NHRA: Bazemore out in first round; Capps advances to second
11 October 1999
CHEVROLET NOTES AND QUOTES AUTOZONE NATIONALS NHRA WINSTON DRAG RACING SERIES MEMPHIS MOTORPORTS PARK SUNDAY, OCT. 10, 1999 FUNNY CAR -- CAMARO Z28 -- ELIMINATIONS BAZEMORE OUT IN FIRST ROUND, CAPPS ADVANCES TO SECOND WHIT BAZEMORE, KENDALL OIL/SUPERWINCH CAMARO Z28, was eliminated in the first round by Cristen Powell: 5.149/292.39 for Whit, 4.947/290.26 for Cristen. Whit had the edge at the Christmas Tree, .494 to Cristen's .553, but a dropped cylinder slowed him at the finish. BAZEMORE: ON THE INEVITABLE QUESTION, ARE YOU UPSET TO BE BEATEN BY A WOMAN? "It makes no difference to me if it's a woman or a guy next to me. They're just competitors and they're people you have to beat. If it's a 10-year-old girl who can drive a Funny Car, then I'm impressed. If it's a 50-year-old guy who can win nine championships, that impresses me too. Anyone who can drive Funny Cars and keep them in their own lane and not hit the other car in the other lane impresses me. I never raced a woman before. In my career I learned to go up to the line and do everything the same each time. So I started to think of her as a guy. And that's what I said to myself, I'm going to beat the guy in the other lane. She did a great job. We were beaten by a good team and a good driver. That's how the sport is sometime. When you have a problem, it's not going to be your turn to win. That's where we were today. We did our job to the best of our ability, but we had a problem with the Kendall Camaro, making it difficult to tune. We dropped a cylinder. There are actually two problems. Tim and Kim (Richards, co-crew chiefs) are going to fix these problems and we will be back to where we were this summer. Some things are just not right. The team has not been at all happy with the way the Camaro is running. None of us are, but we're taking the steps to fix it." CAN YOU COMPARE THIS TO LAST NIGHT'S WIN BY A WOMAN IN A MALE VS. FEMALE BOXING MATCH: "I guess it's the year of the woman." ON THE POINTS CHASE TO OUST TONY PEDREGON OUT OF SECOND: "The points chase is a non-event now. We will see what Tony does today, but I'm not even thinking about it. We have got to win races, we have to win the next two to three races. We have to win two out of the next three and maybe we can be second. If we can't do that, then it doesn't look like we will be able to catch him. And it's unfortunate, but that's the way it is. I think we're looking towards next year and having a stronger program over her next year, a strnger team, a better team and just hope there isn't any single competitor who goes out next year and has a huge head start and has a huge advantage like happened this year. If they keep the rules consistent I don't think that will happen. Our '99 Camaro body has gone a long way towards leveling the playing field and taking away the aerodynamic advantagt that the Mustang was given this year." RON CAPPS, driver of the second Camaro Z28 in the field, the COPENHAGEN entry owned by Don Prudhomme, defeated Del Worsham, 4.958/295.92 for Capps, 9.538/87.48 for Worsham. SECOND ROUND RON CAPPS is defeated by Tony Pedregon: 5.149/293.28 for Tony, 7.324/11.38 for Capps. CAPPS: "We are very excited, especially coming into the first round because of how the Camaro has really shown us a lot and, you've got to remember, that Dale Armstrong is just getting used to the Funny Car; he only started working on the Funny Car in Topeka. It won't take long before it's going to be a very, very quick car once he gets a handle on it. In the first round, when it ran a 4.95, we knew it was just a matter of time. It's nothing compared to what we expect from Dale. It's exciting. He's such an innovator, and working with Chevrolet, going to the wind tunnel and doing all those things that Dale is know for -- he always has state-of-the-art ideas and is two steps ahead of everyone else -- is going to help us a lot. To run with John Force and those other people over there you have to be an innovator." ON THE SECOND ROUND: "It left great and I didn't even see any of Tony. It was way, way beyond where it usually gets in trouble and shakes. All of a sudden it struck the tires and I felt the rear end come up like it was going to smoke the tires. That's all she wrote. It was more depressing to have him go by and run only a 5.14. They did what they had to do to get down the track. We expected to do a .4.90 to a 4.92. The sun did come out a little more that round and that makes me even more excited going to Dallas because of the way the car wants to run and the way the track is at Dallas. It is 100% concrete and we know the air will be a little cool, it won't be as warm and humid as it got here today." # # #