Bazemore takes No. 6 in Vegas final qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
The ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals
Round 22 of 23
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nev.
Race Dates: Oct. 24-26, 2003

LAS VEGAS (Oct. 25, 2003) - Weather conditions were favorable this evening
as the temperatures continued to drop, and by the time the final pair of
Whit Bazemore and Tony Pedregon came to the line in the final qualifying
session it was at its coolest, 73 degrees.

What might have turned into a potential No. 1 qualifying run for Bazemore
ended up being good for only No. 6, as his Matco Tools Dodge Stratus Funny
Car started dropping cylinders just short of the finish line. Despite this,
the driver vying for the Funny Car title posted a decent 4.825-second pass
at 309.98 mph. He experienced a similar problem in today's third qualifying
session with his 4.982/251.06 lap.

"It's been difficult this weekend," Bazemore said. "We made a decent run
Friday night (4.847/310.05) and the other times we struggled with little
problems. We have some kind of gremlin in the car right now that we've got
to find for tomorrow, but tomorrow is a new day. The Matco Tools Dodge guys
are the very best at what they do, and we'll have a race car that's capable
of winning the race and that's what we're counting on."

As for his rival for the Funny Car championship, who qualified No. 1:
"Those guys are doing a good job over there," he said. "They're not going to
give it to us easily. We're ready. We're pretty aggressive right now; we're
feeling good."