Baze No. 3 in U.S. Nats qualifying, loses to Force in Shootout

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 17 of 23
U.S. NATIONALS
INDIANAPOLIS RACEWAY PARK
Rainout Race Date: Sept. 5-7, 2003

BAZEMORE QUALIFIES NO. 3, LOSES TO FORCE IN SHOOTOUT SEMIS

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 6, 2003) - Whit Bazemore, driver of the Matco Tools Iron
Eagle Dodge Stratus, had a busy day today. He continued to qualify for the
U.S. Nationals, which were rained out last weekend, and competed in his 10th
Budweiser Shootout at Indianapolis after qualifying third for this annual
special event.

The two-time U.S. Nationals champion claimed the No. 3 position for
tomorrow's final eliminations, with the 4.767-second pass he posted last
week at 323.74 mph, the second fastest speed of the event next to his
teammate Gary Scelzi.

In the Shootout, Bazemore, of Indianapolis, defeated Tommy Johnson Jr. on a
holeshot advantage in the first round to advance to the semifinals against
his perennial rival John Force. Force and Baze launched at nearly identical
reaction times (.072 for Force, .082 for Bazemore), but Force took the win
with a 4.824/321.12 to Bazemore's 4.909/291.32.

The fifth and final qualifying session, which took place under clear, warm
skies, Bazemore established the second-fastest elapsed time of that round,
4.811-seconds at 320.43 mph.

"4.81 is good. Running the second low e.t. of the round is good. We're
pretty satisfied," he said. "We wish we had it in the round before (the
Shootout), but we didn't. The guys did a tremendous job today. It was a
frustrating day, but there's a big day ahead of us tomorrow, the U.S.
Nationals, and we're in a pretty good position. We'll be ready to rock and
roll tomorrow."

By qualifying ahead of his rival Tony Pedregon for the NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series Funny Car crown, Bazemore is now just 57 points behind first
place. "We've got to gain points every opportunity that we have, so whether
it's one point or 20 points it doesn't matter as long as we're going in the
right direction," he added. "That's all we're really concerned about right
now. Honeslty, we're not going to be thinking about points tonight or
tomorrow or at anytime. We're just here to win this race and go out there
and do the very best we can possibly do in the moroning in the first round
and take it one round at a time and see where we end up."

Cruz Pedregon is Bazemore's first-round opponent in tomorrow's final
eliminations.

As for the Budweiser Shootout, not having won it in 10 attempts is
disappointing to Bazemore, but his primary focus this week and this season
has been on winning his third U.S. Nationals and his first Funny Car
championship, he said.

"We didn't have our car setup to run what we needed to," he said following
his loss to Force. "That's why they ran. They soundly beat us.

"Honestly, like I said before the race even started - so I don't sound like
a sore loser - I wasn't focused on this race at all this year. It's a great
event, Budweiser has done a tremendous job promoting it and creating a good
mystique and tradition around this Budweiser Shootout at Indianapolis, but
the only thing that we're really concentrating on over here right now is
trying to win the U.S. Nationals and being very, very competitive now and
the rest of the season.

"We were competitive today. We lost a race to a team that ran better than we
did. That's the bottom line. We were somewhat fortunate to even get to the
second round. We'll take it and we'll learn for tomorrow and focus on
tomorrow."