Championship Drag Racing

NHRA Route 66 Nationals
Chicago, Ill.
(May 20-23)

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King Demon Crown

Whit Bazemore Matco Tools Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car

Reports: Sunday Saturday Friday Pre-race

Chicago, Sunday: With all the hoopla surrounding Gary Scelzi and Tony Pedregon as to which one would walk away with the ET and speed records this weekend at the ultra-fast Route 66 Raceway, Whit Bazemore quietly out-performed them both as he set the national Funny Car ET record and became the fastest Funny Car driver on the planet while producing the quickest and fastest Funny Car pass in NHRA history in the semifinal round: 4.713 seconds (backed up by his 4.731 in qualifying) at 333.25 mph.

With that, the driver of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus, moved into No. 1 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings, earning a bonus 20 points for the national ET record. He was unable to back up the speed for a national record, however, so his teammate Gary Scelzi goes home with that one, set here, of 330.55 mph.

This, of course, did not overshadow Bazemore's route to his fourth final round of the year, third in a row, and his second this season against John Force. After disposing of Ron Capps, Tim Wilkerson and Tony Bartone, Bazemore was once again matched with his longtime nemesis John Force in the final round.

Bazemore snatched an .024 of a second edge at the Christmas Tree over Force, but by the 60-ft. mark crew chief Lee Beard's self-admitted slightly aggressive tune-up took its toll and Bazemore lost traction early, coasting to an 8.034/115.06 pass to Force's winning 4.752/325.30.

"It's disappointing to lose," said the three-time Route 66 Raceway winner and No. 2 qualifier. "No matter how good the rest of the weekend is, you come to win the race. We had a good chance. We proved a lot this weekend. I think Lee (Beard, crew chief) and the team did an outstanding job. The bottom line is we're disappointed.

"What matters is winning the race and beating John Force and it didn't happen. We've gone to four final rounds in five races, so we're doing well, we're excited and we're looking forward to going to Topeka.

"It's good," he said about setting the national record. "I think the more important thing to me is that we won Atlanta (last week) on a hot race track and that's what we're going to be faced with the next three or four months. The national record is fine for your ego and it's cool, but what's more important, I think, right now is being able to go down the track on a hot track and being competitive there, and we proved that last weekend.

"We're not going to see conditions like this for a long time. This is a great, great facility. They re-paved it. I think they proved something to the NHRA that you can actually repave a track and have it be a good race track."

Going 333 mph for the first time in NHRA Funny Car history was a bonus. "We were disappointed Saturday night that that (final qualifying) session got rained out," said Bazemore. "Lee had it pretty tuned up for that session. Actually, today we had a strong crosswind and that cost us a little mile and hour. 333 is great and it's the fastest ever. If it had been a calm day, there is no question it would have been faster. How much faster we'll never know."

Lee Beard missed the opportunity to score his 50th national-event win as a crew chief today, but said he had respect for any barriers being broken. He also felt under the right conditions this weekend, the ET record could have been lowered to a 4.60. "Lee Beard is a swing-for-the-fence kind of guy," he said. "It means a lot to me to break barriers. They're hard to do and hard to come by in your whole entire career. We're going to look back and say, 'Gee we could have won the race with running a low 4.70.' But we're in the points lead, we did set the national record, we do have the quickest and fastest car in the history of the sport, so, all in all, it was a pretty good weekend for us."

Chicago, Saturday: Whit Bazemore qualified his Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car No. 2 for the fourth time in 2004 for tomorrow's NHRA Route 66 Nationals with the 4.731-second pass at 326.71 mph he posted in last night's stellar session, noted for the speed records that fell.

In today's only qualifying session (the fourth round was cancelled because of rain), Bazemore established a career-best 329.02-mph run, nearly joining the 330-mph club which inducted its only two members (Gary Scelzi and Tony Pedregon) during last night's qualifying round. Bazemore's 4.752-second effort today was the second quickest and fastest of that round (to teammate Gary Scelzi's 4.732/330.55) and he was looking forward to tonight's final qualifying round to improve.

Although disappointed with losing the opportunity to better his speed, Bazemore, the first Funny Car driver to break the 325-mph barrier, was upbeat. "The 329.08-mph run was good. It's not quite as fast as our teammate, but they're on a different planet right now. We're close, but we ran well, we qualified No. 2, we're feeling pretty good about the car and the performance of the team.

