Two-time U.S. Nats champ Bazemore claims No. 4 in Indy qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 18 of 23
U.S. NATIONALS
O'REILLY RACEWAY PARK
Clermont, Ind.
Race Date: Sept. 1-4, 2006


TWO-TIME U.S. NATIONALS WINNER BAZEMORE CLAIMS NO. 4 IN INDY QUALIFYING

CLERMONT, Ind. (Sept. 3, 2006) - Two-time U.S. Nationals champion Whit
Bazemore demonstrated once again that he has a potential winner underneath
him in the Matco Tools "Tales of the Rat Fink" Dodge Charger Funny Car,
after qualifying No. 4 for the U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park at
Indianapolis.

Indianapolis resident Bazemore drove his Funny Car to the No. 2 spot in the
first round of qualifying on Friday, clocking a 4.718-second elapsed time at
327.43 mph. This pass held on as his quickest lap through four more
sessions, earning him No. 4.

His ensuing four attempts yielded a 4.917/247.11, a 9.855/80.99 when the car
struck the tires early, a stout 4.860/310.41, and a broken fuel line at the
starting gate, which resulted in his not beginning the run.

"We're focused on winning the race tomorrow," said a confident Bazemore.
"We've got a great car, it's very, very competitive, and we have a very good
team. And when we have everything just right, the car's going to run very,
very competitively, and I think we can win the race.

"We made a really good run out of the trailer that put us second at the
time, and eventually in fourth, and then we also were on a really good run
Saturday morning and I decided to shut it off. It spun (the tires) a little
bit way down track. We're coming back from the fire at Memphis and some
parts damage. The numbers were good, and had I legged it through there it
would have been low of the session.

"The performance is there and we've got to exorcise the demons out of our
camp here."

Bazemore faces Tim Wilkerson in the opening round of eliminations on Monday.

In the Skoal Showdown today, Bazemore was eliminated by Robert Hight in the
opening stanza. It was a close race, but it was Hight first at the finish
line by a .0983 of-a-second margin over Bazemore, who crossed the finish
stripe in 4.860 seconds at 310.41 mph to Hight's winning 4.768/321.58. "We
were very, very frustrated. We had a very simple mechanical thing happen
which made the car slow down," said Bazemore. "We were very confident with
the tune-up. The car has run really well here during qualifying and during
testing and we were very confident. This little slip certainly hurt our
performance by a lot."