Bazemore low qualifier Friday night in Ohio

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 8 of 23
PONTIAC PERFORMANCE NHRA NATIONALS
NATIONAL TRAIL RACEWAY
HEBRON, OHIO
Race Dates: May 20-22, 2005



HEBRON, Ohio (May 20, 2005) - Whit Bazemore was Funny Car low qualifier
today on a cool evening at National Trail Raceway, outside of Columbus,
Ohio, setting a track elapsed-time record of 4.762 seconds at 322.34 mph.

His first round of qualifying today produced a 4.948/308.78, which was good
for No. 11.

Two more qualifying rounds are scheduled for Saturday before final
eliminations begin for round 8 of the 23-event NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

"It's a real good start for the weekend," said the driver of the Matco Tools
Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car, who hasn't qualified No. 1 all
season (two No. 8s, two No. 12s, and one No. 14), but has won twice and led
the Funny Car point standings. Following last weekend's race in Atlanta, he
is second in the rankings, 24 points behind John Force.

"Our team hasn't qualified that well all year, so hopefully it's not a jinx.
We've done fairly well. We're second in the championship, and we've won two
races, but all from qualifying eighth and 12th.

"Hopefully, if we can stay low tomorrow it won't be a jinx. It's what our
team's needed. We've worked really hard trying to right our ship and
eventually hard work pays off. Qualifying is a tribute to our Matco Tools
team. It's (crew chief) Lee Beard making the right call, it's the guys doing
a perfect job, and here we are.

"It was close. It almost didn't make it. It rattled pretty hard out there
and that's what a lot of guys did - shook the tires first round and tonight.
He had the tune-up right, I didn't crash it, and we went down the track and
ran a .76.

"It felt good to run that quick, because we hadn't done that in quite a
while."