Blast From the Past Photo - Tommy Smith

Thanks to Marvin T. Smith for providing this photo of Tommy Smith's funny car. The photo was taken in October 1970 at the Atlanta $10,000 race held at Atlanta Speed Shop Dragway. Unfortunately, Tommy's car burnt to the ground at this event and Tommy suffered burns from the fire. I believe Tommy quit racing after this event. Tommy raced an ex-Charlie Allen Dart funny car before this and he also raced a Hemi Barracuda Super Stocker. I'm still trying to find contact info for Tommy Smith as I was a fan.

If anyone knows how to contact Tommy Smith, please let me know.

Blast From the Past Photo - Hoyt Grimes

Here's a photo of Hoyt Grimes and his Chrysler powered dragster from a "few" years ago. Hoyt is a member of most of the drag racing Hall of Fames and a great guy. He was very hard to beat in the early days of Georgia drag racing! Thanks to Hoyt Grimes for sharing this photo.

SGMP Testing Photos From Marvin T. Smith

Thanks to Marvin for sending these shots of Ronnie Davis and Chip King taken last weekend at SGMP. More photos here.

BAZEMORE OPENS SEASON WITH SUCCESSFUL START AT POMONA

News From David Powers Motorsports
CONTACT: Ted Yerzyk, David Powers Motorsports

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 11, 2007) - Whit Bazemore opened the 2007 season NHRA to rave revues from he peers and fans. While the 20-time NHRA Funny Car winner didn't collect his 21st career "Wally" trophy, the veteran nitro pilot proved he can drive a Top Fuel dragster with the sport's best.

After qualifying his Matco Tools Iron Eagle dragster in the No. 7 position with a personal-best 4.507-second elapsed time, Bazemore was paired with veteran Top Fuel ace Cory McClenathan in the opening round of eliminations. The talented nitro pilots used nearly identical reaction times, and in a surprising pedal-fest race, Bazemore collected his first career Top Fuel round win. The Matco Tools rail clocked a tire-smoking time of 6.499 seconds to Cory Mac’s 7.492-second effort.

"That one worked out in our favor," Bazemore said. "Cory (McClenathan) smoked them at the hit and we spun the tires further down track. I had yet to drive a Top Fuel car when it spins the tires. It's actually easier to drive when the tires are spinning. Normally, it turns so quick, I find myself thinking about not over steering. I do have to work on pedaling a little better."

In round two, the avid cyclist was pitted against teammate Rod Fuller and the Valvoline team. The two David Powers-owned cars put on a great show for the fans in attendance at Auto Club Raceway. In one of the closest races of the day, Bazemore was defeated by one hundredth of-a-second. The Matco Tools dragster clocked a performance of 4.561 seconds at 319.90 to Fuller's slightly quicker 4.557 at 323.27.

"It was a good drag race and we came up short," Bazemore said. "We were going against our teammate and (Rod) Fuller is an excellent driver. We got beat by one hundredth (of-a-second).

"What I found is that Top Fuel is very intense. It's intense in Funny Car too, but a lot of times your opponent beats himself because they’re harder to drive. There's also a smaller tuning window in Funny Car. Dragsters go down the track more. So, the starting line plays a bigger role in Top Fuel. The cars are closer and more consistent and it comes down to the driver a lot of times. It’s intense, which I like."

With 22 races remaining on the 2007 NHRA schedule, Bazemore sits sixth in the Top Fuel category. The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the 23rd annual CSK Nationals, Feb. 23-25, at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz. Last February, Bazemore qualified his Matco Tools Funny Car in the No. 11 position and lost in the first round to Ron Capps at the Phoenix race.

R1 BAZEMORE (.076) 6.499 ET, 200.98 MPH def. McClenathan (.078) 7.492 ET, 265.95 MPH

R2 Fuller (.054) 4.557 ET, 323.27 MPH def. BAZEMORE (.065) 4.561 ET, 319.90 MPH

www.matcotools.com

SCELZI WINS IN POMONA

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
Contact: Judy Stropus



POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 11, 2007) - After a two-hour rain delay before the start, some intermittent showers delaying the completion of eliminations, and a thrash to repair his car that landed in the sand pit at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals, Gary Scelzi emerged victorious.