"It's a shame. We were really looking forward to tonight's session because we went 329 mph, and (crew chief Lee) Beard's very aggressive right now. Our teammate's been 330, and we know that we can do it and it's in the car, so we were all set to really stand on it tonight and try to do our career best on both ends (ET and speed). We were going to try to run a real, real low 4.70 and go 331-plus. Obviously we're not going to be in a position to do that tomorrow during the race. And we don't know when we'll be able to be in a position to do it again, so it's shame. That's the way it goes. We'll be ready to race tomorrow."

Bazemore, second in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings, will face Ron Capps in the first round of eliminations.

Chicago, Friday: Whit Bazemore watched his teammate Gary Scelzi become the first NHRA Funny Car driver to break the 330-mph barrier tonight in the next lane, as Bazemore roared to a No. 2 qualifying spot under cool conditions at what most consider to be a perfect track, Route 66 Raceway.

Following a one-hour hold for strong winds after half the Funny Car field qualified, Bazemore returned to post a 4.731-second elapsed time at 326.71 mph to place second to Tony Pedregon's 4.716/331.28 (the fastest Funny Car speed in history set in the final pairing.)

"It was good," said Bazemore, defending Funny Car event champion who was the first Funny Car driver to break the 325-mph mark. "We ran well and we're happy. It was an outstanding job by the other team. Obviously Dickie Venables and Kurt Elliott really have their act together; they're doing a great job over there. They've been around a long time. They met each other working for me. I'm always interested in how they do.

"We never like being second. That's the way it goes. We made a good run. We got it in. It was awfully windy and it was exciting. We'll be ready to improve tomorrow."

Bazemore has often predicted that his teammate Scelzi would be the first to break 330 mph. "It's very cool. Our team was the first to go 325 mph, so we kept it in the team. Another barrier broken for Schumacher Racing. We haven't run the mile-an-hour in a couple of years. Zippy (Scelzi's crew chief Mike Neff) and Scelzi have. They were my favorite pre-season pick to do it and they did. It's great for them. It's outstanding."

Chicago, pre-race: Whit Bazemore, driver of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus, who was runner-up in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car championship last year and is favored by many to win the crown this year is back to fighting form and heading to Route 66 Raceway this weekend to defend his 2003 title at the track where he's arguably had the most success in his 16-year pro NHRA career.

Fresh from a victory at Atlanta Dragway in his third final-round appearance of the last four races and a jump from sixth into second place in points, Bazemore is eager to get on the quarter mile for the NHRA Route 66 Nationals, where he also won the inaugural NHRA race in 1998 and the fall event in 2001. The Indianapolis resident and two-time U.S. Nationals champion also notched two No. 1 qualifiers here in Joliet.

"We like Route 66 Raceway," said the 41-year-old Bazemore, who has won 16 events so far and is seeking his first Funny Car championship. "It's probably the track where we've had the most success ever, having won the inaugural race there back in 1998, and twice more since then, and we're coming in this year on a roll. But you can't take anything for granted. What we did in Atlanta a couple of days ago is a couple of days ago, it's in the past."

Following two first-round losses and two second-round exits in the first five races of 2004, the Matco Tools team, led by crew chief Lee Beard, is buoyed by the recent turn-around of performance after finding a mechanical problem that had plagued the team from the start.

"We'll be rolling into Chicago with a good racecar, a good tune-up and the confidence in our own ability to get the job done," said Bazemore.

The NHRA Route 66 Nationals is the second of six events in seven weeks, a schedule which can take its toll on any team.

"I think it's just going to take everyone doing their job exceptionally well," said Bazemore, who is just 51 points out of first place, "and if we do that and we make the right decisions on the Matco Tools Dodge, and have a little racing luck going our way, the next five races should be pretty good for us.

"I'm kind of excited for the rest of the year. At the same time, we're realists and we know it takes hard work on behalf of the entire Matco Tools Dodge team. We could lose this combination just as quickly as we have it, but I don't see that happening.

"We've been in three finals in the last four races, which is pretty darned stout. The Matco Tools Dodge team was on top of its game and the driver has been on top of his game too and when you have that combination it's hard to beat."

Crew chief Lee Beard collected his 49th national-event victory as a crew chief when Bazemore won in Atlanta. He'll be aiming to round at that number to 50 on Sunday.