Kenny Bernstein

Did You Know?

• He gave his 1996 Top Fuel championship trophy to Blaine Johnson's brother Alan at the awards banquet.
• His Budweiser sponsorship lasted 30 years, from 1979 through 2009.
• In 2008, after Scott Kalitta's death, Bernstein helped develop a sensor that shuts off the fuel pump and deploys parachutes if an engine backfires.

Early life

Bernstein was a student at Monterey High School in Lubbock, Texas, and played football there. In 1966, he left his business administration studies at Arlington State College to chase a career in drag racing. Lacking funds, he worked as a traveling salesman for the teen girls' clothing line Whistle Stop, covering five states in a Cadillac. During the 1970s, he started a tow truck business and the Chelsea Street Pub chain, later selling both.

Drag racing career

Kenny Bernstein first drove a funny car at the 1978 NHRA Summernationals in Englishtown, piloting the Chelsea King entry. He became a full-time professional in the class the next year. Bernstein claimed his first Funny Car championship in 1985 and repeated that feat for the next three seasons. In 1987, working with tuner Dale Armstrong, he turned to land speed racers the Arivett brothers to create the Bud King Buick LeSabre, nicknamed the Batmobile, which dramatically altered funny car aerodynamics. After NHRA rules changed in 1990, Bernstein switched to Top Fuel dragsters. He became the first driver to break 300 mph in competition two years later. His first Top Fuel title came in 1996, making him the NHRA’s first champion in both nitro classes, though he called that win somewhat tainted following the death of driver Blaine Johnson. At the awards banquet, Bernstein gave his trophy to Johnson’s brother and crew chief, Alan, who later won twelve more championships with other drivers. Bernstein reclaimed the Top Fuel crown in 2001, remaining the only driver with multiple titles in both nitro categories. He retired in 2002, handing the Budweiser King to his son Brandon, but returned as a substitute after Brandon broke his back in June. Despite racing only 15 events, Bernstein won four straight Top Fuel races to finish the season, placing sixth in points. In September 2006, he announced a comeback in Funny Car for 2007, fielding a Monster Energy Dodge Charger for his own team. He failed to qualify for the first two events of 2007, then fired crew chief Ray Alley and replaced him with Jimmy Walsh.