Driving the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car, the 2005 Funny Car champion claimed his first Funny Car win at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, his first of the 2007 season, his 34th career (in 55 final rounds) in both Top Fuel and Funny Car, his ninth in Funny Car, and his first since Denver in 2005.

The final round could've been a downer for the Fresno, Calif., native, but it turned into an upper, when Robert Hight crossed the centerline en route to what would have been a holeshot win over Scelzi. Hight was disqualified and Scelzi bagged the win with another solid pass of 4.716 seconds at 332.26 mph. Hight's DQ'd pass was a 4.726/276.35.

On his journey to the final, Scelzi dismissed Jim Head with a 4.748/329.42, Eric Medlen with a 4.752/318.24, then Mike Ashley with a 4.690/331.69, which also resulted in Scelzi's landing in the sand at the end of the track when his parachutes failed to deploy properly. Members from each of the Don Schumacher Racing teams came to the rescue, as more than 20 people helped
repair the car in time for the final. The body was replaced and the team was ready.

"It was exciting," said Scelzi. "We knew we had nothing for Jimmy (Prock, Hight's crew chief) and Robert. We knew we couldn't go 4.64 (which Hight ran earlier), and we knew that if they tried to do it that they were going to be at risk. And, if they did, hey, great.

"We tried to run a .68 or .67 to pick it up just a little bit. I went in thin. I had an .084 light (.000 is perfect). It was a good light. He had an .068, and he flat drove away from me for 700 feet and then he disappeared and I saw his win light come on. I had no idea that he hit the cone. The
guys got on the radio and said, 'Yeah, you lost on a holeshot,' and I thought, God, that's just devastating.

"Then they got back on the radio and said I won. I thought, These guys, why would they be playing with me like that? But it was a little bit of a letdown to know that he was running so well and then hit the cone. Because it kind of takes a little away from the win, because they had a really good car. But we've given some away and we've had some bad luck and it's nice to
get one back and it's great to win at the beginning of the season, especially with the Countdown, three new guys on the team, setting the tone, and a great race car. In eight runs down the race track, it never ran slower than a .75. It's phenomenal and I don't see any changes coming down the road. We're not out of clutch discs; we're in good shape with everything."

As for the damage to the car: "The chassis is fine. It messed the nose of the car up bad, but it could've been a lot worse. So I got is slowed down pretty good and that body will be off to get fixed and we'll have it by Phoenix I'm sure.

"One of the panels blew out of the parachutes, which made it grab the other 'chute, so they never opened. They tangled together. At 331 mph you're just not going to stop it."

On the Countdown to the Championship: "We want to be in the middle of this thing. It's important right now to be in the top eight when we get to Indy, and it's extremely important to be in the top four when we get to Vegas. That's a long way away. There's a lot of things that can happen and, boy, I tell you what, I'm going to sleep good tonight.

"I've been fighting the flu or something today and I woke up and just felt like crap all day. I kept saying, All I got to do is go a mile, just go a mile. All you have to be good for is 4.7 seconds and you're going to be fine. Just do that four times a day. We were lucky. We did the mile. Yes we
did."

Next up is the Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Ariz., Feb. 23-25.

Todd, Scelzi and Anderson Win at the NHRA POWERade CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals

NHRA Recap

BAZEMORE DRIVES TO NO. 7 QUALIFYING POSITION IN FIRST CAREER TOP FUEL RACE

News From David Powers Motorsports
CONTACT: Ted Yerzyk

BAZEMORE DRIVES TO NO. 7 QUALIFYING POSITION IN FIRST CAREER TOP FUEL RACE

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 10, 2007) - So far, so good. Through qualifying of the 2007 NHRA season-opener, longtime Matco Tools racer Whit Bazemore's Top Fuel career is off to a good start. The 20-time NHRA winner qualified his Matco Tools Iron Eagle dragster in the No. 7 position at the 47th annual Winternationals after carding a 4.507-second elapsed time.

