Bazemore out in first round in Brainerd

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 16 of 23
LUCAS OIL NHRA NATIONALS
BRAINERD INT'L RACEWAY
BRAINERD, MINN.
Race Dates: Aug. 12-14, 2005


BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 14, 2005) - No. 9 qualifier Whit Bazemore did not have
lane choice going into the first round of eliminations at the Lucas Oil
Nationals today, but he didn't blame the track when he smoked the tires in
that round and lost to Tony Pedregon with a 5.802/242.63 lap to Pedregon's
5.258/275.62.

In Top Fuel eliminations preceding the Funny Car competition, Luigi Novelli
blew up his dragster at the starting line in the right lane and proceeded
down the quarter-mile, resulting in a 40-minute delay to clean the surface,
relegating that lane to less-desirable status.

"You can't blame the track," said Bazemore of his loss in the Matco Tools
Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus. "Early on this morning the conditions were really
good and a lot of people, ourselves included, thought that they could go out
there and run pretty damned good.

"Unfortunately, Novelli just killed the track and put us almost 40 minutes
behind and the track was in the sun a long time. Our Matco Tools guys backed
the car down a huge amount and the track just didn't hold it. They made all
the right moves and Dan (Olson, co-crew chief) even said if we had it to do
over again, he would have done the exact same thing, and that's how far we
backed the car down.

"It's part of racing, but I really feel the NHRA needs to look at the
licensing procedure and they need to make sure that the drivers - all of us
- do the right thing when there's a problem. A guy blowing up on the
starting line and coasting down the center of the track on race day is
unacceptable and it hurts all the competitors, the fans and the entire
sport, and it should not be allowed to happen."

Bazemore dropped to seventh place in the POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny
Car point standings.

Next up is the O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals in Memphis, Tenn., Aug.
19-21.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Robert Hight, 1056
2. Gary Scelzi, 1042
3. John Force, 1034
4. Ron Capps, 1011
5. Eric Medlen, 949 (winner today)
6. Tommy Johnson Jr., 914
7. Whit Bazemore, 864
8. Cruz Pedregon, 831