KING OF SPEED BERNSTEIN HONORED|

The 'King of Speed' Kenny Bernstein has washed a lot during his decades of interest with the NHRA, just his most notable achievement is the day he earned his nickname by breaking the 300 mph bulwark in Peak Fuel, twenty years ago.

The 'King' will be honored at this weekend'southward Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals presented by NAPAFilters.com at Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville, the same consequence where that celebrated pass took place two decades agone. Del Worsham (Elevation Fuel), Mike Neff (Funny Car), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are the 2011 winners of the NHRA Full Throttle Elevate Racing Series event that will be telecast on ESPN2 Hard disk drive.

Not just was Bernstein a six-time NHRA world champion, record-breaking commuter and squad owner in the NHRA, he was besides a successful team owner in both NASCAR and IndyCar. Fifty-fifty with all of his interest and achievements in other forms of racing, the NHRA will e'er be his favorite.

"The NHRA drag racing side, the 300-mile-per-hour feat, the things nosotros got to accomplish in drag racing volition be forefront ever," Bernstein said. "It'due south ever really the NHRA drag racing side because I got to be the driver there. That's the one thing that I have always enjoyed the most of any of these racing endeavors. An possessor is fine, but in that location's null like driving, winning and competing, being at the peak of your game on a certain mean solar day."

He earned the title 'King of Speed' during qualifying at Gainesville in 1992 with the original Budweiser Summit Fuel dragster. The 301.70 mph run surprised him and his team as much as it stunned the unabridged crowd at the East Coast opener.

"Information technology was pretty much ideal weather condition," Bernstein said. "We hadn't even said that this was a 300-mile-an-60 minutes run. We didn't talk much about getting to 300 other than we wanted to, it wasn't like it was preplanned this was going to be the one."

The NHRA will honor the 20th anniversary of that groovy moment Saturday, March 10th at Machine-Plus Raceway at Gainesville with a special ceremony that will include the original Budweiser dragster, Bernstein, his wife Sheryl and some of the original members of his crew followed by an shorthand session at the Darrell Gwynn Foundation display.

Bernstein retired from the NHRA at the finish of 2011, but his son Brandon all the same competes in the 7,000-horsepower Superlative Fuel course and for the first time in his nine-twelvemonth career he'southward non racing for his father's squad. Brandon joined Morgan Lucas Racing equally the driver of the MAV Idiot box/Lucas Oil dragster and currently sits ninth in the signal standings.