Baytown: Whit Bazemore eliminations summary

Bazemore mkes it to semis in Houston.

HOUSTON (April 13, 2003) -- Despite the weather conditions today -- hot -- and the track conditions -- bumpy -- Whit Bazemore, in the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus R/T, advanced to the semifinals. And he did it without ever breaking the five-second mark. It seemed not to matter, as all of his opponents had the same problem.

He first defeated his teammate Gary Scelzi with a 5.098/283.85 to Scelzi's 5.596/174.73. Then, in the second round, he sent Cruz Pedregon packing with a 5.057/297.02 versus Pedregon's 5.148/279.85. In the semifinal round, with lane choice, he met the man he lost to in the final round in Las Vegas last week, Tony Pedregon. It was a close race, but it was Pedregon taking the win light by a 49-foot margin of victory over Bazemore. Bazemore's numbers: 5.088/289.07; Pedregon;s: 5.019/304.39.

"We had a little luck," said Bazemore. "No one was running well in Funny Car today, really. The track is pretty bumpy and when the sun comes out it heats the surface and the bumps make it a lot harder to keep the cars hooked up.

"We saw a lot of guys smoke the tires today and it was kind of the case of who smokes them the least. That wasn't us in the third round. But we're pumped up. We have a great Matco Tools Dodge team. We have a good running car; we're not too unsatisfied."

Bazemore remains in third place in the POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings, with 381 points, just one round behind Gary Densham in second place.

-dsr-