Bazemore Advances to Semis in Phoenix

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Round 2 of 23
CHECKER SCHUCK'S KRAGEN NATIONALS
FIREBIRD RACEWAY
CHANDLER, ARIZONA
SUNDAY, FEB. 23, 2003

WHIT BAZEMORE, MATCO TOOLS IRON EAGLE DODGE STRATUS R/T FUNNY CAR, advanced
to the semifinal by first defeating Tommy Johnson Jr. in the first round
(4.869/320.43 to 4.893/310.13), then his nemesis John Force in the
quarterfinals (4.874/319.45 to 5.042/295.01). In the semifinal, he faced the
last remaining Funny Car from the John Force team, Gary Densham's. Reaction
times for both were dead even, .062 for Bazemore, .061 for Densham. But by
the one-eighth mile mark it was Densham in front, where he stayed until the
finish, eliminating Bazemore with a 4.835-second pass at 316.60 mph to
Bazemore's 4.977/309.98.

BAZEMORE:  "We dropped a cylinder about a second into the run. We're not
sure why. Lee (Beard, crew chief) tuned up the car a little bit; we knew the
track was going to be good and we knew that Densham was going to be tough.
But the motor didn't respond the right way; it went the other way; it was
weaker, and put a cylinder out. And they didn't make a mistake, so we got
beat." WHAT'S THE POSITIVE SIDE? "The positive side is that our Matco Tools
team performed really well, the car was good. We didn't have the best car
here, but we were consistent and we were competitive. I think that's really
the key thing. The most important thing as the year goes on is that we are
consistently competitive. That's what we were this weekend. In that regard
it was a good weekend." ON BEATING FORCE IN THE SECOND ROUND: "Honestly,
it¹s nice, but it's not as meaningful, obviously, because we didn't win the
entire race. We¹re here to win rounds and win races. At this point in the
year it's not so much beating Force that's exciting, it's going rounds and
winning races. Because we didn't win today we're a little disappointed, but
we are two rounds ahead of him and that's important. Because I think at the
end of the year he's still going to be the guy that you've got to beat to
win the championship. So anytime you're ahead of him in points it's a good
thing."

In the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series point standings, Whit moves into
fourth place, with 131 points, just one point behind Gary Densham in third.
Ron Capps, Funny Car winner here today takes over first place with 184
points.