BAZEMORE EXITS EARLY IN CLOSE RACE AGAINST TEAMMATE CAPPS
DON SCHUMACHER RACING
Contact: Judy Stropus
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Aug. 21, 2005) - Whit Bazemore lost a close contest against his teammate Ron Capps in the first round of Funny Car eliminations today at the O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park.
The No. 10 qualifier and driver of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car didn't have the luxury of lane choice in that round on a track that exceeded 130 degrees in temperature and with the area under a heat index approaching 110 degrees.
Bazemore launched just .011 of a second later than Capps and gave the crowd a close race to the finish, but it was Capps in front at the line with a winning 5.143-second elapsed time at 280.78 mph to Bazemore's 5.230/272.56. The margin of victory was a tight .0988 of a second.
"The Matco Tools Dodge actually did perform the way we wanted it to, so it's a good sign," said Bazemore. "We struggled a little bit. The desire and the commitment from everybody here on this team is tremendous. It's second to none. At the end of the day that's what it takes to be successful and that's what we have over here on the Matco Tools Dodge team.
"I know it's a cliche, but you find your true value when the chips are down and you find what you and your team are made of.
That's where we are right now. We're going to find out what we're made of because we're struggling.
"I'm not a hundred percent happy with the job I did, but the car went down the race track and ran relatively well in the heat, but we got outrun.
"If we'd had this run yesterday (in qualifying) we'd have been in a better position for today, but we didn't. So we went up there and ran what we ran and got outrun. That's OK."
Bazemore holds on to seventh place in POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points.
Next on the schedule is the prestigious U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Aug. 31-Sept. 5.
FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Robert Hight, 1134
2. Ron Capps, 1104
3. Gary Scelzi, 1099
4. John Force, 1087
5. Eric Medlen, 1063
6. Tommy Johnson Jr., 990
7. Whit Bazemore, 896
8. Cruz Pedregon, 863
9. Del Worsham, 831
10. Tony Pedregon, 792
Contact: Judy Stropus
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Aug. 21, 2005) - Whit Bazemore lost a close contest against his teammate Ron Capps in the first round of Funny Car eliminations today at the O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park.
The No. 10 qualifier and driver of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car didn't have the luxury of lane choice in that round on a track that exceeded 130 degrees in temperature and with the area under a heat index approaching 110 degrees.
Bazemore launched just .011 of a second later than Capps and gave the crowd a close race to the finish, but it was Capps in front at the line with a winning 5.143-second elapsed time at 280.78 mph to Bazemore's 5.230/272.56. The margin of victory was a tight .0988 of a second.
"The Matco Tools Dodge actually did perform the way we wanted it to, so it's a good sign," said Bazemore. "We struggled a little bit. The desire and the commitment from everybody here on this team is tremendous. It's second to none. At the end of the day that's what it takes to be successful and that's what we have over here on the Matco Tools Dodge team.
"I know it's a cliche, but you find your true value when the chips are down and you find what you and your team are made of.
That's where we are right now. We're going to find out what we're made of because we're struggling.
"I'm not a hundred percent happy with the job I did, but the car went down the race track and ran relatively well in the heat, but we got outrun.
"If we'd had this run yesterday (in qualifying) we'd have been in a better position for today, but we didn't. So we went up there and ran what we ran and got outrun. That's OK."
Bazemore holds on to seventh place in POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points.
Next on the schedule is the prestigious U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Aug. 31-Sept. 5.
FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Robert Hight, 1134
2. Ron Capps, 1104
3. Gary Scelzi, 1099
4. John Force, 1087
5. Eric Medlen, 1063
6. Tommy Johnson Jr., 990
7. Whit Bazemore, 896
8. Cruz Pedregon, 863
9. Del Worsham, 831
10. Tony Pedregon, 792
posted by David @ 1:31 AM
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