CAPPS WINS BACK-TO-BACK SEASON RACES IN HOUSTON

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
Contact: Judy Stropus

BAYTOWN, Texas (April 1, 2007) - Ron Capps pulled out his second straight win of the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season today at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals and defended his 2006 title at Houston Raceway Park. He also took over the Funny Car points lead.

Today's victory marked his 24th event win in 47 final rounds, and his 23rd Funny Car victory. Capps also won in Gainesville, Fla., two weeks ago.

It was an emotional win for Capps, as his and every competitors' thoughts here this weekend were with Funny Car racer Eric Medlen, who passed away last week from injuries sustained in a testing accident.

Following a three-hour rain delay, Capps and the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team demonstrated their consistency once again by first defeating teammate Jack Beckman with a 4.872-second pass at 313.95 mph. He then took on his other teammate Gary Scelzi, whom he beat with a 4.866/312.42.

In the semis he eliminated Del Worsham with a 4.869/306.19, then disposed of Cruz Pedregon in the final round with another consistent 4.868/307.93 to Pedregon's losing 5.025/270.97.

"I don't think I've ever had a race I wanted to win more...There were no POWERade points, no Full Throttle points (on our minds)," he said at the end of the track. "There was nothing more that we wanted to do than stand where I'm standing. The trophy is going to John Medlen. My guys are taking it back to Brownsburg (Indiana) and giving it to John. I'm going to find another one and send it to Eric's mom (Mimi.)

"What a day, Man. He was definitely riding with me. I've had some weird stuff going on all week, as a lot of guys will tell you who knew him real well, and you can just feel him. I never really believed that, but that little squirt was right there with me.

"We were late towing up there and Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) was on the radio cussing at us to get to the starting line because Pro Stock had run already. When he gets angry the car runs good, and that's no joke. And he was angry. He said, 'Get that car up here.' I wasn't even all the way buckled in. In fact, my chin strap was pulled too tight and at half track I couldn't see and I actually had to take a hand off the wheel and take my left hand to push my helmet up. Thank God we got the win.

"John Force had called me a couple of times this weekend. Just a weird race not having him here. No disrespect to any of the cars that were here. When qualifying ended, yeah, everybody ended up where they were, but it wasn't right without John, Robert and Ashley here. And of course without Eric.

"What a day. We didn't know if we were going to be here Monday, next week, Mother's Day weekend, we just didn't know. We really didn't think we were going to get [this race] out of the way, but hats off to the people that got this track ready. I thought they were loony saying 35 minutes to Top Fuel, because there was no way they could dry it that fast, but they did, and guys were running great.

"It's a great, great ending, and the sun was setting over there just as we finished the final and it couldn't have been better."

Said Ed McCulloch: "I think that we had a pretty good day. It was pretty treacherous out there, a pretty tough race track. But it was tough for everybody. We didn't run that good, but we ran good enough to win our rounds and that's what happens. You have to go down the race track. I'm not bragging, but most of the time we're pretty good about going down the race track. It's won us a lot of races. We're not always the fastest guys out there, but I think we've also learned that when the conditions get good that we can be faster.

"Everything is going good," McCulloch added. "We're doing better in qualifying and we've now got things going. Won a couple of races. Again, it's not the same without the Force guys here. We all realize that and understand, but our lives go on and we have to do what we have to do.

"At Eric's funeral when I saw John Force I gave him a hug and he said, 'Go to Houston and win.' So, I guess we'll have to say this is for John and Eric and the guys, all of them."

Next up is the Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS
1. Ron Capps, 363
2. Tony Pedregon, 280
3. Robert Hight, 253
4. Gary Scelzi, 245
5. Jim Head, 229
6. Cruz Pedregon, 192
7. Jeff Arend, 171
Mike Ashley, 171
9. Bob Gilbertson, 167
10. Eric Medlen, 159

17. Jack Beckman, 107

WJ Makes Progress, Advances to Houston Quarterfinals

Contact: Jon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

Throughout the course of the first three races of the 2007 POWERade Drag Racing season, Warren Johnson and his GM Performance Parts GTO have been working on their race car trying to improve its overall performance, and these tireless efforts started to pay off during Sunday’s rain-delayed final eliminations of the O’Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston, TX.

