NHRA

Sonoma: Whit Bazemore Friday summary

Bazemore qualifies No. 6 on Friday in Sonoma SONOMA, Calif. (July 30, 2004) - Following two qualifying sessions today for the Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals, Whit Bazemore is No. 6 in the Funny Car field with the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge, based ...

Published: Jul 31, 2004, 6:18 PM

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Bazemore qualifies No. 6 on Friday in Sonoma

SONOMA, Calif. (July 30, 2004) - Following two qualifying sessions today for the Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals, Whit Bazemore is No. 6 in the Funny Car field with the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge, based on the 4.908-second elapsed time at 315.12 mph he set in today's second round.

Because he posted a non-qualifying pass of 9.704/86.19 in the first session, he was relegated to the second pair to qualify in the second round. The track conditions were cool and Bazemore's pass was good for No. 1 at the time. As the track conditions steadily improved, Bazemore was first bumped by teammate Gary Scelzi for No. 1, then by Tony Pedregon, and eventually John Force, ending up No. 6.

"Where you run in the night session is critical and because of our struggles during the first run we were second pair," said Bazemore, the '99 winner here and three-time No. 1 qualifier at Infineon Raceway. "That was really a disadvantage because, No. 1, the track gets better as the session progresses, and No. 2, you're kind of a guinea pig for the track.

"The Matco Tools team guys read the track perfectly. It was just critical for us to go down the race track tonight and get qualified. They read it perfectly. We were low at that time and it lasted until the last three or four pair of the session. They did a great job and the team is working perfectly.

"Tomorrow we'll work on our race-day tune-up. We're feeling good."

Two more qualifying rounds are scheduled for Saturday.

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