Bazemore loses to Capps by four feet in Topeka

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 9 of 23
O'REILLY NHRA SUMMER NATIONALS
Heartland Park Topeka (Kan.)
Race Date: May 26-28, 2006

TOPEKA, Kan. (May 28, 2006) - Whit Bazemore and his teammate Ron Capps had
the fans on their feet at the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals today at
Heartland Park Topeka, as the pair rocketed to the finish line in a
spectacular side-by-side race from start to finish, with Capps taking the
win over Bazemore by a mere four feet.

Bazemore, driving the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T, faced Capps
in the second round after his solid defeat of Tommy Johnson Jr. in the
opening stanza (4.997/301.33 to 5.019/299.53).

One-thousandth of a second separated Bazemore and Capps at the starting
lights, with Bazemore earning the edge (.067 to .068), but it was his
teammate first at the finish line, with a 4.985-second ET at 295.92 mph to
Bazemore's 4.994/298.40, or a .0086 margin of victory (four feet).

"The Matco Tools Dodge got a little loose in the middle and moved around
some and that certainly scrubbed off a little ET. - whether it was eight
thousandths (of a second), I don't know," said Bazemore.

"We could have left a little sooner on the starting line, but you do what
you do. They're obviously a top team, they're leading the points, and we
lost a drag race by eight thousandths.

"You can't hang your head. You have to be happy with the job that everyone
did and go to the next race. It's still a little frustrating.

"We had third low ET of the round and clearly we have a car that can run
well in the heat and run in the cold, so we're very happy with the team. It
was just one of those drag races that you lose sometimes.

"We won the first round like that - by 10 thousandths. You do your best job.
Everyone on our team did a perfect job, and we lost a race by just eight
thousandths. Honestly, you can't dig any deeper. The car was on the edge of
the race track and I cut a  good light and that's all you can do."

Next up is the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in
Joliet, Ill., June 9-11.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:

1. Ron Capps, 781, (winner today)
2. John Force, 672
3. Robert Hight, 552
4. Eric Medlen, 528
5. Tony Pedregon, 508
6. Tommy Johnson Jr., 478
7. Whit Bazemore, 466
8. Del Worsham, 438
9. Cruz Pedregon, 433
10. Gary Scelzi, 400