NHRA: It's Bazemore vs. Pedregon as Mother Nature Sets the field in Dallas
5 November 2000
The resumption of the postponed O'Reilly Fall Nationals proved to be a case
of déjà vu for the world's best quarter-milers as rain once again drenched
the Texas Motorplex on Friday. Faced with an unfriendly forecast and a
limited window of opportunity, NHRA officials were forced to take
unprecedented action, as for the first time in the history of the series,
qualifying was canceled, with spots on the final eliminations ladder awarded
to the top sixteen competitors in the Winston Drag Racing Series points
standings.
"It's pretty frustrating because we came here ready to race," said Kendall
Motor Oil/Matco Tools Camaro Z28 pilot Whit Bazemore. "But there's really
nothing we can do about the weather. Right now, it's just bad luck for the
Texas fans and the racers.
"To be honest, I hope the NHRA will adopt the practice of setting the field
based on points on a permanent basis. With the way the schedule has grown
over the last few years, and the increased number of back-to-back races, I'm
sure they'll be looking into it. It's just unfortunate because if that
policy had been in place two weeks ago, we could have raced here on Sunday
and not have had to worry about this weekend's weather while the crews could
have enjoyed some well-deserved time off."
Under this unique format, Bazemore will start from the No.6 position and face
No. 11 point man Frank Pedregon in the first round, against whom Bazemore has
a 5-0 career eliminations record. However, Bazemore knows that with no
previous on-track information to tune from, the margin for error will grow
even smaller for every member of the Etchells crew.
"As for tomorrow, or whenever we do race, if it was up to me, I'd make
everyone put 200 grams of counterweight on their primary (clutch) levers so
every car would smoke the tires at the hit and everyone would be level. But
seriously, it's going to be a crapshoot, and the circumstances favor those
teams that normally run well right off the trailer. It will be up to all of
us on the Etchells team to make sure we get the most from our Kendall/Matco
Camaro.
"But the main thing we're hoping for is that we do get to race, although the
forecast doesn't look promising. But if we do, it's going to be exciting
because we'll have to be ready for anything."
Final eliminations are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, but should
the rain persist, the NHRA will place an indefinite hold on all on-track
activities, and is prepared to wait until Monday in hopes of completing the
event. However, should the race not be decided by that time, the event will
then be officially canceled, something that has also never occurred in the
sanctioning body's 49-year history. Competitors will then head west for next
weekend's season finale in Pomona.