Record Racing Hopes Go Up in Smoke : Drag racing: Breakdowns dominate the final day at the Winternationals.

After three days of seemingly unbridled speed and power at the 32nd Chief Auto Parts Winternationals at the Pomona Fairplex, crew chiefs and drivers got greedy Sunday and the result was broken machinery, shattered dreams and little side-by-side racing.

When all the oil had been mopped up and pieces collected, the winners before a crowd of 47,000 watched, were veteran Kenny Bernstein in top fuel and little-known Jim Epler, a former motocross and drag-boat racing champion, in funny car.

Bernstein had to win the two tightest races of the day against defending Winston champion Joe Amato and former funny-car driver Jim Head to win top fuel. Epler, competing in his first final round, upset defending champion John Force in a tense funny-car duel.

Bernstein’s path to the championship, the seventh of his career since switching from funny car to top fuel three years ago, was typical of the unusual day.

“I guess we have a wonderful horseshoe looking over us,” the Newport Beach driver said. “In our first race, I smoked the tires and thought it was all over. Then I looked over at Gene (Snow) and didn’t see him so I got back on the throttle. Usually, that doesn’t work, but this time it caught and we escaped.”

In the semifinal, Bernstein had a reaction time .036 seconds quicker than Amato and barely held his margin to win by .009--about nine inches. The final, against Head, was nearly as close. The margin was .024--less than three feet.

Rarely has a National Hot Rod Assn. event seen so many cars fail to make it the length of the quarter-mile strip in competitive times.

In the first round, only seven of the 16 cars finished under power in both top-fuel and funny-car eliminations. Several winning cars were so damaged that they were unable to show up for later rounds.

“There was no one reason for all the breakage, except that conditions were so good that everyone wanted to put out an optimum effort,” said TV commentator Don Garlits, perhaps the greatest drag racer of all time. “Fuel engines are so complex that each problem may have been a different one--an overanxious driver, too much nitro in the fuel, a broken magneto, a clutch not set up right.

“All of the reasons relate back to the great condition of the track, the temperature, the condition of the air, the ideal circumstances that led to all the record-breaking.”

Before being dispatched in a top-fuel survival race against Amato, Doug Herbert ran the quickest race in history, 4.880 seconds, in the first round against Ed (Ace) McCulloch. Herbert, a former top-alcohol drag racer who moved up to top fuel in 1991, had qualified seventh at 4.973 seconds before making his record run.

“It was a smooth pass from the time I left all the way down the track,” said Herbert, a Lincolnton, N.C., newcomer. “At three-quarter track, I knew I was on a good run.” Herbert’s crew chief, Jim Brissette, was the owner and crew chief for 1978 top-fuel champion Kelly Brown.

The former mark was 4.881 seconds by the late Gary Ormsby, set in 1990 at Topeka, Kan.

However, in the complex world of NHRA statistics, Pat Austin holds the official national record of 4.893 seconds, set Saturday and backed up with a 4.906 Sunday. This feat took 200 points toward the Winston championship from Amato and gave them to Austin. Amato had held the record for a day after also running a 4.893 before Austin backed up his run. The tiebreaker was Austin’s speed of 291.54 m.p.h. to Amato’s 289.20.

In the second round, Herbert appeared to have upset Amato when the reigning champion smoked his tires off the starting pad and Herbert jumped to a huge lead. However, halfway down track, fire erupted from the rear of Herbert’s dragster and Amato managed to catch him and win with a ridiculously slow pass of 7.827 seconds at 126.56 m.p.h.

Austin’s hopes of repeating his Winston Final victory of October were ended when his tires went up in smoke in a semifinal against Head. Head was even luckier than Bernstein, winning over Cory McClenathan, who broke; Michael Brotherton, whose car was unable to run; and Austin, who stopped halfway down the lane.

Brotherton, making his first start in paralyzed driver Darrell Gwynn’s dragster, was one of the more unfortunate. After having easily beaten Bobby Reehl with a strong 4.940 second run, Brotherton’s engine exploded, creating an oil fire and burned his parachutes. With the car out of control, Brotherton had to make a sharp turn to avoid crashing and the dragster rolled over on its side.

“More bad luck for us,” said a disappointed Gwynn, who has been running his own team since being paralyzed in a racing accident in April of 1990. “I hope it changes pretty soon.” The team, with Frank Hawley driving, did not reach a final round in 18 events last season.

In the not so volatile pro stock class, Jerry Eckman set a national record of 7.176 seconds in eliminating 10-time champion Bob Glidden in the semifinals. Eckman came back to defeat Jim Yates in an all-Pontiac final. Eckman also won the 1990 Winternationals.