UPDATED: SCHUMACHER STILL STEAMED, BERNSTEIN DENIES INVOLVEMENT
Kenny Bernstein emphatically denies receiving preferential treatment from the NHRA. He said his team wasn't the one who brought the shroud controversy to the NHRA.
In the wake of the National Hot Rod Association's ruling Friday against Don Schumacher Racing and the team owner's accusations, Kenny Bernstein said Saturday morning at Firebird International Raceway that he is not the enemy.
Moreover, he said he was sorry to receive notice later Friday of Schumacher's resignation from the Professional Racers Organization's board of directors.
Bernstein emphatically denied that his team is the one that brought the matter to the NHRA's attention after seeking aerodynamic engineers to gauge the value of the cockpit canopies at the center of this latest drag-racing controversy.
"I've never said a word about his aerodynamic thing on his race cars. I haven't griped to the NHRA about it," the Copart Dragster team owner said.
Graham Light, the NHRA's senior vice-president of racing operations, said a representative of another, unnamed Top Fuel operation showed him a report from an engineer but did not let the NHRA have a copy because the information was proprietary.
Bernstein said Saturday he didn't know which team that was, nor did he want to know.
Schumacher leveled accusations Friday afternoon that Bernstein, among others, receives preferential treatment from the NHRA.
“I find that extremely hard to believe," an aggravated Bernstein said. "I don't know of anything in the past several years that we've gotten any special privileges on at all. I don't even know if I have even asked for anything in the last two years. I'd like for someone to tell me what it is."
He said, "The only thing I know that we had that was not approved that never ran was some side panels. My guys took it upon themselves to build some special side panels. They didn't bother to go through the process of getting NHRA's approval on it and therefore couldn't run them. When we did turn them into the NHRA, they were declined. Fine, no problem from me whatsoever. I didn't throw a hissy fit or nothing.
WHAT'S THE FUSS ABOUT?
The Don Schumacher-NHRA controversy erupted when the sanctioning body told the team owner Friday to remove the protective canopies over the cockpits in his three Top Fuel dragsters.
Schumacher said the canopies were designed solely for safety and cost him more than $100,000 to develop.
But, prompted by another team which said it researched the canopy and found it to be more of a performance enhancement than a safety device, the NHRA conducted its own test with a paid, independent engineer. Graham Light, NHRA's senior vice-president of racing operations, said the NHRA findings supported those of the non-DSR team's conclusions.
The NHRA had approved the shrouds, and the Antron Brown, Spencer Massey, and Tony Schumacher teams have been using them for the past 19 races.
Light said he and Glen Gray, NHRA vice-president of technical operations, also made the decision based on seeing the fire that Brown experienced during quarterfinal eliminations at the previous race, at Reading, Pa. In that incident, the cockpit filled with flames. That, Light told Competition Plus, convinced him that the canopy was not meeting its intended purpose.
RELATED STORY: NHRA CRIES FOUL ON SAFER COCKPIT
The Don Schumacher-NHRA controversy erupted when the sanctioning body told the team owner Friday to remove the protective canopies over the cockpits in his three Top Fuel dragsters.
Schumacher said the canopies were designed solely for safety and cost him more than $100,000 to develop.
But, prompted by another team which said it researched the canopy and found it to be more of a performance enhancement than a safety device, the NHRA conducted its own test with a paid, independent engineer. Graham Light, NHRA's senior vice-president of racing operations, said the NHRA findings supported those of the non-DSR team's conclusions.
The NHRA had approved the shrouds, and the Antron Brown, Spencer Massey, and Tony Schumacher teams have been using them for the past 19 races.
Light said he and Glen Gray, NHRA vice-president of technical operations, also made the decision based on seeing the fire that Brown experienced during quarterfinal eliminations at the previous race, at Reading, Pa. In that incident, the cockpit filled with flames. That, Light told Competition Plus, convinced him that the canopy was not meeting its intended purpose.
RELATED STORY: NHRA CRIES FOUL ON SAFER COCKPIT
"I don't really have a clue why" Bernstein said, reasoning why Schumacher would aim that remark his way. "We certainly haven't been in that position for a long, long time. Not in the recent memory that I can come up with. We are a single car team. I don't think we are on top of the world here, so I don't know what we have that someone else doesn't have."
As a one-car owner, he said, he does "want a level playing field out here," and he spoke about it in black-and-white terms.
"We do not have a level playing field out here right now for anybody. I do not think it's right that you cannot buy pieces that other people have because they make them and it's their private property. I don't think it's right that you can do a one-off certain thing with someone and no one else can buy it," Bernstein said.
