Ed Pink, Part 7 - Pink Elephants Face Extinction
Bernstein, Armstrong, And The Last Of Ed Pink’s “Shop Cars"
By Dave Wallace; Photo borrowed from the “Walls Of Fame” at Ed Pink Racing Engines (photographer unknown)

In Part Six of this series, Ed Pink described the rapid rise and gradual noseover of the Pink Elephant era.  The last big deals came from Super Shops and Kenny Bernstein.  Asked to recall the end of his decade-long reign as the king of the Funny Car engine-builders, Pink (shown alongside the late Leroy Goldstein, above) tells a fascinating tale about how it happened — and what might have been ...         

“The Bernstein thing was the last one we did.  That was when Kenny had the Chelsea Pub restaurants.  He really got into the chips.  He had the money to do what he really wanted to do, and do it right.  We had the car built for him; we did everything.  It was kept in the back shop.  Dee Gant worked on it at times.  That was our baby, back there.   And Kenny gave me carte blanche.  I had John Buttera build the car, because back in that day, if you had a Buttera car with an Ed Pink motor, you were killer, as long as you had a guy who could get it from Point A to Point B. 

“When the car got all done, we took the engine down to Buttera’s shop, complete, all ready to go.  We got the engine in the car, then brought it back here, and went over everything.  Kenny came in, he saw his car, and I could see tears in his eyes, ’cause it was a beautiful thing that Buttera built. 

“He ran that car for quite a while.  Then, one day he called me and says, ‘I’m gonna be in town tomorrow.  I wanna come by and see you, and we’ll talk.’  He came in here and he says, ‘I’m gonna sell my restaurants.  I wanna go racing fulltime.  I wanna go tour.  I wanna go all around the United States.  I wanna go racing.  And I want you to go with me.  I want you to run it.’ 

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

“I say, ‘Kenny, what am I gonna do with my business?’  He says, ‘Sell it.  I’ll make it worth your while.’  I asked him to give me a couple of days to think about it.  So, Sylvia, my second wife, and I talked about it.  She’s a really nice lady.  She said, ‘Whatever you want to do.’  And I told her, ‘Y’know, whatever I have in my business is what I have.  Whether it’s something or nothing, once I get rid of it and go Funny Car racing, what if something happens to Kenny?  What happens if one day he wakes up and decides, ‘I don’t wanna do this anymore’? 

“We never got down to the point where he told me how much money he’d pay me, but I knew it would be good.  I said, ‘Kenny, I don’t want to do it.  I want to keep my business.  I want to help you out.  I’ll go to some of the races.’  “He said, ‘Okay, but I gotta have me a fulltime guy.’ 

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

“So he calls me one day and says, ‘What do you think about Leroy Goldstein?’  I say, ‘Leroy's a good guy.’  He says, ‘I think I’m gonna hire him.  Will you kind’a tutor him?’   I say, ‘Yeah, Leroy and I get along fine.’  And we did.  And Leroy did the best he could.  But, unfortunately, his technical knowledge didn’t progress as fast as Kenny wanted the car to [progress].  There were races where he’d call me on the phone, and they’d be in trouble, and I’d get on a plane and go back to them.  I did everything I could to help him. 

“Finally, Kenny called me one day and said, ‘I’ve gotta move on.  I’ve got another guy in mind.  What do you think about Dale Armstrong?’  And I said, ‘Well, Dale’s a good mechanic.  He certainly is a good driver.  He’s never run nitro before, but it isn’t something he can’t learn.  None of us ran nitro until we did it!  Sure, he’d probably be good.’ 

“So, Kenny Bernstein hired Dale Armstrong, and the rest is history.”

COMING IN PART 8:  What if Pink had taken the job?

Return to Contents

Got a comment? Drop us a line at comppluseditor@aol.com.

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

Return to Contents

Return to Contents