NHRA
Etchells Racing Atlanta Wrap-up
Whit Bazemore's weekend in Atlanta was far from a quiet homecoming, as he and the Kendall Motor Oil/Matco Tools Camaro Z28 Racing Team found themselves battling to stay in the fray at today's final eliminations of the Advance Auto Parts NHRA ...
Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM
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Whit Bazemore's weekend in Atlanta was far from a quiet homecoming, as he and the Kendall Motor Oil/Matco Tools Camaro Z28 Racing Team found themselves battling to stay in the fray at today's final eliminations of the Advance Auto Parts NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Georgia. After qualifying 4th, Bazemore opened his pursuit of victory by defeating a game Scotty Cannon. Unfortunately, Bazemore had to cede lane choice for the second round to his opponent Todd Paton. Once again, Bazemore did his job and left on his opponent. However, despite his best efforts to hold on and advance, a mechanical malfunction prevented him from reaching the finish line first.
"This was a tough weekend. We were backed into a corner by some unforeseen mechanical failures, which really tied Tim Richards' hands as far as tuning the car was concerned. We started out with some problems on Friday, but then the Kendall/Matco Camaro team got it together to bounce back on Saturday with a couple of strong runs. Then today, we won a close race and lost a close race. In the second round, we had a major part let us down, and when that happens you're going to lose. Paton's team ran fairly well and was able to take advantage of our misfortune. I'm not making any excuses, but if the part hadn't failed, the outcome might have been different.
"In that second round, I didn't see him (Paton) until about 200 feet, and then I just saw a little bit of red out of the side window. It seemed to be sitting still, not gaining or losing ground to us. I keep waiting for our car to make a move from the middle of the track on like it normally does, but it never did. Near then end, I hoped they'd develop a problem, but when we got to the finish line and I knew we were done.
"Despite today's results, we still feel like we made some progress here this weekend. I know how good this Etchells Racing team is, and am positive it's only a matter of time before we're winning a lot of rounds again. This is a hard business, but we're going to keep pounding away. We may be in a slump right now, but we see daylight at the end of the tunnel."
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