"If you have a special gadget that is really good it should be available to every team out here. It should be open to everybody," he said. "Otherwise let this thing go like it used to be with no rules. Then we will spend ourselves into oblivion and there will be no sport. It's that simple."
Bernstein said he once did have a problem involving Schumacher and an injector. Bernstein he went to Aerodyne, a company which deals with all of the racing community, and was told the injector was proprietary to Schumacher.
"I don't know why the NHRA allowed that to happen, to be frank. But they did, and that's the way it is. So I don't buy the injector. I have to do something else.
"I never complained about that to anyone, anywhere or any time. The only thing was the injector, and that was in January. We physically went to buy the injector and could not buy it. We were told that we could not buy this injector from Aerodyne," he said.
"I'm in a little world over here, just trying to survive, be competitive, and win a race. That's where we are," Bernstein said. "We spend the money we need to spend to buy the best parts and pieces we can possibly buy that are available -- that we are ALLOWED to buy. That's all we care about. I don't care about all of that other stuff.
"I'll fight for things I see that I don't think are right and fair for the sport, and fair for the other deals," Bernstein said. "My opinion is that I think it should be a level playing field that if you’ve got a part, everyone should be able to buy it. I don't think teams should have things others can't buy. A lot of people don't agree with that, and I understand. That's just my opinion.
"If we're trying to control costs in this sport and keep people in the game, then you can't let everyone do whatever they want," he said. "It will force those who can't keep up out. Then you'll have one or two owners in this sport and that's it. If that’s what you want, then so be it," he said." I won't be one of those people, probably. It's that simple."
Bernstein said that while he did complain about Schumacher in January but not ever about the canopy.
"My complaint was about the injector that he had back in January. I complained on that because I wanted to buy it and couldn't. We wanted to buy it from Aerodyne, Aerodyne made it for Don. He did it. He positioned them to do it for him and it's his property and they couldn't sell it to me. All I did, at that point, was said to Dan Olson that I didn't think it was right that other teams couldn't buy what other teams had. I still feel that way. I didn't say anything else about aerodynamics or anything."
However, Bernstein did indicate that he thought the canopy in question, which Schumacher insisted was designed solely to protect drivers from fire and debris in the cockpit, appeared to include an aerodynamic advantage.
The singed firesuit which was one of the factors to inspire the NHRA to rescind approval of the cockpit shrouds on DSR dragsters.
Schumacher has a few arguments of his own that he says are "that simple."
"NHRA approved these parts," Schumacher said.
Although his organization had a stack of documents to support its safety claims about the canopies when they tested it as far back as last year, he said the NHRA never requested to review it when they did approve the canopy. Likewise, he charged, the sanctioning body didn't take a professional approach when reversing its decision.
He called the NHRA's approach to the situation "amateurish" and said no one from the NHRA came and spoke with him, his drivers, or his crew chiefs before handing down the ruling Friday -- just before the start of qualifying for the fourth race of six in the Countdown.
Light cited the fire that beset Antron Brown in the quarterfinals at Reading, saying that was proof that the canopy wasn't designed for safety. However, he noted, the NHRA didn't conduct any in-depth investigation with available instruments and methods.
"I strongly disagree with the decision. They made it with no scientific evidence," Schumacher said. "They should talk to a real aerodynamic engineer. They never even came over and looked at Antron's firesuit until I gave them a piece of my mind."
What at once angered and baffled him was the NHRA's logic in removing a safety improvement from a car.
Schumacher called the decision and the way it was handled "an embarrassment to DSR, to the sport, and to every one of my sponsors."
He said he spoke with NHRA President Tom Compton by phone Saturday after leaving him a voice-mail message Friday. He said Compton told him he couldn't discuss the matter because he wasn't familiar with the details.
The team owner said he has no plans to appeal the decision: "It does no good to appeal anything to the NHRA. They're right."
Said Schumacher, "I think Larry Morgan had a great T-shirt several years ago."
(The Pro Stock driver caused a flap for printing T-shirts with an NHRA logo and the words, "You Can't Fix Stupid." The NHRA banned the shirts, threatened Morgan with a lawsuit, and ordered him to hand over the shirts or destroy them.)
Schumacher confirmed that he had sent a letter to PRO board members, announcing his resignation.
"That caught me totally off guard also," Bernstein said. "He’s been a great asset the last few years there. He’s been a right hand to me over there. He’s taken on a lot of responsibility for that organization. He’s helped me tremendously. I hate to see him leave. I don't really know why he left, to be honest about it.”
Schumacher said he has no more interest in investing any more money or personal energy into helping improve the sport, whether it's for the sake of safety, enhanced fan experience, or, frankly, any other reason. Saying, "They have no use for me," Schumacher said, "I've spent way too much of my own personal energy and time and money."
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