RIP Monty Berney

[intocarss]

I had the plesure of meeting him many times. He was a great man and racer.. May he RIP

Monty was involved in Fastest Street Car racing since the early '90's in his series of '55 Chevy's affectionately known as Bertha. He traveled east to Memphis to take on the best in the country and made a name for himself among the street car elite.

Monty moved on to Pro Street, first in a nitrous '55, but soon made plans to build another all steel, supercharged '55 known as Bertha II which he campaigned in PSCA's West Coast Series.

As times continued to get faster, Monty built Bertha III which he raced with West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod and also attended the Street Car Supernationals

[Shmoov69]

That stinks. How did he pass, health reasons or racing?
I remember him blasting off 7's at our little local track and wondering how the heck he stopped that thing!! I am on the binders HARD to get it shut down running 10's!!

[intocarss]

He died from Liver Cancer Jimmy.

[EBMC]

Im Very sad to hear this. I'm on vacation right now but heard the news yesterday. I knew Monty from WAY back in the late 80's very early 90's I used to work at a small body shop in Pleasanton and his construction business was next door. We became friends through our mutual love of the sport of drag racing. Although at the time he hadnt raced for years. He was searching for a doner shell to build what would later become " Bertha 1" . That original car was built by a local guy and was your basic back half steel tubbed all steel car, nothing fancy at all. He commissioned me to pick the colors and paint it with the requirements to be ivory and blue. I performed the body work and paint on it and shortly after, began to go to the races with him and Jim Dunford and eventually work for him alongside Jim. As the car became faster and began to make a name for itself we decided to go back east for the GM Nationals in St Louis, and hit a few other races back in the Midwest. The next year we went to Memphis for the Hot Rod fastest street car race. These times were some of the best of my life and something I'll never forget. I learned so much from Him, Jim and all the great people I met during this period of my life. The last few years I saw him quite a bit at the races, car shows and he came to my shop a few times and always was very encouraging of everything we did and built. I knew about his declining health and when he came up to me at a Pleasantonn Goodguys earlier this year, we chatted for a while, he told me to keep up the good work and when he said good bye It was a very emotional moment as I knew it was probably the last time I would see him as I think he knew as well. I'm truly going to miss him. Thanks for the memories. Goodbye my friend.