Bazemore on receiving end of payback in first round

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2004 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
ROUND 5 of 23
O'REILLY NHRA SPRING NATIONALS
HOUSTON RACEWAY PARK
RACE DATES: APRIL 16-18, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

BAZEMORE ON RECEIVING END OF PAYBACK IN FIRST ROUND

HOUSTON, Texas (April 18, 2004) - No. 11 qualifier Whit Bazemore was
presented with another opportunity to move up in the NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series Funny Car point standings today in the first round against
points leader Del Worsham. Unfortunately, he was unable to match the results
of their last meeting in Las Vegas, where he defeated Worsham in the first
round, advanced to the final and leapfrogged from eighth into fourth in
points.

Instead, in today's initial round of eliminations against Worsham at the
O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals, after launching first with a .022 advantage,
Bazemore's Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus lost traction early on,
recovered, then smoked the tires again, crossing the finish line with a
losing 6.606-second elapsed time at 139.34 mph. Worsham's run was virtually
trouble-free for a winning 4/881/306.40.

"The car spun the tire leaving but then it hooked up and it was fine," said
Bazemore. "Del was ahead when it blew off the tires again. We just got beat,
because they did a good job.

"We knew it was tough and you just have to go out and do the best you can
and we came up short today. We've got a great team and we'll have a better
time of it next week in Bristol (the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at
Bristol Motor Speedway on April 30-May 2)."

Lane choice was not an issue, he added, despite his having reservations as
to the quality of the track's surface. "It seems that more people smoked
their tires in the left lane, but some people ran awfully well over there
too, so you can't blame the track in this case. You can't blame anything.
Our car was just too aggressive right there and we smoked the tires."

Bazemore is now tied in sixth place in the Funny Car point standings with
Phil Burkart and Eric Medlen, with 272 points.

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