Bazemore No. 7 qualifier in Denver

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 13 of 23
Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals
Bandimere Speedway
Morrison, Colo.
Race Date: July 14-16, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

BAZEMORE NO. 7 QUALIFIER IN DENVER

MORRISON, Colo. (July 15, 2006) - Whit Bazemore drove the Matco Tools Iron
Eagle Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to No. 7 in qualifying for the Mopar
Mile-High NHRA Nationals today. The two-time Bandimere Speedway Funny Car
winner recorded a 4.952-second pass at 302.35 mph in the final qualifying
session.

His other attempts resulted in three consistent passes of 5.174/294.24
(second quickest of that round), a 4.985/311.70 and a 5.129/276.13 (second
quickest of that round as well).

"We've had a great weekend so far," said Bazemore. "We have a new car here
and some new crew guys. Phil Shuler came on board (as assistant crew chief
to Todd Okuhara - replacing Brian Corradi, who moved over to Mike Ashley's
Funny Car team, managed by DSR) and a really good mechanic, Tom Boyington.

"Our new crew guys have fit in very quickly and very well, so that's a very
big positive. Our performance has been good. We've gone down the track all
four runs. It's been very tough up here the last two days, not only dealing
with the altitude, but the heat and a very hot race track, which reached 147
degrees today.

"We're very happy," added the avid cyclist who successfully completed his
28-mile ascent to the top of 14,200-ft. Mt. Evans on his Custom Seven
Bicycle on Thursday. "We have lane choice tomorrow, we're working on a lot
of things and it's all coming together."

Bazemore faces 13-time Funny Car champion John Force in first round of
eliminations on Sunday.

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