Championship Drag Racing

Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
Reading, Pa.
(Oct. 3-5)
(rain out reschedule)

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Kenny Bernstein Budweiser Lucas Oil Top Fueler

Reports: Sunday Pre-race

Reading, Sunday: The Lucas Oil Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway originally scheduled for Sept. 12-14 were postponed to Oct. 4-5 due to rain.

It was another tedious weekend with weather washing out a great deal of Saturday's qualifying activities and an area-wide power outage delaying Sunday's finals, but the Lucas Oil Nationals are now in the books.

Kenny Bernstein and the Budweiser/Lucas Oil team posted a No. 2 qualifying effort, 4.537 seconds at 327.35 mph.

In round one of race day competition, Bernstein rolled into the starting beam next to Scott Weis. Both drivers lost traction, and they were on and off the throttle pedaling to the finish line. Weis finally got the win with a 6.412/282.24 vs. Bernstein's 6.794/253.71.

"It's disappointing to win one weekend and then lose in the first round the next weekend," said Bernstein. "We obviously would have liked to have had a better showing."

Bernstein remains 10th in NHRA Top Fuel POWERade point standings.

Reading, pre-race: When Kenny Bernstein finished runner-up last year at Maple Grove Raceway during his "Forever Red" retirement tour, he thought that would cap his final appearance as a driver at that popular drag strip.

At the end of the 2002 racing season, Kenny passed the driving chores of the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster to his son Brandon. Brandon had a sensational start to his rookie season, winning three races in eight outings before a crash May 18 in Englishtown, N.J., sidelined him for the remainder of the season.

Kenny jumped back into the familiar confines of the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster cockpit and will be competing in the 19th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.

Bernstein has been to the final round eight times at Maple Grove Raceway, winning in the Funny Car category in 1988 and in Top Fuel in 1992 and 1996. He was runner-up in 1985, 1986, 1997, 2001, and 2002.

"We like running at Reading," said Bernstein. "The conditions at the track usually are cool and there's lot of oxygen in the air, which our 6500-horsepower engines love. This track is one we earmark for potential record-setting speeds and E.T.s.

"We have a good performance record here, and we're looking forward to continuing our string of final round appearances. We always have room to squeeze another trophy on the shelf and winning is what it's all about. We're all out there fighting for that chance to stand on the victory podium. Plus it would be very nice to win for Lucas, who is sponsoring the race and is a title sponsor on our racecar.

"Brandon is expected to make 100-percent recovery and we look forward to his return to the cockpit at the beginning of next year. So this is my one more last chance to win in Reading.

"While we're thinking about it, there is one more fond memory we have about this city. With the help of our good friend John Ernesto at the Reading Eagle we put on some great softball games, NHRA vs. NASCAR and NHRA vs. CART in the early 1990s. I'm sure many of the fans still talk about those games."