NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

60th Winternationals flashback: Beadle, Bernstein raise the roof for '81 FC final

One of the craziest moments in Winternationals history came at the 1981 event with a massive pre-final-round pit thrash in the pits of Funny Car star Raymond Beadle, where the roof of Kenny Bernstein's car was transplanted onto Beadle's wounded car.
06 Feb 2020
Posted by NHRA.com staff
Feature

It was one of the craziest moments in Winternationals history when at the 1981 event the roof of Raymond Beadle’s famed Blue Max Funny Car blew off at the finish line on a winning semifinal run.

In a miraculous thrash known as "the Texas Chainsaw Massacre," fellow Texan Kenny Bernstein allowed Beadle to saw the roof off of his Budweiser King entry and graft it to the Max for the final round. Beadle lost the final to Billy Meyer but not for lack of effort