Prudhomme Left at the Line : Drag racing: Veteran driver’s career ends in Sunday’s first round. In top fuel, Kenny Bernstein runs the fastest quarter-mile in history.

The Snake’s Final Strike came early Sunday.

On the same Pomona Fairplex drag strip where his National Hot Rod Assn. career began in 1965, Don Prudhomme’s career came to a close when his tires smoked off the line in the first round of the 30th Winston Select Finals.

The record books will show that rookie Bob Vandergriff Jr. of Alpharetta, Ga., who was born Feb. 7, 1965--the day Prudhomme won his first race in 1965--captured the first-round match with a 4.97-second run at 296.44 m.p.h.

Prudhomme, his tires smoking as the top fuel dragster lost traction with the first punch of the throttle, coasted most of the 1,320-foot track and finished in 9.987 seconds at a freeway speed of 76.37 m.p.h. in his last race before retiring.

“It’s happened to me before, so I’m not surprised,” an emotional Prudhomme said. “Disappointing, but not surprising. It’s an up-and-down sport and no matter how good you’re running, you’re going to have rounds like this.”

The final rounds did not disappoint the crowd, which stayed into the darkness for the end.

Kenny Bernstein, 50, who made the switch from funny cars to top fuel dragsters with Prudhomme in 1990, ran 314.46 m.p.h., the fastest quarter-mile in drag racing history, to defeat Cory McClenathan in the top fuel final. Earlier, he had posted a record 311.85 in the semifinals.

The victory ended a 28-event losing streak for Bernstein, dating to May 1993. He earned $40,000.

Four-time funny car champion John Force also set an NHRA speed record with a 303.95 m.p.h. run to defeat former champion Cruz Pedregon in the final. Like Bernstein, he had set a record in the semifinals of 303.74.

“Their nightmares are just beginning,” Force shouted after his victory, giving warning that he will return next year with a new Camaro.

The two finals were a bittersweet ending for the Larry Minor nitro team. McClenathan and Pedregon are his drivers, but next year McDonald’s is moving its sponsorship to the newly formed team headed by former NFL coach Joe Gibbs. McClenathan and Pedregon are both joining Gibbs, leaving Minor with two of the strongest cars in drag racing--and no drivers.

“I’ll be back next year, one way or the other,” said Minor, the potato magnate from San Jacinto.

The fence next to the starting pad was crowded with drivers and crews from other teams when Prudhomme staged for the first race of his final day. When it was over and the Snake’s car was being towed back its last quarter mile, the crowd of about 45,000 was on its feet cheering and waving caps to the drag racing legend from Granada Hills.

Prudhomme’s problem off the line might have started when Bernstein laid down a long line of oil on the left lane when his engine gave out while beating Jim Head. Bernstein burned a couple of pistons and spewed most of his 12 gallons of oil on the track.

The Prudhomme-Vandergriff match was delayed 30 minutes while crews cleaned the track. Bernstein’s crew, headed by Dale Armstrong, changed engines during the delay.

“The wait wouldn’t have bothered me so much, but I knew the track was changing out there,” Prudhomme said. “I wasn’t that good off the line, but I knew I had a heck of a hod rod under me. The track was a little different and we had the engine (tuned up) a little stout and spun the tires. Sometimes the car has a mind of its own.”

Prudhomme was the only driver in eight first-round matches to lose in the left lane.

“To tell you the truth, it’s a bit of a relief for me that it’s over,” he said. “It (the yearlong Final Strike Tour) has worn me out. I wouldn’t have changed a thing, but it was tiring.

“There’s a tear or two in my eyes, but I’m already looking forward to my new life as a car owner.”

Next year, Prudhomme will campaign his own top fuel dragster, which will be driven by rookie Larry Dixon Jr. He will have the same crew, headed by Wes Cerny, that helped him to a second-place finish behind Scott Kalitta in the 1994 top fuel standings.

Shelly Anderson, the No. 1 qualifier who won $50,000 in the Budweiser Classic on Saturday, lost in the second round to Mike Dunn, but it was still a memorable day for the Cal State Fullerton graduate. Her brother, Randy, won the top alcohol funny car final and his second Winston championship and her fiance, Jay Payne, defeated former Southern California junior tennis star Randy Parks in the top alcohol dragster final.

She also collected $50,000 from the Slick 50 World Record Club when no one bettered her NHRA record of 4.718 seconds set on Saturday. Bernstein came close with his final round 4.720, but didn’t quite take the bonus from her.

Darrell Alderman, after clinching his third Winston pro stock championship in a battle with Wayne County Dodge teammate Scott Geoffrion by reaching the semifinals, came back to beat Geoffrion in the final, 7.09 to 7.10. John Myers won the pro motorcycle final against Jim Bernard.