Seattle: Whit Bazemore preview

Whit Bazemore

"Ironically enough, Seattle is now probably our home track with us living in Eugene (Ore.). The fans are hardcore and we've had good success there. It's a really nice setting and probably our most rural track on the circuit. We always seem to battle the surface, but it has the potential to be one of the quickest tracks on the tour. A lot of that will depend on the weather, but we like racing there."

Bazemore Seattle Notebook

Last weekend at the Denver race, Bazemore qualified ninth at 4.662-seconds. He advanced to his first career Top Fuel final round where he posted a runner-up finish to teammate Rod Fuller in the first all-David Powers Motorsports final round. He won his 350th career round last weekend in a semifinal victory over Tony Schumacher.

By advancing to the final round at Denver, Bazemore jumped to seventh place in the POWERade standings. He is tied with David Grubnic with 641 points and sits just seven points from sixth place.

Last July, Bazemore raced to his 20th career Funny car victory by defeating then teammate Ron Capps in the final round at Pacific Raceways 5.036 to 5.108. Bazemore qualified his Matco Tools Funny Car 12th with a run of 4.953 seconds at 309.13 mph.

Bazemore has three career wins at Pacific Raceways (1997, 2001, '06). It is one of six tracks where he has earned multiple victories. He has won races at 12 current NHRA tracks.

Bazemore has an average starting spot of 8.37 at Pacific Raceways in 16 career starts at the Kent track. His average starting spot in 2007 is 7.23.

Baze Banters About Seattle...

Seattle: "Fish"

Pacific Raceways: "Traffic"

Favorite local restaurant: "Fresh salmon cooked by my wife, Michelle, in my motor home"

Favorite Pacific Raceways racing memory: "Winning there last year. Beating (Ron) Capps in the final round was fun"

Favorite Seattle-area cycling route: "Tiger Mountain"

-credit: dpm