BAZEMORE EXITS IN FIRST ROUND IN BRAINERD

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 15, 2004) - Whit Bazemore made an early exit in hisMatco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car in final eliminations of theLucas Oil NHRA Nationals today, losing in the first round to Tommy Johnson, Jr. Johnson took the win with a 4.978/305.77 pass over Bazemore's 5.004/307.46.

"Basically, we just got outrun and there's just no room for error," said No.5 qualifier Bazemore, who fell to third in the NHRA POWERade Drag RacingSeries Funny Car point standings, behind leader John Force and his teammateGary Scelzi, who was runner-up today after defeating Force on a holeshotadvantage."

Everyone on the Matco Tools team is obviously disappointed. Going out inthe first round was certainly not what we had planned for the day and therace. The car was set up to go quicker than that and it didn't."We kind of know a little bit about what went wrong. It's just the way it goes sometimes."

NHRA FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. John Force, 1208
2. Gary Scelzi, 1044
3. Whit Bazemore, 1020
4. Del Worsham, 1004
5. Eric Medlen, 991

Courtesy Judy Stropus
DON SCHUMACHER RACING