Bazemore goes to No. 4 in final Texas qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2004 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 20 of 23
O'REILLY NHRA FALL NATIONALS
TEXAS MOTORPLEX
DALLAS, TEXAS
RACE DATES: Sept. 24-26, 2004

ENNIS, Texas (Sept. 25, 2004) - Following three outstanding qualifying
passes this weekend for the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals, Whit Bazemore and
the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car team stumbled a bit in
the final qualifying pass and fell to No. 4 in the 16-car field, based on
last night's run of 4.834/322.04.

Bazemore's 5.511/184.19 pass in the final round was a result of the tires
hazing at half-track.

"We've had a good weekend," he said. "We were really pushing it hard that
last run and the track just didn't hold what we were trying to do down track
in the middle. 

"I don't know if a .78 or .77 was going to be in the cards," he said,
alluding to John Force's pole time of 4.784 seconds. "We were definitely
trying to run quicker than our .83 which we ran at night. It just didn't
hold it in the middle.

"We make a lot of power and our car historically has run very strongly in
the middle of the race track and we make a lot of our elapsed time there and
it just didn't happen this afternoon.

"All in all, it was not a bad effort for the Matco Tools team. The car's
been consistent and it's done exactly what we expected it to, for the most
part. I feel good about the effort we've made going into tomorrow."

Bazemore will face his teammate Johnny Gray, in Don Schumacher's Wonder
Wagon, in first round of eliminations, which begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

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