BAZEMORE QUALIFIES NO. 2 FOR THE FOURTH TIME IN 2004; SETS CAREER FASTEST
JOLIET, Ill. (May 22, 2004) - Whit Bazemore qualified his Matco Tools Iron
Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car No. 2 for the fourth time in 2004 for
tomorrow's NHRA Route 66 Nationals with the 4.731-second pass at 326.71 mph
he posted in last night's stellar session, noted for the speed records that
fell.
In today's only qualifying session (the fourth round was cancelled because
of rain), Bazemore established a career-best 329.02-mph run, nearly joining
the 330-mph club which inducted its only two members (Gary Scelzi and Tony
Pedregon) during last night's qualifying round. Bazemore's 4.752-second
effort today was the second quickest and fastest of that round (to teammate
Gary Scelzi's 4.732/330.55) and he was looking forward to tonight's final
qualifying round to improve.
Although disappointed with losing the opportunity to better his speed,
Bazemore, the first Funny Car driver to break the 325-mph barrier, was
upbeat. "The 329.08-mph run was good. It's not quite as fast as our
teammate, but they're on a different planet right now. We're close, but we
ran well, we qualified No. 2, we're feeling pretty good about the car and
the performance of the team.
"It's a shame. We were really looking forward to tonight's session because
we went 329 mph, and (crew chief Lee) Beard's very aggressive right now. Our
teammate's been 330, and we know that we can do it and it's in the car, so
we were all set to really stand on it tonight and try to do our career best
on both ends (ET and speed). We were going to try to run a real, real low
4.70 and go 331-plus. Obviously we're not going to be in a position to do
that tomorrow during the race. And we don't know when we'll be able to be in
a position to do it again, so it's shame. That's the way it goes. We'll be
ready to race tomorrow."
Bazemore, second in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point
standings, will face Ron Capps in the first round of eliminations tomorrow,
which begin at 11 a.m.
Contact: Judy Stropus
DON SCHUMACHER RACING
JOLIET, Ill. (May 22, 2004) - Whit Bazemore qualified his Matco Tools Iron
Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car No. 2 for the fourth time in 2004 for
tomorrow's NHRA Route 66 Nationals with the 4.731-second pass at 326.71 mph
he posted in last night's stellar session, noted for the speed records that
fell.
In today's only qualifying session (the fourth round was cancelled because
of rain), Bazemore established a career-best 329.02-mph run, nearly joining
the 330-mph club which inducted its only two members (Gary Scelzi and Tony
Pedregon) during last night's qualifying round. Bazemore's 4.752-second
effort today was the second quickest and fastest of that round (to teammate
Gary Scelzi's 4.732/330.55) and he was looking forward to tonight's final
qualifying round to improve.
Although disappointed with losing the opportunity to better his speed,
Bazemore, the first Funny Car driver to break the 325-mph barrier, was
upbeat. "The 329.08-mph run was good. It's not quite as fast as our
teammate, but they're on a different planet right now. We're close, but we
ran well, we qualified No. 2, we're feeling pretty good about the car and
the performance of the team.
"It's a shame. We were really looking forward to tonight's session because
we went 329 mph, and (crew chief Lee) Beard's very aggressive right now. Our
teammate's been 330, and we know that we can do it and it's in the car, so
we were all set to really stand on it tonight and try to do our career best
on both ends (ET and speed). We were going to try to run a real, real low
4.70 and go 331-plus. Obviously we're not going to be in a position to do
that tomorrow during the race. And we don't know when we'll be able to be in
a position to do it again, so it's shame. That's the way it goes. We'll be
ready to race tomorrow."
Bazemore, second in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point
standings, will face Ron Capps in the first round of eliminations tomorrow,
which begin at 11 a.m.
Contact: Judy Stropus
DON SCHUMACHER RACING
posted by David @ 1:23 AM
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