Pomona: Whit Bazemore rain postponement notes

Pomona NHRA Season Opener Postponed Due To Rain; Bazemore No. 12 in Field

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 21, 2004) - Nagging rain sprinkles and intermittent showers disrupted the continuation of pro qualifying for the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season-opener yesterday and today after the completion of one qualifying round on Thursday. With more rain forecast for Sunday, NHRA postponed the season-opening K&N Filters Winternationals to next Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 27-29).

One qualifying round will be held on Friday, two on Saturday, with final eliminations scheduled for Sunday.

Whit Bazemore, driver of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Funny Car, painted in new Matco Tools 25th anniversary commemorative colors, made it into the field in No. 12 on Thursday with a tire-smoking 5.448/229.43 pass. With the threat of rain, Bazemore and crew chief Lee Beard put a premium on that first run.

"It's good. You always need your first run," said Bazemore, runner-up in the 2003 NHRA Funny Car championship. "We'll have to see what the weather conditions and the track conditions are when we come back to see if that first pass means anything or not. But the fact is it's really good for our team that we're going to have three runs next week, because we're not quite where we want to be yet with this tune-up and this engine combination. Lee Beard and the team have made a huge commitment over the winter; they've put in the hours, we've put in the hours testing and it's a situation where you have to work and keep trying to make progress. And that's where we are. It will all work out for the best."

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