Hand-me-downs . . . most kids had them.  You know; pajamas, shirts, summer shorts, the kinds of things that are outgrown before they're worn out.  Heck, we've all had 'em.

Some were better than others, of course.

Take Brandon Bernstein, for example.  His hand-me-down wasn't worn out.  And, truth be known, it probably wasn't even used.  It was something his dad, Kenny, relinquished a few years ago. 

Not many kids (OK, he was 29 at the time, but still a kid in the drag racing world) get a 26-foot, virtual land rocket, but Brandon did.  He got the car, crew and one of the best nitromethane tuning combinations in the sport - Tim and Kim Richards -- along with the ride.

We all knew Brandon was the heir-apparent, but his opportunity came only when Kenny was ready to retire -- after his son had framed his Texas A&M degree AND worked as a Budweiser King Top Fuel dragster crew member for six years.

Brandon took good care of dad's car and had early success -- he won his second and third professional races in 2003 -- and had three wins (Phoenix, Gainesville, Fla., and Bristol, Tenn.) in his first eight outings until an untoward, wall-banging accident at Englishtown, N.J., led to a serious, season-ending back injury.  His start was so impressive that he was accorded Rookie the Year honors.

After eight months of recuperation, the early ones punctuated by pain, Brandon returned to the cockpit.  He continued to prove father knows best and that, yes, he can drive one of these 7,000 horsepower, 330 mph racecars.  He won three times in four finals last year, finishing third in POWERade Series points and concluded the most successful start to a nitro racing career by winning five of his first 13 races.

That's the good news. 

The bad news for the Budweiser/Lucas Oil camp is that the "born on date" of Brandon's last win was May 30, 2004, (at Topeka, Kan.) and people are beginning to wonder if things have gone flat.  Are the fans fickle, expecting to see the Bud car in the winner's circle too many times?  Has Tim Richards suddenly lost his magic touch?  Is this the curse of the Bambino?  (Oops, wrong sport!)

The numbers, as usual, tell the story.  In the first seven races, Brandon hovered near the bottom of the top 10, sinking as low as ninth.  It was the worst he'd been since he was 10th after his first race in 2003.  He ranked in the top three all of 2004.

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"We've had ups and downs, obviously, flashes of brilliance where the car's been running great, but then we've had the car smoking the tires and other stuff," said Brandon of his slow 2005 start.  "We're a little frustrated, but not much. We know we have the package here, it's just trying to fine-tune it and get the consistency we need."

Ah, consistency, the most talked-about word in drag racing among those who have it and those who don't.

"There's a very fine line between being consistent and turning the quickest elapsed times you can on each run and not doing that," Brandon said. "You are trying to push the envelope and you get to the point where you get over the edge and the consistency goes away.  It just happens that way."

"We're going through a dry spell, we have been for the past 10 or 11 months and those things do happen and come and go," noted Kenny Bernstein.  "It's not all Brandon's fault and it's not all mechanical.  It's just a combination of everything.  In some cases Brandon has been slightly down on his side of the picture as a driver.  Red lighting and being late were tough to get over and he had to get through them with experience.  Those things just happen.  And in some cases we just get outrun."

Recent races have provided a positive barometer and the car's performance is improving.  Tim and Kim and the Bud crew hunkered down and Brandon moved from ninth to sixth in points at the Columbus race.  But Brandon admits there's a bit of a worry "in the back of your mind and you start thinking, 'Well, we haven't won one in a year,' and then you start thinking, 'Well, are we ever going to get another win?'

"It kind of weighs on you a bit but we go out every weekend and try to win the race.  The bottom line is to go out there, do the best we can and hopefully get a win. It has been frustrating, but, for the most part, we're right there."

Kenny agrees.  "We didn't have the total package together.  In all motorsports you have to have the total package.  Right now, in the last four races, our team has come back.  Brandon is back on his game as a driver and Tim has stepped to the next level in his department and it's just a matter of time, I feel until the Budweiser/Lucas Oil team is back in victory circle.  I think we're on the right course."

Brandon traces part of the turnaround to something Kenny pointed out a few races ago.

"Dad noticed we were doing something wrong staging the car," Brandon recalled.  "There are different ways to do it, but I wasn't doing it right.  Basically, I was letting the car roll into the final staging beam instead of trying to bump it in with the brake.  The idea is to tickle the light but I was actually letting the car roll, making the car harder to stop in the same spot every time.

"It made me inconsistent on the lights because I wasn't getting the shallow stage that Tim really wanted. We changed our style and it's worked well since."

Now two years removed from his Englishtown crash, Brandon credits on the job training - and advice from his dad -- with helping him improve as a driver.

"I'm different now, especially in the driving area," he says.  "At the time of the crash, I mainly wanted to win so badly -- and I still want to win badly -- but my driving style was just trying to get to the finish line first.  I still want to do that, too, but the way I go about it is a little different.  I try not to get over the edge like I was then.

