Those of you subscribing to Hemmings Muscle Machines will want to take note of a six-page story in the August 2008 issue, received in your reporter's / subscriber's mail box this morning. You might give the lengthy report on Keith Berg and his 1949/1950 Oldsmobiles only a passing glance...but if you did, you'd be missing out on an important part of Studebaker drag racing history from the 1960s and 1970s.You see, Keith Berg and his early Rocket 88s were the arch-rival and long-time nemesis of Ted Harbit and The Chicken Hawk, Ted's 1951 Commander Starlight coupe, when Ted was running it as a stocker on his way to eight National Class championships in the eleven years that spanned 1962-1972.
To answer the most obvious question first (and the answer is YES: ) Ted Harbit and Keith Berg met once at Indianapolis Raceway Park in the Class Championship race and Ted beat Keith for the National Win in that final race. Ted does not remember the exact year; he thinks it was 1969, give or take a year.
The reason Ted and Keith did not meet more often was purely geographic and economic: Keith was headquarted in California and Ted, of course, was here in Indiana. Keith dominated he and Ted's class at The Winternationals in California because Ted couldn't afford to go that far west every year. Ted, in turn, dominated The National Drags in Indianapolis because Keith couldn't afford to come to the midwest every year...and Ted was driving a Studebaker, of course. The one year Keith did make the trek, he drove back across the continental divide nursing a second-place loss to Ted Harbit.
Ted says that, generally, Keith posted the better times in their class early on...but as the rivalry continued on in the late '60s, Ted passed Keith in more ways than one, with The Chicken Hawk generally posting the faster times in their class during the latter half of the decade.
This was a real treat, opening the new Hemmings Muscle Machines and seeing Harley Keith Berg featured with his 1949/1950 Oldsmobiles. I immediately recognized him and called Ted. (Although HMM refers to him as Harley Berg, he went by his middle name, Keith, back in the 1960s and 1970s.)
So if you are ever reading an old Hot Rod and come across a reference to the cross-country rivalry between Ted Harbit and Keith Berg, you'll know who it is. (And, as usual, 'way to go, Ted!)
BP
We've got to quit saying, 
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