Bazemore qualifies No. 2 in Gainesville, questions rev limiter rule

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 3 of 23
ACDelco NHRA GATORNATIONALS
GAINESVILLE (FLA.) RACEWAY
Race Date: March 17-19, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 18, 2006) - Whit Bazemore and the Matco Tools Iron
Eagle Dodge team debuted the new Charger body this weekend at the NHRA
Gatornationals and saw a strong improvement in performance, as Bazemore
qualified No. 2, with a 4.769-second pass at 321.88 mph.

The defending Gatornationals event champion clocked that time in the second
qualifying session and was headed towards a potentially pole-setting run in
the final round until a late-lap encounter with the NHRA-mandated rev
limiter. Despite posting a respectable 4.782-second run, his top speed of
only 295.85 mph told the disappointing tale.

"The Matco Tools Dodge team has done an outstanding job of addressing some
of the issues that we had earlier in the year and as a result of that we're
running much better and we're a much better team," said Bazemore.

"Quite honestly, we're very nervous about the rev limiter and the effect
that it has on the engine. We saw a Don Schumacher Racing teammate
absolutely explode her car at the last race into a big fireball, and in a
Funny Car that could be devastating.

"Twice now we've hit the rev limiter. As a driver, you can't drive these
cars without knowing what's happening to the engine at the finish line. And
when the thing takes out that much power all at once you don't know if it's
got a rod out. It feels like it drops three cylinders. That time (last
session) it dropped so much timing out of it I had to shut it off. And then
it came back on. It's too dangerous right now, and something needs to be
done about it."

Bazemore faces Cruz Pedregon in first round of eliminations on Sunday, as he
aims for a repeat win at Gainesville Raceway.