"It takes a lot of horsepower to get down this track," said Brandon. "It's easy to go into tire shake if you don't have enough power, but then it's a fine line between enough and too much.

If you find the right horsepower and clutch combination, you can go really quick and fast here. This track has seen a lot of national record-setting runs."

At the United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals, rain played havoc with Saturday qualifying and caused delays on Sunday.

The Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster qualified 12th with a 3.927/298.60.

In the opening round of eliminations, Bernstein faced off against Shawn Langdon. Bernstein was first out of the gate and never looked back while Langdon struggled with a mechanical malfunction at half track. Bernstein scored his 200th career round victory with a 3.918/308.78 vs. Langdon's 5.071/135.29.

In the quarterfinals, Bernstein and Clay Millican were even out of the gate, but Millican edged Bernstein for the win at the finish line with a 3.904/302.48 vs. Bernstein's quickest run of the weekend, 3.916/309.84.

"It was a close race," said Bernstein, "but we wish we had been on the winning end of it.

"This was a tough weekend for us as we fought to get the combination dialed in.

"We're off to Englishtown next weekend, and we'll see if we can get a win. My dad won there seven times. We were runner-up last year, and we're overdue for a win. This year we'd sure like to add an East Coast trophy to the Bernstein collection."

Bernstein remains third in NHRA Full Throttle point standings.

Kenny Bernstein Post-Surgery Update: Kenny Bernstein has begun physical therapy following a back operation May 26 in California to relieve stenosis, or narrowing of the spinal canal. He will undergo approximately 12 weeks of post-op rehabilitation and is expected to join his Budweiser/Lucas Oil team in Denver July 10-12 for the Mopar Mile-High Nationals.

"We're getting a little stronger each day," said Bernstein. "Since the surgery, the blood vessels and nerves have a little more room in the spinal column. We're following doctors' orders and walking a little further each day. It's a little slow right now, but we've made quite a bit of improvement these past five or six days.

"We're looking forward to getting back to the track with the team next month."

Budweiser Lager Lesson: Budweiser is one of the most difficult beers to brew because it is fermented at cooler temperatures, thus taking more time to brew, yet resulting in a clean, crisp taste that you don't get from other beers.

Courtesy of Susie Arnold