BRISTOL, Tenn. - Kenny Bernstein is still racing, even though he’s no longer firing up a car on the track.
Bernstein left the racing world as a driver last year, after spending more than 40 years winning championships and pushing a staggering variety of cars to the limit.
But Bernstein’s passion for the sport still remains.
Asked how the current National Hot Rod Association season was treating him, Bernstein roared back.
“[Things are] fair. Just fair,” Bernstein said. “The [Brandon Bernstein’s] Budweiser car is there and runs good and is always competitive. It’s not quite at the top of the game there yet, but it’s right there in it, very close.
“[Tommy Johnson Jr.’s] Monster is struggling. It’s still giving us some problems. We’re working as hard as we can to try to get it as good as we want it to be. And that’s just part of racing; that’s what it takes.”
Bernstein, 63, ranks fourth in NHRA history with 69 total victories and owns six NHRA championships. His 39 Top Fuel wins and 30 Funny Car victories place him in the top five in each division, while his streak of 168 consecutive qualifying ranks him fifth in NHRA history.
Now, Bernstein is searching for “consistency” as an owner of two NHRA cars.
“When you’re having it all good, it’s great. But when you’re having them all bad, it’s not so much fun,” Bernstein said. “That’s the challenge right now, to get off this horse that we’re on, which is kind of a bad horse right now.”
Asked for specifics, Bernstein laughed.
“You don’t have enough time, believe me,” he said.
Despite his teams’ struggles this season, Bernstein said he’s in a good place. A life devoted to racing has allowed him to experience things most race fans can only dream of. And as Bernstein’s grown older, he’s learned to appreciate the growth and stability of NHRA.
“I started really doing this as a living in 1980, and NHRA has changed, obviously, as all motorsports have,” Bernstein said. “It’s grown and continues to do so. And we see growth even right now. It’s slowed down some because of the economy. But we’re still seeing crowd increases at races … which is amazing to me, based on gasoline prices and the cost to get to these places.
“I think it’s healthy and in good shape. … I think that we are going to go through a period of time here where it stays status quo [because of the economy]. But it’s good at this point in time and I’m real happy with where it’s at.”
Bernstein, long-credited as a groundbreaker in the merge between auto racing and corporate sponsorship — Bernstein was and still is the “Budweiser King” to many drag racing fans — also took time to weigh in on the overall state of motorsports.
“You’ve also got to give credit to NASCAR, for going where they are today and becoming mainstream,” Bernstein said. “Because they became mainstream, it opened up a lot of eyes to motorsports. So maybe that’s what’s helped drag racing.
“Maybe it’s the fact that there’s just more awareness of motorsports in general now. Maybe that’s what’s really taken place. Because NASCAR has gotten so large and so big and so much in the mainstream, that people who would not normally look at motorsports look at all motorsports a little differently.”
btsmith@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2569
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