Bazemore is semifinal finisher for fourth time in six races, in Reading

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
ROUND 19 OF 23
TOYO TIRES NHRA NATIONALS
MAPLE GROVE RACEWAY
READING, PA.
Race Dates: Sept. 16-18, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

BAZEMORE IS SEMIFINAL FINISHER FOR FOURTH TIME IN SIX RACES

READING, Pa. (Sept. 18, 2005) - Whit Bazemore and the Matco Tools Iron Eagle
Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car team led by crew chiefs Dan Olson and Todd
Okuhara continue to make solid strides in performance, as Bazemore reached
the semifinal round for the fourth time in six races today at the Toyo Tires
Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway.

The No. 7 qualifier eliminated the U.S. Nationals double-up winner Del
Worsham in the opening round of eliminations with a 4.912/312.86, then
helped his teammates Ron Capps and Gary Scelzi, who are fighting for the
Funny Car championship, by dismissing Eric Medlen in the second round with a
4.872/311.56.

The semifinal round found Bazemore rekindling his rivalry with his perennial
antagonist John Force in one of their classic battles. Force took off first
with a slight edge, but the race was over for Bazemore when he got loose
immediately and could only pull out a 5.831-second pass at 193.38 mph to
Force's winning 4.790/317.35.

The two-time U.S. Nationals champion and Indianapolis resident holds on to
seventh place in the Funny Car point standings, and is now just 126 points
out of fifth.

"We just got loose about one and a half seconds into the run," he explained.
"We got beat by the guy who ran well today and made it to the final round.

"It's disappointing, but we're happy that we went to the semis, because we
struggled a lot this weekend. We had little things go wrong with the Matco
Tools Dodge. We never really had a perfect run.

"You can go to the semis with those circumstances as you continue to work on
the car and have the team fine-tune it. It's not unrealistic to expect
better results when things get more perfect.

"All in all, not a bad day, but for us to be in the championship again we
really have to win every race, and we haven't. I guess we'll just work on
next year and try to win these last couple of races and maybe try to help
our teammates take out some guys, like we did with Medlen earlier today.

"It's a hard track. There are bumps out there and the groove is very, very
narrow and for some reason it's always been a very hard track to drive
perfectly.

"It's a challenge here, but the track was good for everybody."

Next on the schedule is the O'Reilly NHRA Nationals, Sept. 23-25, 2005.

NHRA FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Gary Scelzi, 1250
2. Robert Hight, 1224
3. John Force, 1219
4. Eric Medlen, 1174
5. Ron Capps, 1168
6. Tommy Johnson Jr., 1080
7. Whit Bazemore, 1042
8. Del Worsham, 978
9. Tony Pedregon, 957 (winner today)
10. Cruz Pedregon, 883

***