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"There's definitely a learning curve in the seat and it all comes with seat time," Brandon continued.  "It's unfortunate that I had the crash and was hurt the way I was.  If I'd just had the crash and the mistake and not been hurt, then I would've learned the lesson without that much pain.  But that's what happens."

It takes patience, something Kenny Bernstein discovered many years ago when he was beginning his storied driving career.  "Brandon had early success, but like everything and like every driver that drives these cars, it takes time to gain experience and knowledge," KB said.  "It doesn't happen overnight."

The more he learns, the more Brandon realizes that he possesses the same approach to working out problems as his dad.

"We're pretty similar in our approach to racing," Brandon said.  "We are thinkers after every run or whatever's happened at the race.  We always try to think beyond the run, what we did wrong or what was done to cause that, or whatever.  That's how I am, just like he is.  We want to know why something happened so we can change it next time.

"We are alike, definitely, not to mention the outward appearance, but our attitudes, the way we walk, talk and handle ourselves.  It's kind of weird.  When I look at older pictures of him, it's like, wow, there's me."

It's a no-brainer then, to understand why Kenny is the one who inspires Brandon.

"He's always been the one I've looked up to," the son said.  "I always wanted to have a career like his. He's the one who really gets me going and makes me strive to be the best."

Having Tim and Kim Richards serving as mechanical gurus also gives Brandon a positive push when it comes to chasing championships.

Since the dynamic tuning duo joined Bernstein early in the 2001 season, they've accounted for 15 victories with the senior Bernstein, including eight wins and Kenny's sixth NHRA championship and second in Top Fuel, in 2001.  The total swells to 21 with Brandon's six wins.

"Tim and Kim really are awesome," Brandon comments.  "They complement each other so well.  It's just amazing how much knowledge Tim has with these race cars.  I watch the way he tunes the car and prepares the car during the week, and the work he puts in as far as research and development are concerned.  The guy's non-stop.  It's such an amazing sight to see a guy who has been around as long as Tim has who still loves what he's doing.

"They are focused and they make it easy to race these cars."

Being focused is something we all can understand.  It's a primary function of the driver to be focused and do his job. Each driver has a different way of preparing for eliminations.

Brandon tries to avoid the detractions so he can "stay focused, keep my mind sharp and think of the runs," he says.  "Once I start getting ready, I get mentally into the racing mode. I also try and set aside 20 minutes in my lounge so I have time to use my practice 'tree."

After his first 39 races (Topeka not included) Brandon Bernstein has established himself as the real deal when it comes to driving a Top Fuel dragster.  He has the passion, intensity, desire and determination to be successful.

He is his father's son.  It's quite obvious Brandon was on the receiving end of more important hand-me-downs than just his dad's race car.

Hey, that's not all . . .

Brandon Bernstein questions asked and answered:

Q - Will we be seeing any Budweiser ads featuring you and Dale Earnhardt Jr.?

A - I'm really not sure.  There were talks about trying to get some cross-promotional stuff going and maybe a commercial, but we'll have to see.  That's an Anheuser-Busch deal.

We do have "One Night Stand" at the Brickyard in August before the Cup race.  It's a concert and Dale and I will be on stage before the concert answering questions from the audience and we introduce the band.  That's a cool deal.  We've done a couple of them and it's worked out well."

Q - How do you feel when your name is included when people talk about the "young guns" of NHRA when you, Eric Medlen and Larry Dixon are past 30?

A - I'm 32 and I didn't get in my first race car until I was 28, so I was kind of a late bloomer. But drivers in our sport may be a little older when they come into it. You don't necessarily have to be 18-19 to come in and start drag racing, but there are a lot of kids that probably are. 

There really aren't that many younger drivers like Morgan Lucas, Ashley Force and Dave Connolly, but it seems like we still keep getting new drivers in the pro classes.  I think NHRA's doing a good job promoting the young stars.  Those of us in our 30s know it isn't relatively young, but it is young enough to be considered young guns (in the professional classes).

EDITOR'S NOTE: - After this article was prepared, Brandon Bernstein went out and won the one he and his crew really wanted, breaking a 26-race dry spell by defeating Morgan Lucas in the Top Fuel final at the Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals at Gateway Raceway.

Bernstein took the victory in his sponsor’s hometown of St. Louis, defeating Morgan Lucas in the big showdown. "It's very special to win here," Bernstein said at the conclusion of the event. "You come in with a lot of obligations for Budweiser and we have a lot of friends at Budweiser that come out and you want to perform as well as possible in front of them. They realize that this is racing and things happen, but it's just great to be able to win in St. Louis. They get to go back to their office Monday morning and say, 'Hey, Bernstein won.'

It was Bernstein’s first win since the May, 2004, event in O'Reilly Summer Nationals in Topeka.   

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