E-Town champ Bazemore aims to keep up momentum at Topeka

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Round 9 of 23
O'REILLY SUMMER NATIONALS
HEARTLAND PARK TOPEKA (Kans.)
Race Date: May 23-25

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

ENGLISHTOWN WINNER BAZEMORE LOOKS TO KEEP UP MOMENTUM AT TOPEKA

TOPEKA, Kan. (May 22, 2003) - Whit Bazemore drove his Matco Tools Iron Eagle
Dodge Stratus R/T straight into the winner's circle at Englishtown, N.J.,
last weekend to score his first Funny Car victory this season and the first
for Dodge since 1998. He and his Don Schumacher Racing team led by Lee Beard
intend to keep up the momentum at Heartland Park Topeka this weekend, the
site of Bazemore's first career Funny Car event win in 1997.

"Topeka is where I won my first race in June of 1997, so naturally it's a
place we enjoy coming back to," says Bazemore, second in the POWERade Drag
Racing Series Funny Car points and closing in on leader Tony Pedregon, who
is only 72 points ahead. "It was just a great experience. Your first win is
the hardest one. It took nine years and it was great. We beat Randy Anderson
in the final, who at the time was going to be the next big hot shoe. We had
Winston sponsorship, my Top Fuel teammate (at the time and again this
season) Gary Scelzi was already on a tear that year, doing very well. It was
the second win for my team. My team had won its first race in 1996 at Dallas
with Dale Puldy driving for me while I was recovering in the hospital (from
a motorcycle crash). For my first win as a driver and the second for my
team, it was just a huge, huge experience. I remember like it was yesterday.
It was great."

Bazemore has since earned 12 more career Funny Car event titles.

"Topeka is a fun little town, kind of quiet. Historically it's been a pretty
good track. Although, if it's hot here it tends to not be as good. For some
reason It deteriorates rapidly. But if it's overcast it can be pretty good.
So, that would suit our car well and, obviously, coming off a win at
Englishtown, we look forward continuing to improve our performance and
getting a good result."

Bazemore's Matco Tools team is on a roll this season, having qualified in
the top half of the field at each event. The team has also made it into the
semifinal round in seven of the eight races so far, as well as three finals,
and Baze and crew chief Lee Beard are knocking on the door for the No. 1
spot in points.

"We're not getting too excited, because it's a long year and we have to do
it again this weekend," added the two-time U.S. Nationals champion. "We
expect to win races and we've been in a good position all year to win races,
but we haven't until now. So now we did it and the important thing is that
we continue to have a good running car and go rounds. Like I said before,
when you're going to the semifinals every weekend you're putting yourself
into a position to win races. And that's what we're doing. As long as we can
do that we'll have some good results.

"The most important thing for us going into Topeka is to first qualify. We
saw at Englishtown how easy it is to not qualify. If there's a weather issue
coupled with a mechanical issue on the car (which happened to "Baze" in
E-town where only two rounds of qualifying were held because of rain) then,
boom, you're not going to qualify. Believe it or not, we could have easily
DNQ'd after we had a problem smoking the tires in the first run. And then we
almost smoked them the second run. In that regard we were very lucky to even
qualify there. 

"The sport can put you in a precarious position; you can't ever take
anything for granted it. Every run is very important; in the first
qualifying run we have to go down the race track. That's how we approach
it."

Pro Nitro qualifying for the Summernationals begins on Friday, May 23, at 5
p.m. and 8 p.m. On Saturday, May 24, Pro Nitro qualifying is at 12:30 p.m.
and 3:30 p.m. Final eliminations on Sunday, May 25, begin at 11 a.m.

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