Bazemore sets career-best ET, qualifies No. 2 in Chicago

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 10 of 23
CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals
Route 66 Raceway
Joliet, Ill.
Race Date: June 9-11, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

BAZEMORE SETS CAREER-BEST ET, QUALIFIES NO. 2 IN CHICAGO

JOLIET, Ill. (June 10, 2006) - Whit Bazemore joined the 4.6-second club
today at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, by
setting his career-best elapsed time of 4.674 seconds at 330.88 mph to
qualify No. 2 in the quickest Funny Car field in NHRA history.

Bazemore's previous career-best ET was a 4.713, established here at Route 66
Raceway in 2004, along with his career-best 333.25 mph run. His 330.88 mph
pass today was top speed for the meet so far.

The two-time U.S. Nationals champion put together a string of three solid
passes today before NHRA cancelled the final round because of a long rain
delay. They included a 4.766/327.59, a 4.700/329.99 (career-best ET at the
time), and finally the 4.674/330.88, the quickest and fastest of the round.

"It's refreshing to be at a track like this where the surface is good and
then to be blessed with good weather. Good weather for running a car, that
is. And it's worth waiting around all day to do that. It was a long day," he
said.

"We wanted to run a .60. We've tried since (crew chiefs) Todd (Okuhara) and
Brian (Corradi) have been here. We've tried a few times when we've had the
opportunity. We tuned the car up to the point where we thought, OK it should
do this, and it's always been a couple of hundredths (of a second) off.
Including last night, when we ran .700.

"The Matco Tools Dodge team really stood on it today and it's still plenty
safe in terms of making it down the race track. It's a great job by the team
and they deserve the credit, as well as all the Matco Tools people who stand
behind us. We've definitely suffered some this year and they've stood behind
us and the second half of the year is certainly shaping up to look a lot
more productive than the first half."

Bazemore will square off with Phil Burkart Jr. in first round of
eliminations on Sunday.

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