Whit Bazemore cracks on Fast Jack's pedal job (2 Viewers)

[BigDaddyB]

Saying what you will is OK but sounding like you are carrying a big chip on your shoulder isn't !
To Whit I say you are a great guy but you have a lot to learn about civility and you can catch a lot more flies with sugar than dirt !

I didn't care much for all of Matt Hagens brooding looks either ! He needs to learn to handle adversity like Larry Dixon and Ron Capps ! They are class acts all the way !

I do not know of any competitors who like losing. What is Matt suppose to do go up to Hight say good job kickin my _____. I bet the guy Kobe Bryant score 81 pts on wanted to say to Kobe good job in making me look absolutely useless. I bet Tom Brady was not keen on alot of pleasantries after losing to the Jets. Tiger Woods got beat at the U.S. Open by underdog, what did he do, shook his hand an got the hell out of dodge, was not a happy camper. My point is that the only thing people remember is the winner. Being second is just as bad as being last. They don't give awards for losing well.

 

[Baze]

These posts are amazing! Glad the 'ol mater has woken up a little.

In all seriousness, maybe I was a little hard on Beckman. But he can handle it. He also knows that was the driving job from hell. Trust me, I am sure what I said pales compared to what he heard elsewhere. (unless things are WAY different over there, which I doubt.) I've done as badly, worse in fact, and heard it all. I was fired several times a year it seems, and there are some people, including the boss himself, who actually thought I was a pretty decent driver some of the time. I'm sure Beckman will step up his game accordingly. Be great if they won Gainesville... and it is cool to see his fans being so vocal in support. Good job by you guys. My skin is thick, so keep on keepin' on!

Once, in 1986, at my very first National event in Bristol, I was told by Dale Armstrong "how it is." I was driving for Rich Fenwick... a TAFC. First run and all these people are up there to watch. Don't need to name names, but suddenly I was VERY nervous. My heros. So, my burnout RPMs where quiet high. Very high, in fact. Somehow, the blower didn't fall off. Yet. Then I was not very smooth staging. Then I was pretty late. Then I short shifted to 2nd which caused some pretty bad shake. We had bead locks which were wrong to begin with, but my great driving just made it worse. Much worse! It was terrible and I looked pretty stupid. Out of the groove, next to the wall, etc. Finally the blower DID fall off. We ended up a dnq, thanks in part to my greatness. Long story short, we were so good and well prepared, I had to go to Bernstein's and "borrow" a case of oil after that first run. Armstrong gave me a hard time about my driving. I must have looked hurt, maybe even ready to cry (bad enough going to a race with no oil, right, so I already felt like a total moron). That is when he told me that when you race, you put yourself out there for all to see. Everybody watches and everybody judges. Some people are really good and some aren't. Some start out less than good and get really good. (KB comes to mind here.) Others never improve. But everybody watches and, yes, some will tell the story. It isn't always a good one.

I had the luxury of learning out of the limelight... dnq-ing, hitting walls, all that good stuff. It took YEARS. Years of match racing, IHRA, NHRA. After the Gainesville fire of '91, I couldn't even hold my foot down to the finish line for months. Not runs, months. Not 'till May. Too scared. Newer FC drivers now don't have that luxury. Even though the cars are easier, the've got to learn in the limelight and the mistakes they make are very public.

As far as using RPM2Night to try to get a driving job, umm, no.
As far as wanting one, well, if a few different people called (AJ, Todd & Phil, Zippy and maybe a few others,) I would answer the phone. But I'm not going to races every weekend to beg. No. Not yet.
I ski, I ride, I hang with my wife, and I play with my kids. A lot. I am in the process of selling my show. If the day comes when I HAVE to race again, then I will. Simple.
Will my being an analyst (or critic?) on a young, new website keep me from having a sponsor? Um, No.
Maybe if I did a Mel Gibson or Chuck Sheen.
Do I have it in for Beckman? No.

So, enjoy John's site. It is cool to have. And as long as John invites me to participate and asks good questions, we'll have some good fun... and try not to bore too many of you.

