Bazemore concludes successful Vegas tests with "new" team

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES



LAS VEGAS (Jan. 24, 2006) - Whit Bazemore and the Matco Tools Iron Eagle
Dodge Stratus Funny Car team concluded successful tests at The Strip at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway on Monday, in preparation for the season-opening event
of the 2006 POWERade Drag Racing Series Feb. 9-12.

Another testing session is scheduled at Firebird International Raceway in
Chandler, Ariz., Jan. 27-30.

Bazemore and his new crew chief Brian Corradi, as well as Todd Okuhara and a
number of new crew members, took the opportunity these past four days to
work together for the first time as virtually a new team for the 2006
season.

Shutting down early for every run as part of the testing process, Bazemore's
times included a 4.933/263.26 and finally a 4.824/291.19 on Monday.

"I feel good," said Bazemore. "We made huge progress with the car and the
team. You have to realize that we have essentially a new team with Brian
Corradi as our crew chief and Todd Okuhara as his right-hand man and some
other new faces on the crew.

"It's not that we're coming back into this season as an established team;
it's a totally new Matco Tools Dodge team as far as I'm concerned. There's a
learning process involved, a jelling process, with the race car and each
other that we all have to go through.

"We made really good progress. We got to the point where the Matco Tools
Dodge was consistent, where it went down the race track. We never once went
to the finish line. We chose to go only to 1000 feet and shut down early,
but we ended up running the equivalent of a 4.77 (-second elapsed time),
which was still way soft. We're very confident that we're going to continue
to make progress in Phoenix this upcoming weekend."