1996 Slick 50 Nationals
Though the mid-1990s were not especially kind to Kenny Bernstein — he won only once in 1994 and was blanked in 1995 — the Bud King definitely was in the "quality over quantity" camp when he did win.

Bernstein's victory at the 1996 Slick 50 Nationals in Houston marked the third straight time that he had won an event while setting a new national record in the final round. He had previously accomplished that feat in winning the 1994 NHRA Finals, during which he set the national speed record with a stunning blast of 314.46 mph, and in winning the 1996 Phoenix event, where he set the national e.t. record at 4.664.

Bernstein's second-round battle with points rival Blaine Johnson was crucial. The Bud King team found the tune-up and set low e.t. of eliminations to get the win.

Bernstein completed the hat trick in Houston by lowering the national e.t. mark by a thousandth during his final-round defeat of good buddy and golfing partner Joe Amato, who was in the midst of his worst career winless slump — winless since 1994.

Bernstein's victory was his second of the season, a year in which he would ultimately win his first NHRA Top Fuel championship following the death of points rival Blaine Johnson at the U.S. Nationals.

Bernstein and Johnson were trading blows right from the beginning of the season; Johnson won the Winternationals and Bernstein the Phoenix event. Johnson regained the points lead from Bernstein with a victory at the Mac Tools Gatornationals, but Bernstein stole it right back in Houston. Ironically, Bud King crew chief Dale Armstrong was running with cylinder heads manufactured by Johnson's brother, Alan.

Bernstein entered eliminations not looking like much of a threat. Gatornationals runner-up Scott Kalitta, who had run a best-ever 314.90 mph in Gainesville before back-flipping his dragster against Johnson in the final, was the No. 1 qualifier at 4.711 and was followed by Johnson at 4.714. Bernstein was seventh with a 4.80 in muggy conditions.

But when Sunday dawned cool with corrected altitudes 2,000 feet better, it was a whole new ball game. Bernstein ran a 4.84 to defeat Kalitta's father, Connie, who red-lighted in round one, but that didn't tell the whole story. The Bud King had lit the win lamp with the great performance despite beginning to lose the engine at half-track, where the tremendous power literally ripped the friction surfaces off the clutch discs. The Bud King had raced to the 330-foot clocks in only 2.11 seconds and to half-track in 3.10 — shocking numbers at the time.

Bernstein reflects "We had some lean times before that season, but Dale [Armstrong] and Ray [Alley] worked it out in 1996, and the car became competitive again. "When the weather cooled on Sunday, it was a whole new ball game. That was typical of our car back then; it would really run well under good conditions. Once Dale got ahold of a tune-up, like he did that Sunday, there was little stopping us. "Beating Blaine in the second round was big. Our battles with Blaine and Alan began in Pomona and continued until Blaine's accident in Indianapolis. [The points chase] was still close going into the U.S. Nationals; I think we were only three rounds behind. "We knew that there was a lot of talent in that camp. They had tremendous success in the alcohol classes, and though they struggled a bit in their first year [in Top Fuel], we knew that it was only a matter of time. They were both tremendously talented."

The Bud King team knew they were on the right track.

Bernstein then faced off with Johnson in a crucial second-round battle that went to the Bud team when Johnson's mount sawed through its clutch.

"That was an important round," said Bernstein, whose 4.703 in that round reset low e.t. of the meet. "That's really a 40-point swing because if you lose, you give him 20, and if you win, you go on. It was long before the season was over, but that was an important win."

Armstrong and tuning cohorts Bob Brooks and Ray Alley got even quicker in the semifinals, where Bernstein ran a 4.690 to defeat Eddie Hill and set up the final-round date with Amato, who had done Bernstein a huge favor by beating Kalitta in his half of the semifinals, 4.70 to 4.85.

Bernstein, who had won this event in 1991, and Amato, who had won it in 1992, were each vying to become the event's first two-time Top Fuel winner. Amato tried a little too hard, drawing a .389 red-light, and Bernstein zoomed his way into the record books — and a 30-point lead — with a 4.663-second blast.

Bernstein dedicated his victory to chassis builder Al Swindahl, who was battling cancer, of which he died six months later.