BAZEMORE EXPECTS CHALLENGES AT MOPAR MILE-HIGH NATIONALS
MORRISON, Colo. (July 14, 2004) - Whit Bazemore has enjoyed impressive results at Bandimere Speedway in his 15-year NHRA Funny Car career, including two wins (1997 and 2000), a runner-up finish in 1999 and four No.1 qualifiers ('97, '98, '00 and '01).
The driver of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus who has scored two Funny Car wins this season and produced the quickest and fastest pass in NHRA Funny Car history, a 333.25-mph run at a national elapsed-time recordof 4.713 seconds at Route 66 Raceway, expects new challenges at thisweekend's Mopar Mile-High Nationals following recent rules changes.
"The situation going into Denver is a little different now than normal because of the new rules that have been implemented by NHRA," said theIndianapolis resident and two-time U.S. Nationals champion who is third inFunny Car points. " We're going to have a different tire supplied byGoodyear that we're mandated to run. So there's a little bit of a question mark as to how that tire's going to react and what we're going to have to do to make the car competitive.
"The good thing is that everybody is in the same situation," he added. "It may take a run or two before we get a handle on it. Sometimes in those situations it's a crapshoot and you can get lucky and some people figure it out before others. Hopefully with the tremendous Matco Tools team that we're a part of we'll be one of the cars to have a handle on it sooner rather than later."
Bazemore, who takes advantage of the start of the Western Swing each year by following his passion and cycling through the hills surrounding Bandimere Speedway when he has the chance, calls Bandimere one of his favorite racetracks. "We've always liked this track," he said. "Bandimere is one of the top facilities and the fans are tremendous. Friday night qualifying at Bandimere is definitely one of the highlights of the year. It has a great atmosphere and a huge number of fans that come out. We like the facility, we like the town.
"It's a hard race, however, but we've been fortunate that we've done well here," he commented. "It's extremely challenging running at altitude. It's a race at which you have to compromise and your tune-up is so different than normal that it rewards the team that can adapt to new situations quickly.
"Lee (Beard, crew chief - a Pueblo, Colo., native) has a good tune-up for the track and it would be nice to do well here with this Matco Tools Dodgeteam at a Mopar-sponsored event."
WHIT BAZEMORE QUICK FACTS:
* Quickest and fastest Funny Car driver in NHRA history: 4.713-second ET(national record) at 333.25 mph
* Qualified No. 3 at Mopar Mile-High Nationals in 2003, lost second round toJohn Force
* Has qualified in the top two in seven events so far in 2004
* No. 3 in NHRA Funny Car points after 12 races, with two wins, five finalrounds
* First Funny Car driver to break 325-mph barrier (U.S. Nationals 2001)
* 2003 Funny Car points runner-up
* Won three times in 2003, runner-up five times
* Has 17 career Funny Car event wins
* Took the 2003 championship chase to penultimate race in Las Vegas in an exciting final round against eventual champion Tony Pedregon
* Was also second in the NHRA Funny Car championship in 2001, third in 1997 and '99 and has finished in the top five six times and 11 times in the top 10 since 1992
* Age 41, born in New York City, an avid cyclist, lives in Indianapolis with wife Michelle, a semi-pro cyclist* 2004 is his fourth season with Don Schumacher Racing
* Two-time U.S. Nationals champion
Contact: Judy Stropus
DON SCHUMACHER RACING
MORRISON, Colo. (July 14, 2004) - Whit Bazemore has enjoyed impressive results at Bandimere Speedway in his 15-year NHRA Funny Car career, including two wins (1997 and 2000), a runner-up finish in 1999 and four No.1 qualifiers ('97, '98, '00 and '01).
The driver of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus who has scored two Funny Car wins this season and produced the quickest and fastest pass in NHRA Funny Car history, a 333.25-mph run at a national elapsed-time recordof 4.713 seconds at Route 66 Raceway, expects new challenges at thisweekend's Mopar Mile-High Nationals following recent rules changes.
"The situation going into Denver is a little different now than normal because of the new rules that have been implemented by NHRA," said theIndianapolis resident and two-time U.S. Nationals champion who is third inFunny Car points. " We're going to have a different tire supplied byGoodyear that we're mandated to run. So there's a little bit of a question mark as to how that tire's going to react and what we're going to have to do to make the car competitive.
"The good thing is that everybody is in the same situation," he added. "It may take a run or two before we get a handle on it. Sometimes in those situations it's a crapshoot and you can get lucky and some people figure it out before others. Hopefully with the tremendous Matco Tools team that we're a part of we'll be one of the cars to have a handle on it sooner rather than later."
Bazemore, who takes advantage of the start of the Western Swing each year by following his passion and cycling through the hills surrounding Bandimere Speedway when he has the chance, calls Bandimere one of his favorite racetracks. "We've always liked this track," he said. "Bandimere is one of the top facilities and the fans are tremendous. Friday night qualifying at Bandimere is definitely one of the highlights of the year. It has a great atmosphere and a huge number of fans that come out. We like the facility, we like the town.
"It's a hard race, however, but we've been fortunate that we've done well here," he commented. "It's extremely challenging running at altitude. It's a race at which you have to compromise and your tune-up is so different than normal that it rewards the team that can adapt to new situations quickly.
"Lee (Beard, crew chief - a Pueblo, Colo., native) has a good tune-up for the track and it would be nice to do well here with this Matco Tools Dodgeteam at a Mopar-sponsored event."
WHIT BAZEMORE QUICK FACTS:
* Quickest and fastest Funny Car driver in NHRA history: 4.713-second ET(national record) at 333.25 mph
* Qualified No. 3 at Mopar Mile-High Nationals in 2003, lost second round toJohn Force
* Has qualified in the top two in seven events so far in 2004
* No. 3 in NHRA Funny Car points after 12 races, with two wins, five finalrounds
* First Funny Car driver to break 325-mph barrier (U.S. Nationals 2001)
* 2003 Funny Car points runner-up
* Won three times in 2003, runner-up five times
* Has 17 career Funny Car event wins
* Took the 2003 championship chase to penultimate race in Las Vegas in an exciting final round against eventual champion Tony Pedregon
* Was also second in the NHRA Funny Car championship in 2001, third in 1997 and '99 and has finished in the top five six times and 11 times in the top 10 since 1992
* Age 41, born in New York City, an avid cyclist, lives in Indianapolis with wife Michelle, a semi-pro cyclist* 2004 is his fourth season with Don Schumacher Racing
* Two-time U.S. Nationals champion
Contact: Judy Stropus
DON SCHUMACHER RACING
posted by David @ 1:42 AM
<< Home