Morrison – Brandon Bernstein’s bizarre first-round exit Sunday at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals was akin to a NASCAR polesitter crashing during a warm-up lap.
Bernstein, who set the briefly held Bandimere Speedway record of 330.88 mph Friday, qualified No. 1 in top fuel and exceeded 310 mph in three of his four qualifying passes.
As an unexpected bonus in Sunday’s 16-car eliminations, he was given the closest thing to a first-round bye. Rob Passey, who qualified 16th with a pass at just 158.30 mph, was unable to rebuild the engine he blew Saturday.
All Bernstein had to do to accept the forfeit was put the nose of his car on the starting line and receive the first of two staging lights, and, boom, he’s in the quarterfinals.
Instead, Bernstein’s engine went boom.
He blew the motor while attempting a burnout, capping a bizarre double DQ that ultimately helped get No. 9 qualifier David Grubnic to the semifinals.
Grubnic, who ousted defending event winner and teammate Scott Kalitta in the first round, was scheduled to race the Bernstein-Passey winner. Instead, he breezed to the semifinals after doing what Bernstein could not.
“We had every intent to make a normal run, burnout included,” Bernstein said. “It was totally my fault. I got through the water and went a little too far. We had a great car. We just dried the tires. The tires didn’t spin and the RPM got so low it just basically shut down.”
Staging game
Forty years separate Warren Johnson and Dave Connolly, but the pro stock drivers wanted to play the same game in their race to decide the 2005 Bandimere division winner.
Johnson, 62, and Connolly, 22, waited for the other to take the second of two staging lights for 1 minute, 49 seconds. Johnson ultimately gave in and Connolly soon followed.
A split-second later, Connolly was disqualified for false-starting by .001 of a second.
“I’ve never held anybody up at the start, I just stage when I’m ready,” Johnson said with a grin. “Finally, I said enough is enough. I thought we had a pretty good package for the final, and when you sit there that long the adrenaline gets pretty peaky.
“Our chances of red-lighting were just as good as his probably, and I felt to not push the issue any further and went in and staged it.”
Footnotes
There was conflicting interest in the first-round pro stock race between Schumacher Racing teammates Richie Stevens and Jeg Couglin. The crew chief for both cars is Bob Glidden, the retired 10-time pro stock champion. Couglin, who qualified 12th, upset the No. 5-seeded Stevens by .001 of a second. … Johnson edged rookie Erica Enders in a first-round pro stock race, despite Enders’ impressive .015 reaction time that was the round’s second-quickest. Only Coughlin had a better hole shot (.010). … The biggest first-round upset was No. 14 seed Jim Yates’ pro stock win over No. 2 Jason Line. Yates then beat No. 6 V. Gaines of Lakewood in the quarter- finals. … Denver native Melanie Troxel, the only woman competing in the two nitro classes, smoked her tires and bowed to Doug Herbert in the first round.
