Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Funny Car racer Bazemore looks forward to LVMS test

Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004 | 9:26 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

At Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Thursday, Jan. 29 -- Noon to 5 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 30 -- 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 31 -- 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 1 -- 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Drivers scheduled to attend: Tony Pedregon, Gary Scelzi, Whit Bazemore, John Force, Eric Medlen, Ron Capps, Tommy Johnson Jr., Jerry Toliver, Gary Densham, Jim Head, K.C. Spurlock, Arley Langlo, Ashley Force, Duane Shields.

The last time Whit Bazemore made a pass down The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it was the final round of Funny Car eliminations during the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals last October.

He lost the race to Tony Pedregon, who clinched the 2003 NHRA Funny Car championship with the victory.

While not Bazemore's most pleasant memory of Las Vegas, to be sure, the veteran driver said he is looking forward to returning to Las Vegas next week to test his Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car during the track's four-day NHRA professional test session.

The third annual "Drag Racing Blast-Off" runs Feb. 29-Feb. 1 at The Strip.

"It's always a great to be back at a racetrack and great to get back in the car," Bazemore said as he prepared for the test. "I'm really looking forward to Vegas and that first test session. Hopefully, the weather cooperates out there and it's warm for us to go out and run and get some meaningful results.

"It's fun to try new things and it's important to try new components and get them ironed out and see where we stand relative to everyone else."

Bazemore is returning for his fourth season with Don Schumacher Racing's Funny Car team and said he is looking forward to being in the mix for the 2004 Funny Car championship.

"We learned a lot last year and the key to having a good season will be to not only perform consistently well all season but to also take advantage of all the opportunities that our opponents give us -- and that's something that we didn't always do last year," Bazemore said.

"We had a great year and our team performed very well, but there were times last year when our opponents tried to give us something and we didn't take it."

Bazemore finished the 2003 season with three victories in eight final-round appearances. Two of his final-round losses were to Pedregon in the spring and fall races at The Strip at LVMS.

Following the four-day session in Las Vegas, tests have been set up at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz. (Feb. 7-8) and Southwestern International Raceway in Tucson (Feb. 13-15).

Track champions in the Jerry's Nugget Championship Drag Racing Series are: Chris Naffziger (Super Pro); Alfred Sweeting (Pro); Antonio Hite (Outlaw Eliminator); Bill Dudley (Sport Compact); Jason Whitenack (Motorcycle); and Nick Ariotti (Street).

Short Line Express Markets NHRA Junior Dragster Series champions are Tristan Craig (Thunder Division) and Justin Lamb (Lightning Division).