Starting from the fifth position (his third straight Top Five qualifying performance of the season), Johnson combined a strong .035 reaction time with a solid 6.708-second, 206.13 mph to defeat Tom Hammonds in the opening round and score his first elimination round win of the season. Although he was slowed by severe tire shake in the second round against Jason Line, putting a premature end to his day, Johnson will still leave Houston Raceway Park pleased with his team's continued progress.

"You're only truly happy when you win, but I'd have to say we're pretty satisfied with our performance this weekend. The tire shake in the second round wasn't the car's fault, and although the lane may not have been as good as it could have been, people were also shaking the tires in the good lane, indicating there were several of us who were slightly off in the tune-up.

"However, it was still a good weekend in that we're moving up the food chain. This makes three races that we've qualified in the Top Five, we were finally able to get out of the first round, and we're starting to get lights that we can work with. Our program is coming along nicely, and the little bit that we need to run right up front is there in our GM Performance Parts GTO, and it's up to us to find it in testing, which is what we are planning to do between now and Las Vegas."

BAZEMORE DRIVES MATCO TOOLS RAIL TO QUARTERFINAL EFFORT AT HOUSTON

News From David Powers Motorsports
CONTACT: Ted Yerzyk

BAYTOWN, Texas (April 1, 2007) – Entering the 20th running of the O'Reilly Spring Nationals with mixed emotions, Whit Bazemore, behind the wheel of his David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster, joined an elite drag racing club during qualifying before racing to a quarterfinal finish Sunday at Houston Raceway Park.

After carding his 30th career pole, becoming just the 15th driver in NHRA history to qualify No. 1 in both Top Fuel and Funny Car, Bazemore knocked off 29-time NHRA Top Fuel winner Cory McClenathan before losing traction and falling to Joe Hartley in the second round. Bazemore now sits fourth in the NHRA Top Fuel standings, trailing teammate Rod Fuller by 47 points.

In the opening round of eliminations, which came following a three-hour rain delay, Bazemore was pitted against McClenathan for the second time this season. He defeated the longtime Top Fuel racer in the first round at the season-opening Winternationals. The veteran nitro pilots both used solid reaction times as Bazemore used a Lee Beard tune-up to blast to a run of 4.559 seconds at 320.05 mph to knock off Cory Mac's traction-losing run of 5.719-seconds. Bazemore's recorded the third quickest elapsed time of the round.

With just a 65-minute turnaround between rounds, the Matco Tools crew did a superb job getting Bazemore to the starting line to face the part-time racer from Oregon. The 20-time NHRA winner got the slight jump at the start, but the Matco Tools dragster lost traction early and slowed to a run of 6.621 seconds at 133.68 mph. Hartley drove his red dragster to a solid pass of 4.894-seconds to earn the trip to the semifinals. Bazemore remains the only Top Fuel driver to have not lost in the opening round of eliminations this season.

"It was a tough weekend," Bazemore said. "There's a new way to lose all the time. The car shook and I pedaled it. The car shook and the helmet moved on my head, so essentially I couldn’t see. So, I'm taking the helmet home and we're going to get it fixed. I've never had that happen before. It would have been hard to beat him anyway.

"We have a great race car and a great team, it's just a matter of being patient and to keep doing what we're doing. If we do that, the wins will come our way. We're still in the top of the points race and our teammate (Rod Fuller) is number one, so we have two really strong cars."

The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the eighth annual Summitracing.com Nationals, April 12-15, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Bazemore qualified 10th last April at The Strip at LVMS en route to a semifinal finish. The veteran nitro pilot has one victory (2005) in five career final-round appearances at The Strip.

R1 BAZEMORE (.069) 4.559 ET, 320.05 MPH def. McClenathan (.055) 5.719 ET, 151.51 MPH

R2 Hartley (.081) 4.894 ET, 253.18 MPH def. BAZEMORE (.078) 6.621 ET, 133.68 MPH


www.matcotools.com

www.davidpowersmotorsports.com

Todd, Capps, Line and Sampey Win the NHRA POWERade O'Reilly Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil

NHRA Recap