Bazemore Makes it to Semis in Houston

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Round 5 of 23
O'Reilly Spring Nationals presented by a Houston Oil Company.
HOUSTON RACEWAY PARK
Race Date: April 11-13, 2003
Sunday, April 13, 2003

BAZEMORE MAKES IT TO SEMIS IN HOUSTON

HOUSTON (April 13, 2003) -- Despite the weather conditions today -- hot --
and the track conditions -- bumpy -- Whit Bazemore, in the Matco Tools Iron
Eagle Dodge Stratus R/T, advanced to the semifinals. And he did it without
ever breaking the five-second mark. It seemed not to matter, as all of his
opponents had the same problem.

He first defeated his teammate Gary Scelzi with a 5.098/283.85 to Scelzi's
5.596/174.73. Then, in the second round, he sent Cruz Pedregon packing with
a 5.057/297.02 versus Pedregon's 5.148/279.85. In the semifinal round, with
lane choice, he met the man he lost to in the final round in Las Vegas last
week, Tony Pedregon. It was a close race, but it was Pedregon taking the win
light by a 49-foot margin of victory over Bazemore. Bazemore's numbers:
5.088/289.07; Pedregon;s: 5.019/304.39.

"We had a little luck," said Bazemore. "No one was running well in Funny Car
today, really. The track is pretty bumpy and when the sun comes out it heats
the surface and the bumps make it a lot harder to keep the cars hooked up.

"We saw a lot of guys smoke the tires today and it was kind of the case of
who smokes them the least. That wasn't us in the third round. But we're
pumped up. We have a great Matco Tools Dodge team. We have a good running
car; we're not too unsatisfied."

Bazemore remains in third place in the POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car
point standings, with 381 points, just one round behind Gary Densham in
second place.