursday, Oct. 2, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Kenny Bernstein claimed sole possession of second place on the NHRA's all-time Top Fuel wins list with his victory Sunday at the Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill.

But Bernstein's 36th career Top Fuel victory -- to go along with his 30 Funny Car wins -- was special for more than just its historical significance. It was the first since Bernstein, 59, came out of retirement to drive the Budweiser / Lucas Oil dragster in place of his injured son, Brandon.

"We had been trying to win one for Brandon ever since his accident," the elder Bernstein said. "It was a tremendous victory for all of us as a team. Winning is the ultimate, but this was a special one; this was for Brandon.

Brandon Bernstein suffered serious back injuries, including two broken vertebrae, when he crashed during the first round of eliminations at Englishtown, N.J., on May 18. He will sit out the remainder of the year before returning to the cockpit at the start of next season.

"He suffered so much and you have no idea what he went through for a couple of months there," Kenny Bernstein said of his son. "He did it like a trooper. He was the one who should have been driving the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster. We've been trying to win since Englishtown, and we finally got it done."

The elder Bernstein passed Don Garlits on the NHRA's Top Fuel all-time wins list. He trails all-time leader Joe Amato, who won 52 Top Fuel races during his career.

"To move ahead of Garlits is a great honor because he made this sport go in the early days and I still consider him to be the man," Bernstein said. "If he would have kept racing, he would have won a lot more."

Even more gratifying for Bernstein had to be the fact that he defeated his "beer wars" rival, Larry Dixon, in the final. It was Dixon who beat out Bernstein for the 2002 Top Fuel championship in what was supposed to be Bernstein's final year in the cockpit.

Pedregon leads Whit Bazemore by 69 points with four races remaining in the season. Bazemore, who held a seven-point edge over Pedregon going into the race, lost to Cory Lee in the first round of eliminations in Joliet.

"I think when we lost the points lead, it made us focus a little more and this was the result," Pedregon said. "Sometimes you need a little luck and we had some (Sunday)."

The times from the first qualifying session in September will stand. The professional racers will get two more chances to qualify on Saturday and final eliminations will be Sunday morning.

Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Tony Pedregon (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Shawn Gann (Pro Stock Bike) were the top qualifiers after one round in September.

Friday's "Midnight Mayhem" for street-legal cars and motorcycles will run from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. A complete schedule of the weekend's events can be found at www.lvms.com and information on Sunday's "Bug In" can be found at www.bugorama.com.