Kenny Bernstein

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/05/2003 (8147 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT’S interesting that with all the travel, championships and incredible speeds Kenny Bernstein enjoyed during his three-plus decades in drag racing, one of the most satisfying moments of his fast-paced life came while he was standing still.

There he was earlier this year, proudly watching 30-year-old son Brandon — a chip off the ol’ block if there ever was one — taking the same Budweiser bath that daddy had taken so many times before in the winner’s circle.

From racer, to restaurateur, back to racer, then on to car owner and proud papa — that day with Brandon truly brought this thing full circle for a man who built his empire driving in straight lines.

“We knew we could do it,” said Kenny Bernstein of Brandon’s first Top Fuel win in only his second start. “Just how long it would take was the question.” Top Fuel is the highest class of professional drag racing.

The funny thing is, it doesn’t take Bernstein Sr. long to do much of anything, be it hurling himself at 320 m.p.h. (510 km-h) down a quarter-mile swath of pavement in less than five seconds, or speed-walking eight kilometres each day in about a half hour. You had better grab him now because if you blink he’ll be gone.

It has always been that way for Bernstein. How else would things be for the brash Texan known simply as the “King of Speed”?

“The demands on my time and energy are enormous, but somehow those short moments behind the wheel have always made it worthwhile,” said Bernstein, who passed the team legacy and handed the wheel to his son this season.

The accomplishments are as plentiful as the revs per minute. In 1996, Bernstein became the first driver to win a title in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. He won four straight titles in Funny Car (similar to Top Fuel, but the cars are cloaked in car-like carbon-fibre bodies) between 1985 and 1988 and he is the fourth winningest driver in the National Hot Rod Association’s history (NHRA is drag racing’s governing body).

But Bernstein will always be best remembered as the first driver to eclipse the coveted 300-m.p.h. (480-km-h) barrier when his “Budweiser King” hit the mark in 1992.

“That was a real milestone achievement,” Bernstein says more than a decade later. “I don’t think we’ll see the 400 miles-per-hour (640 km-h) barrier looming on the horizon in my lifetime. I can’t even foresee us running much faster than we are now.”

Of course, Bernstein, 58, admits he never could have seen any of this coming — even if the signs of a champion were there all along.

The first and best glimpse into the kind of boy Bernstein was, and the kind of man he would become, came when he took a job selling socks — three pairs for a buck — at a department store that his father, Bert, managed in Lubbock, Tex. Kenny was 9.

Those early lessons in life and money became the roots of one of the most successful and wealthy names in motorsports and a perfect example that a fast ride isn’t usually a free ride.

Summer and part-time jobs bankrolled Bernstein’s love for speed and muscle cars as a teenager in the early 1960s. A job as a women’s clothes salesman financed the early racing efforts in the late 1960s.

“I knew that if I worked hard and smart I was going to be OK,” Bernstein said. “It started with wanting to own fast cars, but those lessons about earning and handling money have lasted a lifetime.”

Even during the six years Bernstein dropped racing because of a lack of results, he was still always on the move and always in control, needing just five years to turn the modest Chelsea Street Pub in Lubbock into a 16-restaurant, 2,700-employee franchise with locations in five states.

But racing can be a stubborn itch, and just five years after he opened his first restaurant, Bernstein was back on the drag strip, driving the “Chelsea King” Funny Car and realizing his lifelong dream.

As always, he wasn’t satisfied. If he hoped to trade restaurants for racing, he needed outside sponsorship and he made a bold move to secure it, driving all night from a race in Louisiana to St. Louis, Mo., to display his Funny Car and trailer outside of Budweiser headquarters before the employees reported to work Monday morning.

The Budweiser boys were impressed at the sight and after a brief sales pitch, Bernstein had his backing.

The restaurants were sold. The cars were built and an empire born. More than two decades later, the relationship between the brewery and the Bernsteins is as strong as ever.

Conquering the quarter-mile led to opportunities on the oval tracks and road courses in other racing circuits. Bernstein remains the only car owner to win races in all three of America’s premier circuits — NHRA, Winston Cup stock car and IndyCar open-wheel racing.

It has been a fast and wild ride for Bernstein and King Racing. And even though he’s out of the car now, don’t expect him to slow down anytime soon.

“I have no regrets on anything. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to do what I enjoy doing and make a living out of it.

“I don’t know what else anybody could want out of a career.”

Todd Burlage is a feature writer and contributor to Wheelbase Communications.