BAZEMORE FINISHES 10TH FRIDAY AT MEMPHIS

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 14, 2007) – Whit Bazemore, the 2003 Funny Car winner at Memphis Motorsports Park, raced his Matco Tools dragster the provisional No. 10 qualifying position Friday evening at Memphis Motorsports Park to begin qualifying at the 20th annual O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals.

Entering the second race in the Countdown to the Championship ranked eighth in the POWERade points standings, the 20-time NHRA winner posted the 10th quickest pass of the day on Friday. The veteran racer powered his Matco-backed rail to a performance of 4.608 seconds at 320.13 mph Friday evening under the lights at the multipurpose racing facility. There are 17 cars vying for 16 starting slots on Sunday. Bazemore is a three-time finalist at the Memphis race, including his first career final round in 1992. He also earned consecutive poles in 2003-04.

“We are trying to rebound with our car and we were fairly happy that it went A to B,” Bazemore said. “If the cold front comes in like it’s supposed to, we’ll be in a position to better our time, but it was important for us to qualify after struggling at Reading (Pa.) and Indy. We’re happy that the car went A to B without shake at night, it’s a good thing. We’re fired up to come out and try to improve.”

“Low E.T. was a 4.565 and we ran 4.60, so we’re not that far off the leaders,” crew chief Lee Beard added. “We weren’t in a position to go after low E.T., we had to go down the track and we just backed it up a little too much."

Top Fuel qualifying resumes with sessions scheduled for 12:45 and 3:15 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15. ESPN2 will televise two hours of qualifying highlights beginning at Midnight (ET) on Sept. 16.

Q1 10.153 ET, 69.84 MPH No. 14
Q2 4.608 ET, 320.13 MPH No. 10