Rat
Nitro Member
- Joined
- May 14, 2007
- Messages
- 1,885
- Age
- 40
- Location
- Bay Shore, NY
Whit Bazemore; love him or hate him, the controversial drive spoke passionate truth and behind the wheel you could not find a better driver. In Funny Car he was always a contender for any round and event win, winning 20 races and 289 round wins out of 486; a nice 59.7%. After 14 top ten finishes, he switched to Top-Fuel with good results winning 17 rounds, and going to 1 Final, and finishing in the top ten; his 15th overall and 14th consecutive. Whit has stayed active in the sport as he recently completed a stint as a pit reporter and a weekly radio reporter on the NHRA. He still has many fans that would love to see him race again, something he has never ruled out.
PK: In 2007 you finished eighth in the points in the countdown. Under the old points system you would have actually finished 11th, only because you did not run the last 2 events. What are your overall feelings on the countdown and is it a good system for the NHRA?
WB: Overall, I feel the countdown has livened up the show a little bit, which is a good thing. But it doesn't necessarily reward the best team over the entire season, which is what a championship truly is, so I disagree with it. It would have been nice to have had it a few times earlier in my career though!
PK: I am not a fan of good teams being told the best they can finish is 11th. Since, the NHRA resets the points at the start of the countdown to make the points race tighter, I feel that the NHRA should qualify everyone for the countdown who has run every countdown qualifying race. It would eliminate anyone getting locked out of a top ten and a top ten finish can still be a goal for everyone. Would you modify the system for teams that peak at the wrong time and get locked out of the all-important top ten when they may perform better than a locked in top ten finisher?
WB: I would do away with the countdown completely and liven up the show in different ways. And, yes, I do think the show needs some help!
PK: What does it take to be a successful driver in Top-Fuel and Funny Car?
WB: These days, really only money and the ability to not lose concentration at critical moments, which is not all that hard.
PK: What was your favorite class?
WB: Funny Car.
PK: How big of a learning curve was it as a driver when you made the switch?
WB: The racing in Top-Fuel was great and very challenging as the level of competition was very high, but actually driving the car was easy. I found it boring compared to the Funny Car. It took two runs in testing to learn not to over steer it, which is the biggest difference between the two.
PK: What is your favorite race track?
WB: Favorite track would have to Denver and Bristol. My favorite race would be Indy.
PK: You are one of the best for having a really great light at any time. How do you stay so focused and what do you attribute to being the most important factor?
WB: The biggest thing is being motivated to win at all costs and to hate losing.
PK: Do you have any aspirations to return, or be a crew chief, or a team owner in any class?
WB: I would want to return as a driver for a top funded team that wants to win at all costs. But I don't foresee that happening, as even the top teams are budget crunched and take on pay or sponsored drivers, which is totally understandable.
PK: In what class would you return in?
WB: Funny Car or Top-Fuel.
PK: What is your private ride and does your career as a driver influence any of your daily driving habits?
WB: I drive slowly these days. I have an Audi wagon and a Honda van. The family thing, you know. My business has a big 15 passenger Ford van. I'm really into vans these days!
PK: What win and single run mean more to you than all the others?
WB: 2001, Indy when one side of the wing came off at night. We set both ends of the National record when it would have been easy to just crash the thing. Winning Indy twice was huge for me and are my best memories of racing.
PK: The price to race in the sport's top class keeps rising and has almost kept the independent team out of racing completely. What do you see for the reason the costs have skyrocketed and what would you do to put a cap on or decrease the costs making it friendlier to small budget teams?
WB: The answer is not to necessarily make it easier for small teams to compete, but to raise the total value of the sport, so that more companies want to participate by backing drivers and/or teams. The sport has not grown in years. In '97, we won $75k at Indy, which was not bad. I think it still pays about the same 15 years later! The sport has to give everyone value, from the teams to the sponsoring companies.
If it costs $3mil to run a competitive car, but the ROI (return on investment) for a sponsor is only $2mil, then there is a problem. It is one reason team owners would rather have a guy who might get beat on holeshots 5 or 6 times a year, but who they do not have to pay, than someone who is better, but will not race for free. And right now, the value of the sport is not where it should be. It is why Amato, Bernstein, Prudhomme, etc., are not fielding teams. If they could field a team, and make a good profit, do you think they would still be racing? My bet is yes.
PK: Do you feel that the sport is on a good path for the future ahead?
WB: No. Like I said, there needs to be growth, and it is pretty stale at the moment.
