Bazemore No. 4 in Gateway Fri. qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
ROUND 12 OF 23
SEARS CRAFTSMAN NHRA NATIONALS
GATEWAY INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
MADISON, ILL.
RACE DATE: JUNE 27-29, 2003


MADISON, Ill. (June 27, 2003) - Whit Bazemore found himself No. 1 in the
first round of qualifying today in his Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus
R/T, with a 5.079/288.39 pass in the heat of the day. He ended the day in
No. 4 spot, however, with a conservative yet stout 4.909-second elapsed time
at 314.31 mph.

"The conditions between the two sessions were so different that, as far as
qualifying goes, the first run this afternoon is largely irrelevant. So
tonight, as far as qualifying is concerned, we consider to be our first run.
It was very important to go down the track tonight and be competitive. So we
did that with a .90, which was conservative, which put us No. 4.

"The thing about the first run today and the first run tomorrow happening at
6 p.m., the track is still awfully hot. So those are the conditions that
we're going to face in the first and second rounds of the race on Sunday.
Those two runs are important for that.

"Tomorrow night will be exciting for the fans and for our Matco Tools Dodge
team. I think we're capable of running definitely a low .80 here, so if
everything goes to plan, that's what we should run and we should easily be
in the top two or three."