BRANDON BERNSTEIN EYEING FRESH START

It wasn't exactly deja-vu in the Budweiser/Lucas Oil Dragster pit. A year ago at Phoenix, Brandon Bernstein was making his first official passes in the car with which his father, Kenny, had built a legacy. This year he was taking his first ride in the Top Fuel car since he crashed at Englishtown, NJ, last May and suffered two broken vertebrae. "I'm thanking the Lord above," the 31-year-old Bernstein said. "Somebody was looking after me."

As he shed the clamshell-like back brace he had to wear 24 hours a day for months, he was able to sit in the dragster at Indianapolis during Labor Day weekend and was given the honor of first firing it up at Chicago in September. On the track where he earned the first of three victories in five events en route to the NHRA Rookie of the Year Award, Bernstein reacquainted himself with the feeling of the Budweiser/Lucas Oil Dragster.

He said during his recovery he didn't allow himself to play "what-if" games. Instead, he told himself, "It happened, and you're stuck with it and there's nothing you can do about it, except get well and healed and get ready for next year." He said he is at 100 percent, evidenced by the fact he was helping unload bulky boxes from the storage compartment of his team's motorhome. "It came back real quick," he said of his instincts, adding that it took a run or two get his rhythm back. -SW

HARTMAN RECOVERING FROM SURGERY

Virgil Hartman and the FRAM/Prestone dragsters of Rhonda Hartman-Smith and husband John Smith, skipped the Las Vegas and Phoenix preseason test sessions. Patriarch Virgil Hartman, team owner and crew chief for both Top Fuel cars, is recovering from an elective heart bypass surgery performed Feb. 3 in Anderson, SC. He spent four days in the hospital and will spend the next six to nine weeks recovering at his home in nearby Williamston, SC.

"We are relieved the surgery went so well," his daughter, Hartman-Smith, said. "The doctors said the operation went smoothly and that Dad will be back to his usual self in no time. Our biggest challenge will be to keep him in the house and away from the race track for the next six weeks."

In Hartman's absence, his son, Richard, will serve as the team's tuning consultant. Both teams planned to participate in the PRO Warm-Up in Tucson, Ariz., before heading to Pomona, Calif., for the season-opening Winternationals Feb. 19-22. Virgil Hartman's goal is to be back in the pits at the March 19-21 NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla. -SW

AN OLDY BUT A GOODY Phoenix had much more than the Nitro Pros to offer. In addition to a large contingent of A/Fuelers, Mike Adams tested his Nostalgia Funny Car in preparation for the coming Bakersfield March Meet with his 70's Vette. Adams, from Texas, ran mid 7's to join the growing number of entries interested in recreating the time of the Fabulous Floppers. -DH

HOT SCHU

Tony Schumacher ran a "best of show" 4.610/293.03 on
Saturday fighting the green track.