Baze

 

[twostep]

Well, allow me to be the first to welcome you to the thread, Whit. Name's Carl. We've met, Dallas years back, but you wouldn't remember. You were too interested in a couple of cuties that were vying for your attention at the time. Since you're here, I'll pull up a chair and visit a bit.

You most likely caught a few members with their pants down, but oh well. Don Schumacher did the same thing three months ago, right after the Cory Mac brouhaha. My thoughts? I'll talk right to ya; no reason to be intimidated.

Let's get the RPM2Night interview out of the way first. I enjoyed it, and I appreciate John Kernan putting up these podcast interviews for all to enjoy. I hope he puts up a mess of 'em. I saw no revelations in your interview with him but none were expected. Just good old fashioned drag racing talk, from a racer who knows it as well as anyone out there. I'm rockin' right along with it....and then along comes Beckman....

And you may be completely right about his lousy pedaling and his .008 guesswork at the tree. But I'll be honest here - you said your skin was thick - people remember, and remember for a long, long time. Remember the surly remarks, the withering stares, the altercations with various people, flippin' the bird, roaring out of the pits showering everyone with gravel, the NHRA probation, snarling at and blaming everyone for problems that were mostly brought on yourself. "That's just Whit", some say, and I reckon it is. Personally it rolls off my back, because I think most of it was born out of frustration for a string of bad luck and a bunch of Top Fuel First Loser trophies. But not everyone is of that mindset....and when you flat slammed a universally liked racer - the same racer who wound up with your FC ride - the result is right here in these threads, and in a couple of other drag racing forums. I think you could have driven the point home about Jack without carrying on-and on-and on- about his amateurish performance and how anyone at Hawley's school could have bettered it after one day of training. Not cool, buddy...sorry.

None of which is meant to offend you, to shake you, to intimidate you, which I know it doesn't. You are who you are. Sure, I'd be interested in knowing the man behind all the controversy and what your thought process was at the time, but of course that isn't my business. No one expects an apology for the Beckman rant; he'll be in touch if it bothers him that bad and the rest of us, in my opinion, need to drop the subject.

If a return to drag racing is in the cards, I wish you the utmost success. You were a hell of a Funny Car driver with a fierce competitiveness. I wish you'd been a bit less of a hothead, but as they say, Whit will be Whit. I respect you a great deal for coming on here and sharing your feelings; lots of racers would be highly offended and stay away.

And there you have it, my friend.

 

[mick]

.........did you listen to all those podcasts? probably not. because why? ...... i didn't do a good job of promoting them!...............

john, i do listen to most if not all and am thankful for everything you do
with your website; i appreciate it very much, and not just the nhra coverage.

yes, i will respectfully disagree with you on this issue of decorum.

whit, thanks for chiming in; best wishes in your endeavors.

 

[Fast Al]

I just had a chance to listen to the podcast, and then read through this thread.
I gotta tell ya, it made my day, and put a smile on my face. So much more entertaining than the usual pablum puke. Keep mixing it up John and Whit.

 

[Pete]

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing, Pete. When this went down, I'm almost sure the cat was already out of the bag. I might have my timelines wrong, but all I know is that I was there running a nostalgia race with the guys I drove for at the time. I can't remember, however, the date and where it correlated with the U.S. Nationals that year.

Either way it makes no sense. If Whit's job was still "secure", then he had no reason to be a dick. And if he was mad because he thought he needed the pre-Indy tests, then he should've been a dick to the Don, not Jack. On top of that, why would a seasoned driver need a pre-event test that late in the year to start with.................

Sean D

I agree with you Shawn. I'm not 100% with my facts. As I read on I don't think Matco had announced their departure, but then again I do remember Baze taking a friggin beating on here, being blamed for Matco leaving and how they were sick of his antics, blah blah blah...and it sweet when Powers introduced him as driver........which he then proceeded to badmouth TF cars and how easy they are, blah blah blah.

