Pete Berner's biggest fan comes in a small and unlikely package. Her name is Emmy, and she's the
granddaughter of Berner's competitor, Dean Goforth. Emmy lives in Oklahoma and was able to attend
this weekend's Sooner Nationals to cheer on her grandfather and Berner, who she names as her
favorite race car driver.
"Emmy made my whole weekend," says the Sooner Nationals champ. "When I won she came down on the
golf cart with my wife and crew. I had promised a trophy to my number one fan, so I picked her up
and handed her the Iron Man. She was on the Speed Channel interview and everything. I was more
excited to be able to do that for her than about the win. She was all smiles. It was something
else!"
Berner faced some tough competition to be able to hold true to his promise for Emmy. He faced
chassis builder Jerry Haas in round one; then had a competition single in round two. In round three
he paired up against the always-tough Frank Gugliotta. Gugliotta's red light start gave Berner the
easy win, though Berner didn't need it easy, laying down the quickest elapsed time of the round
with a 6.377 at
218.65 mph. The final round match up was a repeat of last year's Sooner Nationals when Berner faced
off against John Montecalvo. The two were nearly identical on reaction time and only .01 separated
them at the finish as Berner's 6.386 bested Montecalvo's 6.395 to take the win. This makes three
years in a row Berner has landed in the winner's circle at the Sooner Nationals. His 'three-Pete'
victory has brought smiles on the faces of his Oklahoma fans, not the least of which is young Emmy.
"There was a lot of very competitive racing out there today. That keeps things interesting and a
lot more fun for me. Congratulations to John and his team for a great job in the final. It was a
close race, exactly the way a Pro Stock final should be. My guys did a great job tuning for the
track. They worked their tails off this entire weekend.
Third year in a row winning this race - what can I say? The car just likes winning here!"
Berner is second in points following the Sooner Nationals, a scant three points behind leader Frank
Gugliotta. Berner looks like he's heating up with the summer and going hard after a third world
championship title.
Pete Berner and the Quarter-Max.com team would like to thank for their support Quarter-Max.com, RJ
Race Cars, Ram Clutches, Janota Racing Engines, Braswell Carburetors, Strange Engineering, Browell
Bellhousings, Dewco Drive Line Components, Aeromotive Engineering, Penske Racing Shocks, TEK
Headers, and K&N Hoodscoops.
