AND NOW, THE REST OF THE STORY…

Facts NHRA Didn't Tell You About Their Chosen Top 50 Drivers

By Chris Martin

As all drag race fans are aware, National DRAGSTER this year will list their top 50 drivers of the past 50 years, and, of course, this is the top 50 drivers in NHRA competition. While NHRA certainly has been the premier sanctioning body over the past half century, it's not the only one. IHRA, AHRA, ADRA, and others held national events that often matched NHRA's competition level car for car.

We certainly have no complaint with the NHRA-sters rating the drivers any way they want. We did it a year ago, and our attitude then was, "hey, it's our football." Same goes for them. Still, because of the obvious handicap of being a house organ, National DRAGSTER can't tell you everything.

We can. And will.

View this as an addendum to ND's noble effort. Where we feel something important has been overlooked or unavoidably left out, we'll put it in. In some cases, we think they got it all, as with driver No. 50 Elmer Trett. However, such would not be the case with Richard Tharp and others.

We'll take them in Dragster's order and at their pace, so tune in each week.

(Webmaster's note: never let it be said that we do not respond to our readers' wishes. This story has been revised to reflect the most recent additions at the start not at the back. You may be logically asking , "Why didn't they do that in the first place?" We are certainly asking it ourselves. Thanks for the feedback)

6. KENNY BERNSTEIN

In his Top Fuel career, roughly extending from 1966 to 1969, Bernstein drove the Ace Muffler dragster, the Carroll Bros. entry, the Anderson Bros., and Prentiss Cunningham's "Texas Weasel." With a career as all-encompassing as Bernstein's, one would naturally figure that he scored wins in the other hot rod associations. In 1981, Bernstein's "Budweiser King" Dodge Omni finished in the top 10 Funny Car standings of NHRA, IHRA, and AHRA. In AHRA competition that year, Bernstein actually received the first 250-mph Funny Car time slip, but most have problems with its veracity. In the final of the AHRA Nationals at San Antonio, Texas, Bernstein beat Don Prudhomme's "Pepsi Challenger" with a 250.60-mph time ticket. Unfortunately, Chrondek and all the clocks at that time could not produce a speed with those hundredths.

In addition to his AHRA exploits, Bernstein also was the 1979 IHRA Winston Funny Car world champ and is the third winningest Funny Car driver in association history with 16 event titles and nine runner-ups. (Jeff Burk photo)

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