On a remote stretch of road west of the Twin Cities earlier this month, a middle-age man in a Mustang flashed by troopers at nearly 150 miles per hour.
One of the 17,415 motorists ticketed from July 6 to July 21 as part of a statewide crackdown on speeders, Richard Bernhagen led the 12 whose speed exceeded triple digits. He was clocked at 148 miles per hour on July 17, roaring along Tagus Avenue near Hutchinson in his 2001 Ford Mustang GT, according to the State Patrol.
Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske said that the 41-year-old driver from nearby Darwin explained to the state trooper who stopped him shortly before 2 p.m. that "I hadn't driven it in a while and was airing it out. I was wrong. It was stupid, I know."
The trooper wrote Bernhagen a ticket for going 145 mph in a 55 mph zone.
Earlier that afternoon, Bernhagen had passed an off-duty police officer from Morris, with the speeding Mustang coming "a little too close for comfort with an oncoming car during the pass," said another patrol spokesman, Sgt. Jaci Sticha.
Far behind Bernhagen for the top spot during the crackdown was a motorist clocked at 114 mph who was stopped in southwestern Minnesota.
Bernhagen's legal troubles behind the wheel have been extensive, though he had gone about seven years without a speeding ticket in Minnesota, according to state records. This is his fifth speeding ticket in the state, the previous being for merely going 70 in a 60.
He also was ticketed two times while a teenager for "unreasonable acceleration" and convicted twice later in life for drunken driving.
