Whit Bazemore: Memories of his time on The Strip
DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 5 of 23
NHRA Summitracing.com Nationals
THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Race Date: April 7-9, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net
WHIT BAZEMORE: MEMORIES OF HIS TIME ON THE STRIP
LAS VEGAS (April 6, 2006) - Whit Bazemore has a fondness for The Strip at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The two-time U.S. Nationals champion and driver of
the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car has done well here
since the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series first arrived at this track in
2001.
As he prepares for this weekend's NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals, the
Indianapolis resident recalls some of the highlights of his two No. 1
qualifiers here (2001 LV2, 2003 LV1), four runner-ups (2001 LV1, 2003 LV1
and LV2 and 2004 LV1) and finally as the defending champion of this event in
2005:
Runner-up to Tommy Johnson Jr. in 2001: "I think we were beat on a holeshot.
It was good. We had a good tune-up back then for this race track. It was a
new team for Matco Tools and everybody on board, so to be runner-up with a
new team that early was pretty rewarding.
"At the end of the 2001 run, we were a really strong team. We outscored
everyone else in points the second half of the season by quite a lot. Vegas
is a good track. It typically rewards high-horsepower cars. And we seem to
do well here."
Runner-up in 2003 to Tony Pedregon at both events: "The situation in the
last one was if we beat Tony in the final then the championship would stay
alive going into the last race in Pomona, and we both smoked the tires. We
smoked them a little earlier than he did. We lost a very close race, so the
championship was over. We left first (at the starting light) and I think we
proved, at least to ourselves, that we could fight for a championship. It
was a great experience. It would have been awfully nice to have won that
race, but we didn't.
"There are a lot of races that we wish we had won, but we hadn't and that's
one of them."
Runner-up to Phil Burkart in 2004 (LV1), and winner in 2005 over Tony
Bartone (LV1): "You can consider that we have had a lot of success here,
because basically when you're runner-up you're second. But, in our sport
finishing second is not acknowledged and you don't really come away feeling
too good after you're runner-up, honestly. You're just the first loser.
"Our sport rewards winners and that's it. If you finish second in a Formula
One race you're on the podium spraying champagne. If you finish third in a
Formula One race you're on the podium spraying champagne. If you finish
third or second in the Tour de France you're a hero. The fact that we've
been runner-up so many times in Vegas to me was somewhat meaningless
although it showed that throughout the years we had a good running car at
The Strip.
"But last year we got the monkey off our backs and we won at the first Vegas
race of 2005. It was a great win. It was a hard day. The track was tricky
and we won a tire-smoking contest with Robert Hight, a race we shouldn't
have won at all. We smoked the tires a lot earlier than he did, and got by
with the win. That was exciting. I think that was in the second or third
round. It was a tough race and we won. We beat Bartone in the final in a
very close race. It felt good finally to win here.
"It is a tremendous facility and one of our favorite tracks. We really like
the people here. They do it 100 percent right, and we appreciate that."
As for the upcoming event here this weekend following a difficult first four
races of the year: "We have high hopes that we can turn our season around
here. It's obviously a track that we do well at. The team tested Monday with
(teammate) Gary Scelzi driving the Matco Tools Dodge Charger after Houston.
They changed the tune-up considerably and in the last run we didn't have any
of the problems that we've had all year. We don't want to say that we found
it, because that's on old cliché, but we're very hopeful that we might be
going in the right direction.
"It's really, really been tough on the team, especially on (assistant crew
chief) Todd (Okuhara) and (crew chief) Brian (Corradi). It's been a can of
worms for Brian. I'm sure he's wondering what the hell kind of decision he
made to come here to Don Schumacher Racing and get saddled with a car that
doesn't respond to his inputs at all. But, we have a great team, a great
bunch of guys. They've worked their asses off, and they've kept their heads
held high.
"We're not accustomed to even being out of the top five much less the top
10, so we have a lot of work to do ahead in this season. We're motivated and
we're going to come to Vegas with our usual attitude to try to annihilate
our opponents."
SCHEDULE:
On Friday, April 7, professional qualifying sessiions are at 3 p.m. and 6
p.m. On Saturday, April 8, pro qualifying sessions continue at noon and 3
p.m. On Sunday, April 9, final eliminations begin at 11 a.m.
TELEVISION:
Saturday, April 8, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying
highlights at 8 p.m. (ET). Sunday April 9, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will broadcast
NHRA 2Day, a 30-minute weekly news magazine show, at 11:30 a.m. (ET).
Sunday, April 9, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of final
eliminations at 7 p.m. (ET).
SATELLITE:
Friday, April 7, 11-11:30 p.m. (ET) Galaxy 11 / Transponder 13 K (downlink
freq: 11960 horizontal)
Saturday, April 8, 10:30-11 p.m. (ET) Galaxy 11 / 13 K (downlink freq:
11960 horizontal)
Sunday, April 9, 10:30-11 p.m. (ET) Galaxy 10R / 23 K (downlink freq:
12160 horizontal)
WHIT BAZEMORE QUICK FACTS:
* 12th in 2006 Funny Car point standings after four events
* Two-time U.S. Nationals champion, 1997 and 2001
* Ninth in 2005 Funny Car point standings
* Won two events in 2005 (Gainesville, Las Vegas), No. 1 qualifier once
(Columbus)
* Qualified No. 12 at 2005 SummitRacing.com Nationals, won his second race
of season over Tony Bartone, moved back into the points lead
* Has stellar Vegas record: 2001 runner-up (LV2); 2003 runner-up twice (LV1
and LV2), winner 2005 (LV1), qualified No. 1 LV2 in 2001, LV1 in 2003
* First Funny Car driver to break 325-mph barrier (U.S. Nationals 2001)
* Career quickest ET is 4.713 seconds, career fastest speed is 333.25 mph,
both set at Route 66 Raceway in 2004 in what was at the time the quickest
and fastest speed in Funny Car history
* Has 19 career Funny Car event wins in 43 final rounds in 322 races
* Took the 2003 championship chase to penultimate race in Las Vegas in an
exciting final round against eventual champion Tony Pedregon
* Was second twice in the Funny Car championship in 2001 and 2003, third in
1997 and '99 and has finished in the top five six times and 13 times in the
top 10 since 1992
* Age 43, born in New York City, an avid cyclist, lives in Indianapolis with
wife Michelle, a competitive amateur cyclist, and son Dashiell Aidan, born
March 12, 2005 (same as Bazemore's birthday)
* 2006 is his sixth season with Don Schumacher Racing
***
