| b52 Bradley Kleve | | Updated by Driver: 9/18/2010
Proofed by Staff: 9/19/2010 |
 | | Nickname: Brad
Hometown: Norfolk, NE
Birthdate: 3/10/59
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 195
Email Address: rkleve@hamilton.net
Marital Status: Single
Children: Amy
Employer: Schroeter Farms
Job: Hired Hand
Year Started Racing: 1980
Total Years Racing: 13
Racing Hero: Steve Kinser and Dale Earnhardt
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Year/Make/Model: 1980 Chevy Monte Carlo SS
Motor: Chevy 355
Owner: Brad Kleve
Crew: Brad Kleve, Tony Coover.
Sponsors & Support: The fans, Paint by Kevin Renner, Uecker Produce, Schroeter Tree Service, Tony Vollbrecht, Derek Renner, Kadin Renner, Larry Hockmeier, Tony Coover.
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Other Than Dirt Driver Tracks & Series
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| Awards & Accomplishments | 2010 - 8th place in Riviera Raceway Stock Car Points.
2004 - 2nd place in Points and 5 Cruiser A Feature wins at Riviera Raceway.
2004 - Dennis Cummins Memorial Race Cruiser Championship.
2004 - Riviera Raceway Best of Show Award in Cruisers.
2004 - People's Choice Award in Cruisers at Burger King Car Show.
2004 - Mint Bar Best of Show Award in Cruisers.
2003 - Riviera Raceway Cruiser Championship with 5 A Feature wins.
2003 - Dennis Cummins Memorial Race Cruiser Championship.
2003 - Riviera Raceway Best of Show in Cruisers.
2002 - 2nd place in Riviera Raceway Cruiser Points.
2002 - 2nd place in Dennis Cummins Memorial Race in Cruiser class.
1990 - Riviera Raceway Bomber Championship.
1990 - 2nd place in Hartington, NE Bomber Points.
1980 - Incomplete season, Scribner Raceway, drag racing.
| | Career Summary | In 1982 Tom Wagner (#17, now #24) suggested I knock the glass out of my 1970 Chevy Impala (Eleanor) and race in the new Bomber Class at Riviera Raceway. The classes I have raced are Bomber, Sportsman, Street Stock and Cruiser. I've also drag raced at Scribner, NE and also raced Go-Karts. I have placed in the Top 4 every year of racing except two years when I did not complete the racing year and finished 9th. One time I wrecked my knee and had surgery and the other time I wrecked my car. When Luke turned 15 we made "Ol' Aggie" into a Cruiser and I climbed back into a car. I was a tech official at Riviera Raceway in 2007 and 2008.
| | Racing Goals | Have fun, never roll, and win the race!
| | Other Interesting Team Information | The start of my racing career was short lived. At age ten I took my dad's 1953 Chevy panel wagon, joy riding through the alleys of Blair, NE.
In 1980 I started drag racing at Scribner Raceway in a 1966 Nova SS. I was pinned between my car and the tailgate of our pull truck in an accident in the pits. My pelvis was fractured in seven places. Three months in a hospital bed followed by months of physical therapy and crutches taught me to follow safety rules. Because of my accident, the NHRA requires all cars to have a neutral safty switch.
I picked the number 52 because of Dean Wilkinson. I admired his sportsmanship and his relationship with the fans. The "B" stands for "Brad's Bomber". In 1983 my father-in-law, Willy Bernstrauch of Norfolk, helped me build a car and I raced his number, #41.
People still ask me if I am that crazy driver that raced my Bomber with the hood up - and won. An unforgettable race for me and the fans!
All my cars are named after special women.
I enjoy every class. My favorite is always the one I am racing in that year.
In 2004 a race car driver from each class was invited to participate in a birthday party for terminally ill and disabled children. The kids had a chance to take a ride in a race car and signed my Cruiser. That was a wonderful experience I will never forget. After that when kids came into the pits and asked for our autograph, we had them autograph the car. There are 186 signatures on that car.
I like to dig in the dirt in my vegetable garden and enjoy landscaping my yard.
I have two rescued pasture pets - Beauty and her grown up foal, Tonka. Beauty worked in a feed yard, and because of a leg injury, can never work again.
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