NHRA News: New Years Eve will be quiet for aching Dunn & Baze (12/31/2003)

New Years Eve will be quiet for aching Dunn & Baze

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
12/31/2003

There will be plenty of wild parties going on in Daytona Beach this New Years Eve, but it's highly unlikely Mike Dunn and Whit Bazemore will attend any of them. The NHRA stars have officially survived the first half of a nearly 800-mile ride across Central and South Florida known as Gator Hell Week. With only 360 miles left on the itinerary, it's looking more and more like the duo will complete the feat.

Wednesday took the riders from their overnight stop in Tavares to Daytona Beach Shores. In total, the group covered 94.9 miles, pushing their grand total to 414 miles in four days. Staying mostly on flat ground as they wound their way towards the Atlantic Ocean, the riders traveled along the eastern shore of Lake Eustis, and then into Ocala National Forest before heading dead east to Daytona.

For the first time in their journey together, Dunn, a former Funny Car driver who currently serves as lead drag racing analyst for ESPN, files the daily dairy of their experiences on the road. Of the two riders, Dunn is the least experienced. But he's hung in with Bazemore and the rest of the top riders as others have fallen by the wayside.

Baze and Dunn's Hell Week: Day 4
Dunn: I haven't been through this much pain and suffering since I drove for Frank Bradley. Of course I like him too so I guess I'm just a masochist. I am hurting. I can't lie. I hurt in places that I didn't even know existed on my body. It's pretty grueling.

Bazemore (left) and Dunn refill
their tanks with some health food.

Whit and I decided we'd treat today kind of like a recovery day so we kept a slow pace and let our bodies catch up, at least for the first 60 miles or so. Then we caught up with our friends on a tandem bike and we rode in drafting behind them. This was actually the easiest day we've had out here. No flat tires, which was nice.

Yesterday we had several times when we'd sprint. We were really pushing ourselves. Plus, we ended with some big climbs and we hammered them pretty hard so it was good to cruise easy today.

I'm hurting but it's not unbearable. Strength-wise, I think I'm fine. This will come down to a matter of if my butt can handle this much time on a bike. Tylenol has become my friend. You just take a couple and go.

In some ways this is much harder than I expected it to be. There are some things I didn't anticipate just because I've never done anything like this before. On the other hand, like I said earlier, strength-wise I think I'm probably better off then I would have thought at this point.

Bazemore pushes onward.
Photo contributed by Bob Cole

It's all downhill from here, right? We're halfway along. I think we'll make it.

There will be a party in this city tonight but I don't think we'll be up much past 9 p.m. We've been getting up around 6:30 a.m. so I don't anticipate ringing in the New Year at a bar or a party somewhere.

Several fans were honking at us or flashing their lights today. That was cool. A couple even motioned that they thought we were No. 1. Okay, maybe those guys weren't fans.

I have to finish this deal and I think I will. I'd never hear the end of it if I quit. I know my wife would kill me for spending $1,000. She's already upset about that. I'll finish if it kills me, and it just might.

Return to 2003 News Archive
Return to the Home Page