Kenny Bernstein of Newport Beach, two-time Winston...
Kenny Bernstein of Newport Beach, two-time Winston drag racing funny car champion, escaped injury in a fiery accident that damaged his Buick LeSabre at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pa.
Bernstein was midway through a practice run for the $686,350 National Hot Rod Assn.’s Keystone Nationals that start today when his supercharger exploded and the car caught fire. Bernstein’s car slid off the end of the track, rolled several times and landed upside down.
“We would have run real quick if we would have made it all the way through,” said Bernstein, who still managed to record a 5.47-second elapsed time with a top speed of 258 m.p.h. “This was my worst accident ever, and I was plenty lucky. If the chassis is straight, we’ll put in another engine, install another body and go racing tomorrow.”
A win by Bernstein this weekend would break the single-season record for NHRA funny car national event victories set by Don Prudhomme in 1976.
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