Tucson Dragway

BAYTOWN, Texas (March 30, 2007) – Whit Bazemore continued his smooth transition from Funny Car driver to Top Fuel racer Friday at Houston Raceway Park. The 20-time NHRA winner drove his Matco Tools dragster to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position with a stout 4.514-second elapsed time to pace the 16-car field.
The Matco Tools rail shook the tires on its first run of the weekend positioning Bazemore in the No. 17 spot. With the potential for rain looming on Saturday, champion tuner Lee Beard made the right call for Friday’s second qualifying effort. The first dragster to battle the Houston Raceway Park track on Friday evening, Bazemore blistered the quarter mile in 4.514 seconds at 326.87 mph to claim the provisional pole. It was the quickest and fastest run of the opening day of action at the Houston race.
“We’re glad to get the pole tonight because it may rain tomorrow,” Bazemore said. “That’s a good result for the team. We come here with different emotions and you have to answer them. And we have to answer them by getting in the car. My guys are working hard, we have a great team.
“I’m really surprised it held. We struggled on the first run and that 4.51 showed the track was there. It would have taken more. I expected (Rod) Fuller to run better. This is big to have both cars in the top three. This is David’s (Powers) home track and Hot Rod has a new sponsor this race, so this is good.”
 
Top Fuel qualifying resumes with sessions scheduled for Noon and 3 p.m. (CT) at the ultra- quick Houston-area track. ESPN2 will televise two hours of qualifying highlights from the 20th annual O’Reilly Spring Nationals at 7 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, March 31.
Q1 11.172 ET, 74.81 MPH No. 17
Q2 4.514 ET, 326.87 MPH No. 1