Bernstein Crashes in Final; Amato Wins : Drag racing: He avoids serious injury in loss to defending series champion. Herbert becomes the second driver to go 300 m.p.h.

First Kenny Bernstein was a prophet. Then an avenger.

Near sunset on Saturday, he was a victim, sitting in a pile of burning wreckage along the guardrail, well behind Joe Amato, who was winning the top fuel championship of the Chief Auto Parts Winternationals at the Fairplex at Pomona.

“I’m OK. My bell was rung a little bit,” Bernstein said, adding with a bit of a smile, “I feel a little like when I took the NASCAR out at Atlanta and backed it into the wall.”

The winning time for Amato, three-time defending series champion, was 4.91 seconds at 294.02 m.p.h. in a race that was close within 150 yards of the finish line. Then Bernstein’s engine blew and the car ran over a part, puncturing a tire.

“I felt like we were in pretty good shape on the run,” Bernstein said. “Next thing I know, I’m sideways and in trouble. It happened so quick . . .”

With Bernstein fighting the steering, the car flamed and veered, first left and then sideways to the right, tearing out a section of rail slightly past the finish line.

“When I backed into the wall, I was knocked out a bit,” he said. “Next thing I know, guys were spraying me to put out the fire.”

The engine was 50 feet away.

“Man, I was down there and it was unbelievable,” said John Force, who had won the funny car championship over Del Worsham only moments before. “The wreckage was here, and the motor was over there and we were all praying for him: ‘Get out of there, get out of there!’ ”

Amato had no idea what was happening to his opponent.

“My car started shaking a little bit, and he started to move ahead of me a bit,” Amato said. “Then, all of a sudden he disappeared. I thought he had broken a blower belt.

“I thought I was lucky. I didn’t realize how unlucky he was.”

Actually, Bernstein was very lucky. “I’ve got a little headache going, and I know I’m going to be real sore,” he said, adding that the car was destroyed.

On Friday, Bernstein had talked of a 300-m.p.h. run, which he had done three times. He had gone so far as to name the time: 10 a.m. Saturday, when he would line up against Don Prudhomme in the first round.

He was one race premature.

Five minutes after Bernstein ran 293.63 in beating Prudhomme, Doug Herbert became only the second member of the 300 club, turning 301.60 m.p.h. and 4.855 seconds in beating Mike Dunn during the first round.

Four hours later, Bernstein beat Herbert off the line in the first 300 Club meeting, during the semifinal round. He turned a 4.882-second quarter mile, with a speed of 292.87 m.p.h. for the measured final 66 yards of the run.

Herbert’s time was 4.952 seconds, his speed 295.08 m.p.h.

“I had a 0.431-second reaction time (from green light to getting on the throttle), and that’s fast,” Herbert said. “He was 0.403, and that’s not far from the 0.395 Cory McClenathan had when he red-lighted. That’s too close.”

McClenathan, the top qualifier with a national record 4.784-second elapsed time a week ago, was disqualified for leaving the starting line early in his second round run against Tommy Johnson Jr.

“(Losing to Bernstein) doesn’t take the edge off the 300,” Herbert said. “It’s still exciting.”

It was the first 300-m.p.h. run at Pomona--Bernstein’s had come during qualifying in New Jersey, Indiana and Texas--and the first in side-by-side competition in the National Hot Rod Assn.

Herbert had moved from Anaheim to Lincolnton, N.C., 2 1/2 years ago, and had come back to Pomona for race preparation that “had become a comedy of errors” until Saturday.

He had a little extra help from Carroll Brissette, wife of crew chief Jim Brissette, who now owns the distinction of tuning the first cars to run both 200 and 300 m.p.h. at Pomona. Eddie Alexander drove Brissette’s car more than 200 m.p.h. in 1964.

“Just before we came up to run, Jim Brissette’s wife gave me a penny and said, ‘It’s a lucky penny,’ ” Herbert said.

“I put it in my pocket. You’re going to have a hard time getting it away from me now.”

The run was a smooth one, but Herbert learned the news a little slower than the estimated 39,500 in attendance.

“I heard it on the P.A. after I shut down,” he said. “I knew what it had to be. It couldn’t have been anything else. I couldn’t get out of my car fast enough.”

Force’s victory in the funny car finals over Worsham came when he was faster off the line and won with a slower elapsed time: 5.216 seconds to 5.196.

Force acknowledged that luck, noting that he won an early round duel with Whit Bazemore only when Bazemore was disqualified for crossing the center line of the strip.

Pro stock was something of a family affair, Warren Johnson advancing through two rounds in a performance matched by his son, Kurt.

Taking family matters to extremes, Kurt Johnson, in his first national drag event, beat Bob Glidden during the second round after Glidden had beaten his son, Rusty, during the first.

Kurt Johnson also serves as crew chief for the pro stock of Don Beverley, Warren Johnson’s teammate, and the chief beat Beverley during the first round.

In the final, Warren Johnson beat former teammate Scott Geoffrion easily, turning a 7.24-second run at 192.02 m.p.h. after getting off the starting line about three lengths ahead.