BAZEMORE NO. 1 ON FRIDAY IN COLUMBUS

HEBRON, Ohio (June 11, 2004) - Whit Bazemore and crew chief Lee Beard
continue their strong performances with the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge
Stratus Funny Car, as Bazemore broke the Funny Car ET and speed track
records here at National Trail Raceway tonight to become low qualifier. The
Funny Car points leader blistered the quarter-mile tonight, in the second
qualifying session, with a 4.774-second pass at 325.92 mph.

"We felt good going into tonight," he said. "We had second low ET of the
first session (4.873/304.05), shutting it off a little early with a cylinder
out down track. The runs on Friday night in the summertime are the runs that
really count if you're trying to go for No. 1 and when you run well during
the first session, you're in a position to go for No. 1 and you can afford
to make a mistake. So Lee (Beard, crew chief) and the guys prepared a
perfect car and it went right down there. It was somewhat of a handful but
it ran really strongly; we hung with it, and we ended up with a 4.77. I
think given the conditions we have here, it's pretty damned good."

The track has been re-paved and the weather conditions tonight were
extremely humid. "It's just a little slick," he added, "and the groove is
really narrow and the car wanted to move around. It was right on the edge.
It moved out of the groove just a tiny bit; (I was) able to bring it back.
It stayed glued. It's important that you don't get any tire spin, so we were
fortunate.

"These results are to the credit of Lee Beard and (co-crew chief) Dan Olson
and (chief mechanic) Ronnie Thompson. The guys on the team, especially in
qualifying, are the ones that make the call. The car is virtually perfect.
It puts more pressure on me, honestly, because all I can do is mess it up.
They give me a perfect car. We're either going to make a perfect run if I do
my job right, or I'm going to make a mistake and we're going to be less than
what we could have been. But, honestly, the car is flawless. While my job is
a little harder because of the pressure, it's actually a lot easier to drive
because I don't have to worry about anything. It's a real pleasure to drive.

"In this sport, unfortunately, you have to prove yourself every weekend,
every run. We can't take anything for granted. We have to work hard every
run, every day, stay totally focused on what we're trying to do. If we do
that I think the Matco Tools team has a good chance of being a contender all
year and that's really all we can ask for, and then rise above when we need
to."

Contact: Judy Stropus
DON SCHUMACHER RACING