1987 Southern Nationals
Kenny Bernstein won the first of his 61 national event titles at the 1979 Cajun Nationals, in the process handing John Force his first of nine straight runner-ups in Funny Car. Bernstein also was the last driver to defeat Force in a final before Force's breakthrough win when he trounced him in the 1987 Southern Nationals final in Atlanta. In fact, Bernstein handed Force his final three runner-ups before Force finally cashed in with his first win.

"Looking back, this car was really ahead of its time," said Bernstein. "It looks like the cars of today. And look at that rear spoiler: There's hardly anything there because we had so much downforce everywhere else."

The Southern Nationals win was extra sweet for the Budweiser King, who dominated the field and was joined in the winner's circle by new Top Fuel teammate Darrell Gwynn, whose Budweiser-backed dragster ran six 5.20s — a great run 15 years ago — and set the national record en route to victory. Bernstein and Gwynn had shared the winner's circle on three occasions in 1986 — at Le Grandnational, Summernationals, and Winston Finals — but Atlanta marked their first trip to the pay window as stablemates.

Bernstein's ultra-swoopy and controversial Buick LeSabre qualified No. 1 with a track record 5.528 that was nearly a tenth ahead of Force's 5.617 and a tenth and a half ahead of Miller-backed Ed McCulloch — then Bernstein's opponent in the Beer Wars. McCulloch clocked a 5.68 with his wild new Firenza, a car whose radical lines were the Larry Minor team's answer to Bernstein's Buick. McCulloch's Olds was only three runs old when it almost became ancient history in the event's final qualifying session. The Olds got up on two wheels and clipped the rear of Jim Head's similarly styled Firenza, sending him onto two wheels. Both repaired their rides, and Bernstein later would face McCulloch in the semifinals.

Bernstein reflects "That car — 'the Batmobile' as we liked to call it because of its look — was just a superior car, and Dale [Armstrong] was really on his game. It's ironic that I won my first race against John Force and that I was the last person to beat him in a final before he finally won. We knew that [Austin] Coil was tough because he had had great success with [Frank] Hawley in the Chi-Town car. Dale was just better at that time. "Racing McCulloch and that Miller car back then, there really wasn't the emphasis on the 'Beer Wars' as we have today against Larry Dixon. The publicity we get today in television and newspapers makes it very accessible to the public. Back then, it was important to us, but there wasn't the kind of feud we have going on now for the championship. "Of course, it was nice to have a Budweiser car in Top Fuel back then with the Gwynns. The year before, they were about to go out of business in Top Fuel; they were having tremendous trouble and couldn't even get down the racetrack. Jerry [Gwynn] asked Dale and me for some mechanical help, and we ended up giving them an engine right out of our trailer. Dale helped them for a few runs and got them going with our combination; I think this started in Maple Grove [in 1986], and they ended up winning the Finals, as we did, later that year. "From that relationship, we thought that maybe we could get Budweiser into Top Fuel and have two cars in the arena. There were some dollars I knew about from some other things we weren't going to do, so I talked Bud into doing it. It turned out well, especially when we were able to put both cars into the winner's circle."

Bernstein almost didn't make it past round one, though, when he lost a clutch in his first-round race with John Martin and ran only 5.82. Fortunately for Bernstein, Martin, who had qualified his unpainted Firenza No. 9 with a 5.81, smoked the tires.

Following that reprieve, Bernstein and crew chief Dale Armstrong took no prisoners. Bernstein bashed out a 5.61 at a track record 264.47 mph to defeat Mark Oswald's 5.68 in the Candies & Hughes/Motorcraft T-bird, then ran a 5.57 at 262 mph to best McCulloch's game 5.66.

That last run was fraught with peril. Bernstein smoked the tires on his pre-run dry hop, but Armstrong calmly backed him up for two more quick chirps that apparently settled the tires. Bernstein, unfazed by the ruckus, left on McCulloch en route to the win.

The work wasn't over, though, as the run cost the team a broken input shaft, rear end, and clutch, leading to a frantic pre-final thrash.

Force similarly had narrowly escaped round one as he slowed to a 6.01, but he got the win when Head's radical mount shucked the blower belt. Force then made an easy pass, 5.76, after opponent Billy Meyer kaboomed the body right off the car with a massive blower explosion, then squeaked out a 6.23 to 6.48 semifinal victory over Scott Kalitta.

An inconsistent Force looked overmatched against Bernstein's steady machine, but crew chief Austin Coil — in just his third year with Force — showed the never-say-die attitude that today is the team's trademark. Coil tuned Force to his best run of eliminations, 5.74, but it wasn't enough to hold off Bernstein, who ran his best e.t. of Sunday alongside Force, chalking up the win — the 19th of his career — with a 5.55 at 264.08 mph.