Morgan & Bazemore Barely Miss Victory in Seattle
Team Mopar NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series CarQuest NHRA Nationals Pacific Raceways Kent, Wash. Elimination Notes & Quotes Things Starting to Click for Mopar¹s Morgan Bazemore Making His Move in the Points Race KENT, Wash. (July 27, 2003) -- Larry Morgan and his Hemi-powered Mopar Parts Dodge Neon are starting to put things together. For the first time since his incredible victory in Sonoma, Calif., almost one-year ago, Morgan made another final-round appearance before falling to Greg Anderson in the finals of today¹s CarQuest NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways. And it was déjà vu all over again for the Newark, Ohio resident. Just like his trek through the Sonoma contingent, Morgan was stout on the starting line. He took a (.024-.061) starting-line advantage on Anderson in the final, but unlike his magical win last season, was unable to hold on in the end. Anderson cracked off a 6.858-second elapsed time at 202.09 mph, enough to outrun Morgan¹s 6.910-second pass at 200.14 mph. ³What a wonderful weekend for this whole team,² said Morgan, whose margin of victory over Anderson in Sonoma last year was the tightest of the season. ³All of this hard work is beginning to pay off. (Crew chief) Bob Glidden has brought a lot to the table for this team. We are making the right calls on the set up, along with having some nice horsepower on the engine side. We¹re going to be making a lot of noise as the second half. I told everyone we had turned the tables in St. Louis.² Morgan was on his game today, ripping off a strong (.017) reaction time in his first round triumph over a red-lighting Barry Grant in round one and a near perfect (.005) light in his second-round victory over Mopar factory teammate Allen Johnson. The veteran Pro Stock ace then drove around Kurt Johnson in the semifinals with a 6.909-second elapsed time at 200.56 mph. Johnson ran a slower 6.932-second pass at 201.67 mph. It was Allen Johnson¹s turn to be on the short end of the Mopar meeting Mopar game this weekend. It happened twice at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., two races ago when Johnson defeated Mopar mates Larry Morgan and Greg Stanfield en route to his second final-round appearance of the season. But this weekend the tables were turned, as Johnson fell to Morgan in the second round. Morgan ran a 6.888-second elapsed time at 200.89 mph, as Johnson ran a slower 6.928-second lap at 201.28 mph. ³I hate that we have to run our fellow Mopar¹s out there,² Johnson said. ³It was tough to navigate out there, but we had a decent weekend. We¹re still looking for the right combination and we¹re pretty excited about heading to Sonoma next weekend.² Johnson beat Scott Geoffrion in the first-round of eliminations. The Greeneville, Tenn., resident used the best reaction time of eliminations (.004) and a 6.972-second elapsed time at 200.80 mph to hold off Geoffrion¹s 6.857/202.85 combination. Gene Wilson and his Mopar Parts Dodge Stratus qualified fifth the best if the season but lost in the opening stanza to fellow Georgian Warren Johnson. Wilson ran a slower 6.876-second lap at 202.09 mph, as WJ clicked off a 6.808-second pass at 203.00 mph. ³We had a great weekend,² Wilson commented. ³This team has worked pretty hard together. And we have the horsepower, our speeds this weekend have been the best of the Mopar camp. I¹m very encouraged.² Greg Stanfield advanced to the second round in his DBP Enterprises Dodge Neon. The Bossier City, La., resident defeated Dave Connoly in round one before losing to Kurt Johnson in the quarter finals. Bazemore Drives to Another FinalŠ Whit Bazemore and the Matco Tools Dodge Stratus moved to within 63 points of leader Tony Pedregon after today¹s racing action. The Indianapolis resident, maneuvered his way to another final round before losing to John Force. Bazemore beat out a red-lighting Dean Skuza in round one, Mopar Funny Car teammate Gary Scelzi in round two and Johnny Gray in the semifinals. Bazemorw grabbed victory over Gray with a 5.073-second elapsed time at 291.32 mph. "We had a good day in the Matco Tools Dodge," said Bazemore. "We basically lost the race in the semis. We did everything we could do in the semis to get lane choice for the final, then dropped a cylinder and came up a little short. Force's team was perfect and they had lane choice. And for the Funny Car class that pretty much spelled the result. "So I feel like we did the very best we could do and we came away with the maximum amount of points that we realistically could get and we're going to go to Sonoma and try to do it again." After defeating Tim Wilkerson in the Funny Car first round (5.195/287.96 for Wilkerson, 5.033/298.93 for Scelzi), Gary Scelzi, in the Oakley Time Bomb Dodge Stratus, found himself in a match-up against his teammate Whit Bazemore in the second round, having lane choice over Baze. Scelzi's crew chief Mike Neff, along with Bazemore's crew chief Lee Beard, agreed to select the left lane for Scelzi, who qualified No. 1 I that lane Friday night, allowing Bazemore to run in the more favorable right lane. Scelzi launched first with an .080 reaction time to Bazemore's .119, but smoked the tires at 300 feet, slowing to a 6.911/130.51 pass. Bazemore streaked to the finish line in 5.123 seconds at 294.37 mph, taking the win. "Both these cars are a team, crew chiefs make the decision of lane choice," said team owner Don Schumacher. "I talked to both Mike (Neff, Scelzi's crew chief) and Lee (Beard, Bazemore's crew chief) before this round. Lee and Whit are running for the World Championship, Gary and Mike are running to win a race. We wanted to win a race for Oakley. Both were trying as hard as they could. Gary left on Whit big time, had him at 60 ft. big time. It just wouldn't hold on this track with the condition of this race track." "It was up to Mike Neff and Lee Beard who got lane choice," said Scelzi. "I understand; Baze is in the POWERade points chase and we raced. We gave up lane choice to them and we raced. We went 4.96 in that left-hand lane on Friday night. So actually the left lane was better for us. Yesterday we didn't get down either lane. It's unfortunate. I think we learned a lot. And we'll go to Sears Point and see what happens there."