Bazemore eyes his first St. Louis win
DON SCHUMACHER RACING 2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES Round 12 of 23 O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals Gateway International Raceway Madison, Ill. Race Date: June 23-25, 2006MADISON, Ill. (June 21, 2006) - Whit Bazemore, who drives the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car, will round off his career NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series national-event appearances to 330 this weekend at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway. As a dabbler in the stock market, what Bazemore would really like to round out is his performance portfolio. Entering this weekend, his No. 1 qualifying record stands at 29 and career win tally at 19. He has never won at Gateway, nor was low qualifier.
Bazemore is on a powerful path to achieving those goals, as he's had the car to beat at several of the last events, having qualified in the top half of the field in five of the last six races, including a close No. 2 twice, was semifinalist two times and runner-up once. The two-time U.S. Nationals champion just hasn't been able to parlay those stats into his first win of the year.
The Indianapolis resident and avid cyclist hopes this last event of a grueling back-to-back three-race swing will finally showcase the team's improvement after struggling early in the season, where he lost in the opening round of eliminations in the first four events.
"When you look at it more at the context of where we are with the team, it becomes an important race just because it's three in a row and the first two haven't gone the way we've needed them to go," he explained. "In my mind it's fairly critical that we have a good race in St. Louis.
"Whether it's a night race, a day race, a race in St. Louis or a race in Hawaii, it doesn't matter. The fact is, it's a race and the Matco Tools Dodge team needs to have a good race. Everything else is kind of immaterial.
"We're just under the radar," added Bazemore, who is eighth in the Funny Car point rankings. "We have a great team and everyone is at the top of their game, but we're still coming up short for one reason or another. It's the nature of the sport sometimes. These are the times when you really have to just buckle down and focus and stay focused and not let any negative results affect you, because we know we're good enough to win and I think we've proven that recently."
WHIT BAZEMORE QUICK FACTS:
* Eighth in 2006 Funny Car point standings after 11 events, with one runner-up and two semifinal finishes * Two-time U.S. Nationals champion, 1997 and 2001 * Ninth in final 2005 Funny Car point standings * Won two events in 2005 (Gainesville, Las Vegas), No. 1 qualifier once (Columbus) * No. 6 qualifier in 2005 O'Reilly Midwest Nationals, lost first round to Tony Pedregon * Has never won at Gateway * First Funny Car driver to break 325-mph barrier (U.S. Nationals 2001) * Career quickest ET is 4.6.74 seconds (Chicago 2006), career fastest speed is 333.25 mph (Chicago 1 2004) * Has 19 career Funny Car event wins in 44 final rounds in 329 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 RacingSCHEDULE:FRIDAY, June 23, PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. SATURDAY, June 24, PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. SUNDAY, June 25, Pre-race ceremonies, 2 p.m. FINAL ELIMINATIONS begin at 3 p.m.
TELEVISION:
Saturday, June 24, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying coverage at 10 p.m. (ET). Sunday, June 25, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will telecast NHRA 2Day, a 30-minute news magazine show, at 11:30 a.m. (ET). Sunday, June 25, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of final round eliminations at 10 p.m. (ET).
SATELLITE:
Friday, June 23, 11-11:30 p.m. (ET) SBS 6, Transponder 17 K (12117 MHz, horizontal) Saturday, June 24, No feed scheduled, please roll on ESPN2 show, 10 p.m. (ET) Sunday, June 25, 10:30-11 p.m. (ET) SBS 6, Transponder 17 K (12117 MHz, horizontal)