Reading Friday Chevrolet Report

CHEVROLET NOTES AND QUOTES PIONEER KEYSTONE NATIONALS MAPLE GROVE RACEWAY NHRA WINSTON DRAG RACING SERIES FRIDAY, SEPT. 18, 1998

FUNNY CAR -- CAMARO Z28

WHIT BAZEMORE, TEAM WINSTON CAMARO Z28, is No. 6 qualifier, 5.063/282.30.

"We're pretty happy with the 5.06. In the first run today we had to pedal it and then we had some problems down track, so we were kind of frustrated after that. The first run showed us some problems that we knew we had, but we had to make some runs to figure it out. We made some big changes after that run. The Camaro responded with the .06, but it still was not a perfect run. The early numbers indicated that we might run a 4.97. If we could have kept the car hooked up I feel we could have run pretty good." ON THE EXTENDED CONCRETE PAD: "The early part of the track is real good for this Camaro. We just need to work a little bit on trying to get it hooked up at the finish line. A lot of the cars are having the same problems, so I don't know if we can solve the tire spin. But we will attack that next. The track has new pavement. It's still kind of marginal down track for the Funny Cars, but the new concrete is outstanding, it's real good."

TEAM PENSKE MEMBERS GUESTS OF BAZEMORE RACING (note courtesy of Bazemore Racing)

Bazemore Racing welcomes their friends from the Penske Racing C.A.R.T. team, which is based here in Reading.

"Many of the guys at Team Penske are big drag racing fans and they always go out of their way to host our team at their shop every year," said Whit Bazemore, driver of the Team Winston Camaro Z28 Funny Car. "We are excited to be able to host them here at Maple Grove."

Team Penske General Manager Chuck Sprague and Team Manager Jim Wurtz are on hand this evening, along with approximately 18 other Team Penske members, many from the engine building shop.

Both teams rely on Mobil 1 synthetic oil, which is how the relationship was formed.

RON CAPPS, COPENHAGEN CAMARO Z28, is No. 4 qualifier after tonight's session, 5.020/268.73. Ron was No. 1 in the first session.

"We ran real good the first session. We just wanted to go out and get qualified really well in that session, then we tried a couple of things in the second. If we could have kept the same setup the Camaro would have run a .90 or .95 tonight, without a doubt. We felt we needed to try some new things. It didn't work, so we will go back to our race-day setup tomorrow and try to dial in the Camaro for Sunday." ON THE TRACK CHANGES: "It's got a new concrete pad, 550 feet, it used to be 120 feet. It's going to get better. It's really green, it doesn't have a whole lot of rubber built up on it. It will get better and better. I'm just hoping for a nice sunny day on Sunday." ON COMING DOWN AFTER LEADING IN POINTS: "I'm a better person now as far as going through all the media hype. You can take the best person in th world and throw him into that situation, and you don't know what to do until you have been through it. The way I look at it is, what didn't kill me only made me stronger. I learned a lot. This Copenhagen Camaro team is without a doubt a world championship team. These guys have the look in their eyes, they want to be the world champion and I'm hungry for it and we're going to do it. We're going to give them a run for their money. Whatever happens, whether we're No. 1 or 2 at the end of the year, we gave it our all."

CHUCK ETCHELLS, KENDALL/MA MA ROSA'S PIZZA/SUPERWINCH CAMARO Z28, is No. 7 qualifier, 5.063/282.30.

PRO STOCK -- CAMARO Z28

KURT JOHNSON, AC DELCO CAMARO, is No. 2 qualifier, 6.960//197.67.

LARRY MORGAN, RAYBESTOS CAMARO Z28, who lit up the night with the headlights on his Camaro once again, is No. 8 qualifier, 6.992/196.24.

TOM HAMMONDS, WINNEBAGO/MATCO TOOLS/KENDALL CAMARO Z28, did not qualify.