NHRA
Seattle: Whit Bazemore Friday summary
Bazemore drives to No. 5 on Friday in Seattle KENT, Wash. (July 23, 2004) - Whit Bazemore, one of the more outspoken NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series competitors against the track conditions here on the dragstrip at Pacific Raceways since he first ...
Published: Jul 25, 2004, 4:38 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Bazemore drives to No. 5 on Friday in Seattle
KENT, Wash. (July 23, 2004) - Whit Bazemore, one of the more outspoken NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series competitors against the track conditions here on the dragstrip at Pacific Raceways since he first won here in 1997, qualified No. 5 today for the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals and lauded the resurfacing work the track has recently completed.
"The race track is good," he said after clocking a 5.048-second elapsed time at 296.24 mph in the second qualifying session today in extremely hot conditions. "They did a good job with it. It feels very smooth."
The track conditions aside, every pro team came to this event with new rules with which to contend, including an 85 percent nitromethane mixture, down from 90 percent, a new Goodyear tire, and newly-mandated tire pressures. "There are so many different variables right now," he commented, "with the new tire and the excessive heat that we have here (mid-90s). It's a learning process. It's very tough for the crew chiefs and the teams to back these cars down enough to go down a track like this. They've done a good job.
"We went out in the final session and we ran 5.04. That was three tenths of a second quicker than we ran in the first round (5.336/261.62), which was huge. I don't think we'll find three more tenths tomorrow, but it's definitely a possibility that we could find a tenth or a tenth and a half, depending on the conditions. Lee (Beard, crew chief) and the Matco Tools team are still finding their way with this new tune-up. At this point, it is somewhat of a crapshoot.
"Everybody coming in here was faced with the same sort of challenge and that is how to take this new tire that's been mandated and get it to hook up," continued Bazemore, third in the Funny Car standings and two-time winner this season. "No one knew what it would do on this new race track in 90-degree weather, with the 85-percent rule. The power has been cut fairly drastically on the car.
"All the teams, including ours, have done a pretty good job of adapting the cars. The only bad thing, from my point of view, is that the cars are really slow. The premise of this sport has always been to go as fast as you can as quick as you can. Now with these rules changes we have stepped back quite a ways in time.
"For me personally, I like going fast. It's not a macho thing. It's just when you've been 333 mph it's kind of hard to get excited," said Bazemore, who posted the quickest and fastest Funny Car pass in NHRA history this year at Route 66 Raceway of 4.713 seconds at 333.25 mph.
"We left some on the table today. We'll fine tune the car. The bottom line is it's still 85 percent. It doesn't have the same thunder or the same feel. The car feels a lot different and it feels a lot slower. And the reason for that is because it is a lot slower."
Two more qualifying rounds are scheduled for Saturday.
-dsr-
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 Seattle: Gary Scelzi Friday summary
Next article Seattle: Tommy Johnson Jr Friday summary
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
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
1 h
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
2 h
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
2 h
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
Catching Larson in the NASCAR Chase has to start at track where 'I suck'
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
3 h
Catching Larson in the NASCAR Chase has to start at track where 'I suck'
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