"I'm getting more comfortable and we're making progress with the car and the driving," Bazemore said. "I can't say enough about how easy Lee (Beard) and the guys have made it on us. The car has been perfect. That makes it nice. We'll be focused on Sunday. We're determined to get our first Top Fuel race started on the right foot and have a good day."

Entering the day in the No. 8 position, Bazemore used a tune-up from champion crew chief Lee Beard to drive the Matco Tools rail to a performance of 4.516 seconds at 329.75 Saturday's first qualifying attempt. He then clocked his best performance of the weekend, 4.507 at 325.14, to earn the No. 7 qualifying position in the quickest Top Fuel field in NHRA history. The 4.507-second E.T. is Bazemore's career-best.

"We made three good runs," Beard said. "We dropped a hole on the one run. All the equipment on (Whit) Bazemore's car is brand new. It's not all synchronized yet like (Rod) Fuller's car is. We're getting better and better. Our cars ran a 4.50 and a 4.48, that's not far off. That was the goal, to have both cars in the top half."

Bazemore will battle veteran Top Fuel star Cory McClenathan in the first round of Top Fuel eliminations on Sunday morning at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. After 318 career Funny Car races, Baze makes his first career Top Fuel start on Sunday morning.

Q1 4.533, 324.28 No. 7

Q2 4.980, 210.37 No. 8

Q3 4.516, 329.75 No. 7

Q4 4.507, 325.14 No. 7

www.matcotools.com

A Consistent WJ Will Roll Off 14th at the Winternationals

Contact: Jon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

On the strength of a 6.676-second, 207.56 mph pass recorded on Thursday afternoon, Warren Johnson qualified his GM Performance Parts GTO in the 14 th position for Sunday's final eliminations of the Carquest Auto Parts Winternationals in Pomona, CA. With each of his four qualifying attempts coming within thirteen thousandths of each, Johnson heads into race day encouraged by his race car's consistency.

"There was only thirteen thousandths of a second between our best and worst passes, which I believe was the least amount of deviation among all the Pro Stock teams out there, so at least we're on the road to consistency, which is a key in this category. Now it's up to me to go back to our shop in Sugar Hill and find some more horsepower to drop in the nose of our Goat, and we'll be in good shape.

"However, we have to take things one step at a time. We have a race to run tomorrow, so we're going to see what we can do to tweak this GM Performance Parts GTO, so we can go a few rounds and get our season off to a good start."

Having successfully completed his first qualifying procedure with the GM Performance Parts crew, new crew chief Terry Adams concurred with WJ's assessment, and hope to maintain the forward momentum established on Saturday in final eliminations.

"I think we made a lot of progress with our GM Performance Parts GTO, and we've gotten it to where it's pretty consistent," said Adams. "However, we also know it can be better, and that is what we're working to do, starting with the first round tomorrow."

KJ Will Start Seventh in Pomona

Contact: Jon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

Event: 47th Annual Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Nationals
Location: Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Pomona, CA

Over the course of the first three days at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Kurt Johnson put together four solid qualifying runs with his best pass of 6.666 seconds, 207.82 mph earning his ACDelco Chevy Cobalt the seventh starting position for Sunday's final eliminations of the Carquest Auto Parts Winternationals in Pomona, CA. This marks KJ's 11th top half start in 15 career Winternationals appearances, giving him lane choice for his first round encounter with Greg Stanfield, which he hopes will propel him to his second career victory at the NHRA season-opener.

"We're pretty pleased with our ACDelco Cobalt's performance so far this weekend. We accomplished our first goal, which was qualifying in the top half and getting lane choice for the first round. In addition, we made a really nice run on our last qualifying pass, which gives us a real boost going into Sunday.

"We had been fishing for the last few races, trying different things in our set-up, which was good enough to qualify, but wasn't fast on a consistent basis. As a result, we put the car back to the combination we used last year to win races. We'll see what tomorrow brings."