Bazemore Wins Englishtown NHRA Funny Car

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
K&N Filters NHRA SuperNationals - Round 8 of 23
Old Bridge Township Raceway Park - Englishtown, N.J.
Sunday, May 18, 2003

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501, cell 203-243-2438

BAZEMORE WINS HIS FIRST FUNNY CAR RACE OF THE YEAR

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (May 18, 2003) -- Call it sweet revenge, call it just
desserts, call it whatever you want, but its real name is Win. And after
reaching seven of the eight semifinal rounds, as well as three final rounds
(counting today's) this season, Whit Bazemore is finally taking home the
Wally (Trophy named after NHRA's originator, Wally Park), after scoring his
first victory of the season, the 13th of his career. And he did it following
a triumph over his fiercest rival, points leader Tony Pedregon, in the
semifinal.

These two have played the psyche game all year, with Bazemore red-lighting
first in the final round in Las Vegas against Pedregon, and Pedregon
returning the favor today in the semifinal stanza.

In the final round, however, two-time U.S. Nationals champion Bazemore, was
pitted against Ron Capps, against whom Whit had an 11-8 win/loss record.
It's now 12-8, as Bazemore charged to the finish line with a 4.869-second
pass at 306.81 mph.

Bazemore's crew chief, Lee Beard, is considered the master of horsepower,
but mainly when his car runs under cool conditions. There was some concern
at the start of the final round, when the sun popped out from behind the
clouds. But, the worries were for naught, as Capps smoked the tires at the
launch, slowing to an 8.300/100.52 pass to earn runner-up status.

Bazemore defeated Cruz Pedregon and Del Worsham to make it into the
semifinals.

"It's great to win a race here in Englishtown, a place that has so much
history in this sport, especially in Funny Cars," said Bazemore, a New York
City native. "This is one of the trophies you want in your career and when
you get it it's one of the ones that goes up on the higher shelf, up on a
pedestal.  The whole team had to be patient, work hard and believe in
ourselves, and that's what we did. And here we are."

Defeating points leader Tony Pedregon in the semifinal round for the second
time this year was rewarding, but Bazemore brushed it off. "We didn't beat
Tony Pedregon today. Tony beat himself. We happened to be in the other lane,
and it's just another competitor that you have to beat to get to the
winner's circle. It was good."

"It's a fantastic day for the Matco Tools team," said Beard. "I can't say
enough about my guys. A lot of times out here the drivers and the crew
chiefs get all the credit, but it's the real heart of the team that makes
the team. They're just a fantastic group of guys that I'm surrounded by. And
that makes my job, my decision-making a lot easier, because I'm very
confident that they do a great job of preparing the race car. And I think
that's what made the difference today.

"We got a little nervous about the sun poking out," he added. "And we made a
couple last-minute adjustments to slow it down a little bit out there in the
middle. That's where we were pushing it the hardest. It came our way,
obviously. The Skoal team (Capps) went up in smoke.

"The big round was the round that everybody came to watch and that was us
race John Force's team with Tony Pedregon," continued Beard. "Pretty intense
rivalry going in between these two cars. It's myself against John Medlen as
far as crew chiefs. It's my guys against their guys as far as teams, and
it's Whit against Tony. And there's a lot on the line. We're battling for
the championship. That's our goal. We want to be champions; they want to be
champions. It just shows you how much pressure is on each of them. Today the
error will be charged to Tony Pedregon."

Bazemore has carved more points from Tony Pedregon's lead in the POWERade
Drag Racing Series, and is now just 72 points behind him.


POINT STANDINGS:
1.  Tony Pedregon           737
2.  Whit Bazemore           665
3.  Del Worsham             549
4.  Gary Densham            523
5.  Ron Capps                   499
6.  Johnny Gray                446
7.  Tommy Johnson Jr.   425
8.  John Force                  399
9.  Gary Scelzi                 321

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