PK: What are your feelings on the sport’s decision to move to 1000 feet?
WB: Personally, I do not like it.
PK: If the sport was to return to 1320 feet, what steps would you take in slowing these cars down to make sure that a quarter mile return was a safe return?
WB: One, it will never happen, but the sport would be way better off with less HP, less downforce and a longer track. If you could smoke the tires, like in the old days, and get the car to recover and still win, then there would still be a place in the sport for drivers who have that ability. Not everyone does; in fact, I would say that today, very few of them do. It would put the driver into the equation more than they are now, it would be better all the way around. When I raced I was dead set against slowing the cars down, but now I see the situation differently.
PK: The move to 1000 feet turned back the clock on the incremental performance in Top-Fuel for a short time, but the E.T. record in 1000 feet is the quickest a dragster has been to 1000 feet in the history of the sport. Spencer Massey ran a 3.728 and could add up to being the first ever 4.3 second run. Saying that we will eventually hit 3.6 and 335 MPH in 1000 feet, is there any need for the NHRA to be concerned?
WB: The nature of the sport is that the cars will always go quicker and faster, unless new rules are implemented to keep that from happening. So if they are concerned, all they need to do is slow them down. But, performance has not increased all that much over the past ten or eleven years. We ran a FC sub 4 second 1,000 foot time way back in 2001! So, you could say the cars have not progressed much at all in that time.
PK: The move to 1000 feet gave the sport an extra 320 foot window to slow down. If we stay the course with 1000 feet could the time ever come where the increase in performance for these cars ends up that they can begin to greatly diminish the extra 320 feet, thus drivers facing the same possibility of danger that they faced when it was 1320 feet?
WB: Look, racing is always going to be dangerous. People race and get killed. It will never be 100% safe, and it is frustrating when a car goes off the end of the track at high speed and then the track and the NHRA get sued. Regarding E-town, if a car has carbon brakes and is not on fire, then the driver must be good enough to get it stopped without the parachutes. If not, is it the tracks fault? I don't think so.
Now, not all tracks are as safe as they can be. Poles, scoreboards, etc. are still an issue at some places. Those concerns should be dealt with by the professional drivers, as they are the ones with the most to lose.
PK: Can you provide an example of what a driver would roughly make in a season?
WB: I can only tell you what I made, which I think was decent by drag racing standards. But compared to other forms of racing, it is way behind. This is because of lots of reasons, not least of which is that a good driver must be judged by more than reaction time. But these days, that is about all there is!
PK: What have you been doing since stepping away from driving?
WB: I recently started a high end cycling tour business, so I have been doing a lot of work related to that, including racing my bike.
PK: In 2007 you finished eighth in the points in the countdown. Under the old points system you would have actually finished 11th, only because you did not run the last 2 events. What are your overall feelings on the countdown and is it a good system for the NHRA?
WB: Overall, I feel the countdown has livened up the show a little bit, which is a good thing. But it doesn't necessarily reward the best team over the entire season, which is what a championship truly is, so I disagree with it. It would have been nice to have had it a few times earlier in my career though!
PK: I am not a fan of good teams being told the best they can finish is 11th. Since, the NHRA resets the points at the start of the countdown to make the points race tighter, I feel that the NHRA should qualify everyone for the countdown who has run every countdown qualifying race. It would eliminate anyone getting locked out of a top ten and a top ten finish can still be a goal for everyone. Would you modify the system for teams that peak at the wrong time and get locked out of the all-important top ten when they may perform better than a locked in top ten finisher?
WB: I would do away with the countdown completely and liven up the show in different ways. And, yes, I do think the show needs some help!
PK: What does it take to be a successful driver in Top-Fuel and Funny Car?
WB: These days, really only money and the ability to not lose concentration at critical moments, which is not all that hard.
PK: What was your favorite class?
WB: Funny Car.
PK: How big of a learning curve was it as a driver when you made the switch?
WB: The racing in Top-Fuel was great and very challenging as the level of competition was very high, but actually driving the car was easy. I found it boring compared to the Funny Car. It took two runs in testing to learn not to over steer it, which is the biggest difference between the two.
PK: What is your favorite race track?
WB: Favorite track would have to Denver and Bristol. My favorite race would be Indy.
PK: You are one of the best for having a really great light at any time. How do you stay so focused and what do you attribute to being the most important factor?
WB: The biggest thing is being motivated to win at all costs and to hate losing.
PK: Do you have any aspirations to return, or be a crew chief, or a team owner in any class?
