After spending his entire career racing with his family, it didn’t take Brandon Bernstein long to get comfortable at his new home with the ProtectTheHarvest.com/MAVTV Top Fuel dragster team in 2012.

Since he started, Bernstein always had raced alongside his legendary father, Kenny Bernstein. However, when his father chose to retire, Bernstein successfully stepped out of that shadow by joining Morgan Lucas Racing.

“I wasn’t sure how it would all go at the beginning of the season,” he said. “I’m Brandon, and I felt like I could be Brandon around this new group of guys. It’s great to know I’ve learned and don’t need to have my dad around 24/7 to oversee everything going on with the race team.

“It felt good to have that going for me, and it’s all a credit to how I was raised and how I was taught by my father, both as a driver and as a businessman, that the transition was so smooth. I was comfortable right away and it felt good to be on my own.”

And it didn’t take long for Bernstein to assimilate to MLR.

“I’d been around a lot of the guys on the team for years racing and am personally close to the Lucas family,” Bernstein said. “Morgan Lucas is a great friend of mine, and has been for years. I knew it was going to be an easier than normal transition, but it was like I belonged here the moment I walked in. I was welcomed right away, and we clicked.”

Paired with first-year crew chief Joe Barlam, the reconstructed team got stronger as the season went along and capped the year with semifinal finishes in five of the six Countdown to the Championship races and a victory at the season finale in Pomona.

“It was one of those deals where everyone, from Morgan all the way down to the newest crew guy, felt comfortable from the start,” Bernstein said. “We got along so well and I’m so excited about our second year together because it will only get better.”

Bernstein has scored 19 NHRA Top Fuel wins and three top-three championship finishes since turning pro in 2003 when he earned rookie of the year honors after winning five of his first 13 races. The second-generation star and his team are eager to see if they can add some more accomplishments to his résumé in 2013.

“We felt like we had a consistent car during the Countdown,” Bernstein said. “Getting the win at the end of the year gave us a lot of confidence going into the winter. We really feel this car can contend for a championship, and that’s what we’re going after.”

Vital Statistics

• Name: Brandon Bernstein
• Date of birth: Aug. 2, 1972
• Residence: Indianapolis
• Hometown: Dallas
• 2012 Sponsors/Car: ProtectTheHarvest.com/MAVTV Top Fuel dragster
• Crew Chiefs: Joe Barlam/John DeFilippis
• Career Wins: 19
• Career Final Rounds: 38
• Career-Best Elapsed Time: 3.736 (Reading 2012)
• Career-Best Speed: 330.31(Reading 2012)

Career Highlights

• 2012: In his first year with Morgan Lucas Racing, Bernstein raced to one win at the season-ending NHRA Finals in Pomona and seven semifinal showings, including in five of the six Countdown races; Successfully qualified for the Countdown to 1, eventually finishing in fifth place overall
• 2011: Raced to final round of Vegas 1 event; Posted eighth consecutive top 10 points finish; Ran career-best top speed of 322.65 mph in Charlotte 2
• 2010: Advanced to three final rounds; Posted seventh consecutive top 10 points finish; Recorded career-best time and speed at hometown event in Dallas
• 2009: Richmond victory ended two-year winless drought; Advanced to five finals; Posted fourth career top-five points finish; Earned first career Countdown playoff victory
• 2008: Raced to runner-up finishes at Gainesville, Englishtown, Norwalk and Seattle; Claimed No. 1 qualifying positions at Phoenix and Memphis; Posted fifth career top 10 points finish
• 2007: Raced to a career-high five victories in seven final-round finishes and was in championship contention at the season’s final race111
• 2006: Earned four season victories; Posted three No. 1 qualifying positions; Finished runner- up three times, including Indianapolis; Contended for Full Throttle championship until late in season, was as high as second in point standings; Tied his career-best Full Throttle Series points finish (3rd, also 2004)
• 2005: Raced to victories at St. Louis and Seattle; Posted two No. 1 qualifying positions
• 2004: Returned to driver’s seat after ’03 crash to post three victories in four final rounds and finish a career-best third in the Full Throttle Top 10
• 2003: Earned three victories and two top qualifying awards; Runner-up in rain-delayed ’02 Top Fuel Shootout; Led Full Throttle point standings for first time; Suffered season-ending back injury in crash at Englishtown; Named Auto Club Road to the Future Award winner

Personal

• Wife: Tracey
• Daughter: Lyla Faith (4/23/10); Landon Russell (7/18/12)
• Height/weight: 5-foot-7, 165 pounds
• Hobbies: Computers and computer gaming; Golf
• Notable: Had the most successful career launch of any other Top Fuel or Funny Car driver, winning five of his first 13 starts over two seasons; Was named MVP of the 2008 NHRA Softball Classic for making several amazing defensive plays; 2009 marked the 30th (and final year) of the Bernstein/Budweiser sponsorship, the longest in motorsports history; Won NHRA Division 7 Top Alcohol Dragster championship driving for Darien and Meadows team in 2001 and worked on his father’s TF crew in 2002

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