Brandon Bernstein will have one thought and one thought only hanging in the back of his mind this weekend at the Lucas Slick Mist NHRA Nationals at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, Az.

The thought – 323 miles per hour; the mark Berstein set during the National Time Trials in January at Firebird Raceway.

Bernstein, told CompetitionPlus.com with a degree of certainty, the run felt fast.

First year Bernstein tuner Rob Flynn was skeptical of the run at first, but the more he looked at the computer read outs and the overall performance, the run checked out.

The run “checked out”, using youthful slang, when it’s noted Bernstein ran five miles per hour faster than anyone had run before in the history of recognized 1,000-foot drag racing. One Captured Two Wins as a Driver, The Other Two as a Tuner, This weekend They Are Combined …

Brandon Bernstein will have one thought and one thought only hanging in the back of his mind this weekend at the Lucas Slick Mist NHRA Nationals at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, Az.

The thought – 323 miles per hour; the mark Berstein set during the National Time Trials in January at Firebird Raceway.

Bernstein, told CompetitionPlus.com with a degree of certainty, the run felt fast.

First year Bernstein tuner Rob Flynn was skeptical of the run at first, but the more he looked at the computer read outs and the overall performance, the run checked out.

The run “checked out”, using youthful slang, when it’s noted Bernstein ran five miles per hour faster than anyone had run before in the history of recognized 1,000-foot drag racing.

Flynn was the tuner for Hot Rod Fuller when he ran over 318-mph at the fall Las Vegas event in 2008 and admits that Bernstein’s run showed faster speeds than the previously established mark. He’s checked, double checked and triple checked for good measure.

Each time the numbers add up, at least to him they do. While he understands there will always be skeptics, Flynn conveys there’s nothing skeptical about the data the computers provided.

“The front and rear wheel speeds were definitely above what they were on Hot Rod Fuller’s 318-mph runs,” Flynn revealed. “We were skeptical of the run until we downloaded the data. Once we downloaded the data, we realized that if it didn’t go 323, it had just run faster than it ever had before.”

Flynn understands the reluctance to include testing runs as legitimate passes, but in his first year as tuner for Bernstein, such a performance makes for a good first impression.

“It was great,” he added. “It was by no means a perfect run, other parts of the run were not up to what we would like see, it didn’t provide the kind of elapsed time we wanted, but it did point us in a good direction.”

That direction could get even better considering the history of both driver and tuner at Firebird.

Flynn has two victories at Firebird with Fuller dating back to the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

Bernstein has two victories to his credit in Phoenix, dating back to 2003 when he won in only his second race as a Top Fuel driver and successfully defending the title a year later.

In 2005, Bernstein clocked a career best and top [quarter-mile] speed of the meet with a 333.74 mph blast.

“When you’ve had success at a track, it gives you a certain amount of confidence when you return,” Bernstein said. “In pre-season testing here, we ran a stunning speed. We had the right set up at the right time of day. Hopefully we can repeat that kind of performance for the national event.”