Bazemore posts four consistent laps to qualify No. 6 in Pomona

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
ROUND 1 OF 23
CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals
POMONA (CALIF.) RACEWAY
RACE DATE: FEB 9-12, 2006



P0MONA, Calif. (Feb. 11, 2006) - Whit Bazemore kicked off the 2006 NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series by posting four consistent qualifying passes at
the season-opening CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at the Auto Club
Raceway, placing him solidly in No. 6 in the quickest Funny Car field in
NHRA history.

With new crew chief Brian Corradi at the helm of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle
Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car team, Bazemore made clean runs consisting of a
4.851/323.35, a 4.786/302.14, a 4.856/267.69 and finally a 4.763/325.92.

"We're really happy," he said. "The consistency is actually better than it
looks because we had two parts failures; one this morning and one yesterday
way down track that even in our 4.78 we didn't go (under full power) to the
finish line.

"When you look at all our runs and, once we got our parts situation squared
away, what they really represent is a very consistent and what seems to be a
very tunable race car. That bodes well for race day."

Bazemore faces Bob Gilbertson in first round of eliminations on Sunday. All
three DSR Funny Cars are on one side of the ladder, while all three John
Force Racing cars are on the other side.