NHRA
Reading: Etchells Racing fail to qualify
Twice during the 2000 NHRA Winston Drag Racing season, Whit Bazemore entered the final qualifying session outside the top sixteen positions necessary to qualify for final eliminations. In each instance, not only was he able to make a run ...
Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Twice during the 2000 NHRA Winston Drag Racing season, Whit Bazemore entered the final qualifying session outside the top sixteen positions necessary to qualify for final eliminations. In each instance, not only was he able to make a run quick enough to place the Kendall Motor Oil/Matco Tools Camaro Z28 in the field, but he followed those dramatic performances with his two best showings of the season, winning in Denver and reaching the final round at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
On Saturday afternoon at Maple Grove Raceway, Bazemore once again found himself in this precarious position, having struggled to complete a full-power pass on each of his first three attempts. Running in the right lane, Bazemore launched hard and powered down the track. The early performance numbers showed that Bazemore was on a strong run. However, just as it Bazemore would once again use his final attempt to claim a spot on Sunday's eliminations ladder, his car suddenly slowed, the victim of a freak mechanical failure. Despite posting his best elapsed time of the weekend, his 5.631-second attempt was not enough to prevent Bazemore from having to watch the remainder of the competition from the sidelines.
This marks the first time in nearly three years that Bazemore has not qualified, dating back to the 1997 Pennzoil Nationals in Memphis, Tennessee, a string of 64 races.
"The Kendall/Matco was definitely on a good run - we estimate it would have been a high 4.80 or low 4.90. Unfortunately, about 100 feet before half-track, it appears that it simply broke the aluminum studs that hold the blower onto the manifold. This caused us to lose boost and then the blower belt came off. Ironically, I don't think the motor blew up.
"It's just unbelievably bad luck on our part. However, we've been in this situation a few times lately, and as Chuck says (team owner Etchells), when you're not in going into the last session, you're playing with fire, and sooner or later something out of the ordinary is going to burn you. That's precisely what happened to us this weekend.
"We keep fighting this car. It has thrown Terry (crew chief Manzer) a big curve. It either sets a new track record (as it did in Denver and Seattle), or it doesn't get down the track at all. We have got to find the middle ground, because it's hard to be successful when the car is all over the map like this one is."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Reading: Dixon's personal track ET sees him No. 7
Next article Reading: Larry Dixon still #3 after Reading event
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Whit Bazemore
Tommy Johnson Jr. aiming for big win in Las Vegas for Make-A-Wish
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Tommy Johnson Jr. aiming for big win in Las Vegas for Make-A-Wish
Ron Capps looks to extend final round streak to five
NHRA
NHRA
Ron Capps looks to extend final round streak to five
Ford Looks For 200th NHRA Funny Car Win At Joliet
NHRA
NHRA
Ford Looks For 200th NHRA Funny Car Win At Joliet
Latest news
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
8 min
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 23 min
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
Daniel Suarez confirms Spire return for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
28 min
Daniel Suarez confirms Spire return for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
3 h
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe