NHRA
Seattle: Whit Bazemore preview
BAZEMORE BACK IN HUNT KENT, Wash. (July 22, 2005) - Whit Bazemore is back in the hunt for the POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car championship, having qualified No. 2 at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals in Denver last week and twice breaking the ...
Published: Jul 25, 2005, 2:29 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
BAZEMORE BACK IN HUNT
KENT, Wash. (July 22, 2005) - Whit Bazemore is back in the hunt for the POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car championship, having qualified No. 2 at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals in Denver last week and twice breaking the track ET record at Bandimere Speedway that he owned coming into that race.
Event winner Robert Hight eventually took the track record away from Bazemore, but the two-time U.S. Nationals champion was encouraged by the performance of the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car, tuned now by Dan Olson and Todd Okuhara, and is ready to attack this weekend's CARQUEST Auto Parts Nationals at Pacific Raceways, the second round of the three-race Western Swing.
Bazemore has a strong record at this Northwest track. He's won here twice (1997, 2001), was runner-up twice (1999 and 2003), and was No. 1 qualifier in 2000.
"We have done well here in the past, but this year we're coming basically with a new team," he said. "So, it's a challenge, as always, and we're grateful that they re-paved this track last year, which seemed to help it quite a bit.
"Our priority is to be able to get the Matco Tools Dodge to go down the track without smoking the tires right now, because we're making a lot of power, and that seems to be what cost us the most in the last couple of races, is smoking the tires.
"The goal is to go down the track in qualifying, get a good handle on it, go into race day and take it as it comes."
Bazemore started out strong in the 2005 season, winning two races and leading the Funny Car points through three events. He has been in a slump since the sixth race of the year and is gradually getting back into the hunt with his new crew chiefs Olson and Okuhara on board. He's seventh in points, 204 behind first place, and definitely in the mix. "As far as the championship goes, we've come back before from a 300 or 400-points deficit in the past (to vie for the crown). But, we have to get down the track consistently and if we do that we'll have a car that's going to win a lot of rounds.
"You have to assess where you are five, six or seven races to go (in the season) and just make progress each race."
-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 German GP: Minardi Friday practice notes
Next article Standings as of 2005-07-21
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Robert Hight
John Force Racing confirms its return to action
NHRA
NHRA
John Force Racing confirms its return to action
John Force Racing pauses racing activities until 2021
NHRA
NHRA
John Force Racing pauses racing activities until 2021
Hight, Torrence are champions, Kalitta, Beckman take Pomona wins
NHRA
NHRA
Pomona II
Hight, Torrence are champions, Kalitta, Beckman take Pomona wins
Latest news
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
10 min
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Shane van Gisbergen gets new crew chief for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
18 min
Shane van Gisbergen gets new crew chief for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
Conquest Racing locks in 2027 IMSA GTD lineup with Manny Franco full-time return
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 37 min
Conquest Racing locks in 2027 IMSA GTD lineup with Manny Franco full-time return
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