 

[Baze]

Carl,
Thanks for the input.
John has me on to give anecdotal insight of the race from my point of view. There were good performances on the track and bad. We spoke about both. Plus some other stuff. From a journalistic point of view, what I said about Beckman was spot on. It is what it is. We could have skipped over the whole thing, but then why would John even have a site? But as I said above, maybe I was a little too hard on him. And John's headline certainly was meant to stir the pot... and it did! One thing is VERY true: everyone on this site who has an opinion will be watching Gainesville on ESPN2, and one thing they will be watching for is Beckman's performance. This is the sort of thing that creates added interest and rivalries. More interest is a good thing!

As for as my past, (and you go waaaay back), I have no regrets. Although I certainly have never left the racetrack at a high rate of speed (well the pits, anyway , or showered people with gravel, some, but not all, of the other things are true. How bad are they, really? There are others who physically fight, yell obscenities on the air, never shake hands or acknowledge a win or a defeat with a rival, consistently and purposely burn people down... things I never did or did very seldom. Not that I'm an angel, but you get the point. People who compete at a high level and are passionate about winning sometimes do these things, so in my opinion it is part of the game. Not that I endorse it all, mind you, but it happens way more often, sometimes behind the scenes, that you realize. Professional Drag Racing is a very high stakes sport. One of the most intense ever. Rivalries are not always friendly. Things are said and done in the heat of competition. It is just one part of what makes a sport, any sport, exciting to watch.
You know, over the years I apologized to some of my peers more than once for things done either accidentally or intentionally on the track. And I've been apologized to many times as well. It is normal. When I go to a race I can go in anyone's pit, and I do. Force's, both Pedregon's, if Cannon was racing, I'd have a beer with him... you get the point.

As for Beckman, I have the utmost respect for him, even if I agree it may not have sounded like it.
1) Anyone who drives a FC is deserving of respect
2) Anyone who can win, even more (he has won.)
3) Someone who has looked cancer in the eye and beat it is a real bad ass in my book.

Thanks for being a fan.

 

[marlin]

Thanks Whit for coming here and being the man ! Everyone has their favorites no matter what the sport .Thats what makes any sport what it is...

Glad to hear you are enjoying the married life and doing what you do ..

Would I like to see you back out there ? Heck yea...If it's meant to be , it's meant to be ..but in the interim ......

" just keep being Whit ." Thats who you are and I for one repect you for that .

Kernan 's a good dude ..We had him here in the Star City for a number of years on the local CBS affiliate and he did a great job .

 

[twostep]

Thanks for being a fan.

And thank you, sir, for taking the time to talk to one.

I have a daughter who's a cancer survivor and a mother who wasn't. Your comment concerning Jack's ordeal, to me, trumps anything else you may have said in your posts. It is appreciated, more than you know.

 

[George.]

I'm not a mater cheerleader when a driver shows up, but this case is different.

I remember Whit's duct taped "fast Orange" car, next to his tag a long trailer under a cheap, Home Depot $200.00 tent for cover, parked right next to the corporate big rigs. Not many are willing to mortgage their blood for the dream.
It just doesn't go down like that these days, so he has earned the platform IMO to say anything he wants, whenever he wants...
Just like a Shirley/Big pass...

I give Whit a pass on everything because he never entered the sport on the back of a rich grand daddy/daddy, a famous father or close ties to some corporate marketing executive with loads of cubic money like most of the drivers that have come and gone over the years. You don't even have to know how to drive anymore. If you fit the corporate profile, you just go see Frank. Whit doesn't seem concerned to kiss the rear ends of the same rich daddies that could put him in a car, which I respect even more. He keeps it real and I'm sure he sleeps just fine. The right deal will come along.

Whit is a unique look into the sport, albeit with his opinion attached, but I find it to be extremely revealing and refreshing to see a man be a man, and not some walking butt kisser who is afraid to briuse the egos of the lucky sperm club.
Whit, keep being "yourself".

 

[Von Halen]

I give Whit a pass on everything because he never entered the sport on the back of a rich grand daddy/daddy, a famous father or close ties to some corporate marketing executive with loads of cubic money like most of the drivers that have come and gone over the years. You don't even have to know how to drive anymore. If you fit the corporate profile, you just go see Frank. Whit doesn't seem concerned to kiss the rear ends of the same rich daddies that could put him in a car, which I respect even more. He keeps it real and I'm sure he sleeps just fine. The right deal will come along.