WB: I would want to return as a driver for a top funded team that wants to win at all costs. But I don't foresee that happening, as even the top teams are budget crunched and take on pay or sponsored drivers, which is totally understandable.
PK: In what class would you return in?
WB: Funny Car or Top-Fuel.
PK: What is your private ride and does your career as a driver influence any of your daily driving habits?
WB: I drive slowly these days. I have an Audi wagon and a Honda van. The family thing, you know. My business has a big 15 passenger Ford van. I'm really into vans these days!
PK: What win and single run mean more to you than all the others?
WB: 2001, Indy when one side of the wing came off at night. We set both ends of the National record when it would have been easy to just crash the thing. Winning Indy twice was huge for me and are my best memories of racing.
PK: The price to race in the sport's top class keeps rising and has almost kept the independent team out of racing completely. What do you see for the reason the costs have skyrocketed and what would you do to put a cap on or decrease the costs making it friendlier to small budget teams?
WB: The answer is not to necessarily make it easier for small teams to compete, but to raise the total value of the sport, so that more companies want to participate by backing drivers and/or teams. The sport has not grown in years. In '97, we won $75k at Indy, which was not bad. I think it still pays about the same 15 years later! The sport has to give everyone value, from the teams to the sponsoring companies.
If it costs $3mil to run a competitive car, but the ROI (return on investment) for a sponsor is only $2mil, then there is a problem. It is one reason team owners would rather have a guy who might get beat on holeshots 5 or 6 times a year, but who they do not have to pay, than someone who is better, but will not race for free. And right now, the value of the sport is not where it should be. It is why Amato, Bernstein, Prudhomme, etc., are not fielding teams. If they could field a team, and make a good profit, do you think they would still be racing? My bet is yes.
PK: Do you feel that the sport is on a good path for the future ahead?
WB: No. Like I said, there needs to be growth, and it is pretty stale at the moment.
PK: What are your feelings on the sport’s decision to move to 1000 feet?
WB: Personally, I do not like it.
PK: If the sport was to return to 1320 feet, what steps would you take in slowing these cars down to make sure that a quarter mile return was a safe return?
WB: One, it will never happen, but the sport would be way better off with less HP, less downforce and a longer track. If you could smoke the tires, like in the old days, and get the car to recover and still win, then there would still be a place in the sport for drivers who have that ability. Not everyone does; in fact, I would say that today, very few of them do. It would put the driver into the equation more than they are now, it would be better all the way around. When I raced I was dead set against slowing the cars down, but now I see the situation differently.
PK: The move to 1000 feet turned back the clock on the incremental performance in Top-Fuel for a short time, but the E.T. record in 1000 feet is the quickest a dragster has been to 1000 feet in the history of the sport. Spencer Massey ran a 3.728 and could add up to being the first ever 4.3 second run. Saying that we will eventually hit 3.6 and 335 MPH in 1000 feet, is there any need for the NHRA to be concerned?
WB: The nature of the sport is that the cars will always go quicker and faster, unless new rules are implemented to keep that from happening. So if they are concerned, all they need to do is slow them down. But, performance has not increased all that much over the past ten or eleven years. We ran a FC sub 4 second 1,000 foot time way back in 2001! So, you could say the cars have not progressed much at all in that time.
PK: The move to 1000 feet gave the sport an extra 320 foot window to slow down. If we stay the course with 1000 feet could the time ever come where the increase in performance for these cars ends up that they can begin to greatly diminish the extra 320 feet, thus drivers facing the same possibility of danger that they faced when it was 1320 feet?
WB: Look, racing is always going to be dangerous. People race and get killed. It will never be 100% safe, and it is frustrating when a car goes off the end of the track at high speed and then the track and the NHRA get sued. Regarding E-town, if a car has carbon brakes and is not on fire, then the driver must be good enough to get it stopped without the parachutes. If not, is it the tracks fault? I don't think so.
Now, not all tracks are as safe as they can be. Poles, scoreboards, etc. are still an issue at some places. Those concerns should be dealt with by the professional drivers, as they are the ones with the most to lose.
PK: Can you provide an example of what a driver would roughly make in a season?
WB: I can only tell you what I made, which I think was decent by drag racing standards. But compared to other forms of racing, it is way behind. This is because of lots of reasons, not least of which is that a good driver must be judged by more than reaction time. But these days, that is about all there is!
PK: What have you been doing since stepping away from driving?
WB: I recently started a high end cycling tour business, so I have been doing a lot of work related to that, including racing my bike.