That is an excellent paragraph right there.

 

[none]

So somehow when Whit got started and he went to "See Frank" that's different than when somebody else does it?

Alan

 

[.]

Whit, thanks for chiming in. It's good to see you posting here. Enjoy Oregon for me since I can't be there.

 

[George.]

So somehow when Whit got started and he went to "See Frank" that's different than when somebody else does it?

Alan

If I have to further refine that point, then you already passed over the message.
Sorry.

 

[DragFan2]

Good to see Whit come in and mix it up with all us keyboard jockeys. Whit, your 'ol pal Hiprogerr (Roger Hood) has to be smiling right now. I'm sure he misses you being out there on the track like some of the rest of us do. Glad to hear you haven't lost any of your passion. Someday I might find myself in Bend, OR and will have to look you up. Have a friend who lives there by the name of Levi and you guys should meet sometime.

Are you going to be at the Gator's?

Kurt

 

[jm]

I, too, am glad Whit has spoken his mind here. Whit, in the podcast mentioned
that what happened to Jack has happened to every driver at some point... a
loss of concentration. Well a few days ago, Jack shows the picture of his new daughter on facebook. I can understand lack of concentration/jitters at
the first race of the season in historically cold conditions,given other things
{Like OBGYN ultrasounds, off season rumore, etc.}. Jack is a pro and will bounce back, without question, in my poinion!

As for Whit, I really like him too. It seems to me Whit gets worked up when it
comes to safety. We should ALL get worked up when it comes to safety AND
quality of competition. When not a single fuel car made it down the right lane
at {Whit, little help here}, he went to the line and vented his fustration @ Rick Stewart. Why WOULDNT he? A crap lane is BOTH a safety and quality of competition issue!!!

Force and Whit were the greatest of enemies on the line, but who was it that
snuck into the ER @ dallas when John had the big one. Who told John to do
EXACTLY what the doctors and rehab therapists tell him to do. Who told
John about his own severe leg/foot injuries, how painful, yet productive,
doing ALL the required rehab would be? Who told John he loved him as they took John into surgury? Elon Werner? No...... W. Whit Bazemore, thats who.

Whit can dish it out, yes. But he can also take it. How many remember Whit
getting chewed on by Lee Beard when he used the brakes to straighten out
a loose FC? Beard didnt take Whit aside, he told a National audiance on ESPN!
Beard, years later, also belittled Whits learning curve in the Powers Mortor-
sports Top Fuel car. Anybody see Whit crying about that? I didnt, just as Fast Jack isnt crying at home in Norco right now. Both men are better than
that, they are pros.

For the record, I like both drivers. A lot. One beat stage 4 cancer. The other
went thru the traps{1/4 mile, mind you} WFO with the throttle stuck open and accellerated to an approximate 345 mph, before stopping the thing and
walking away! I dont think it has to be a Whit OR Jack thing. I know BOTH
men have earned my respect, and for one, think it would be cool to see them
paired up in the final @ IRP sometime! Like Whit said, I'll be watching next
weekend.....

John
Carry on, and Whit please correct any mistakes my aging brain remembered
incorrectly!

 

[mike]

John, that was a great post! And Whit thanks for posting on here. Hope you'll be back on the track one day. Now, where are all those haters and name callers gone?? Hmmm.

 

[Baze]

Never would, could, ever tell JF I loved him. NO. I did, however, see his leg was broken, so I went ahead and reset it for him...

Forgot about that night at Indy. Some magic was happening there - I might be wrong, but if I remember correctly, it didn't even blow up. Whew.
And go easy on Beard. Don't need my fan pissing anyone off.

Racing JB in the final at IRP? Kinda like the thought of that one.

Seriously, thanks for the support and kind words from everyone. Even you, Alan. It means a lot.

I might go to some races this summer, and Kurt, I'd love to meet your friend from Bend. Does he ride?

Looking forward to watching G'ville.

WB

 

[willy]

Never would, could, ever tell JF I loved him. NO. I did, however, see his leg was broken, so I went ahead and reset it for him...

Forgot about that night at Indy. Some magic was happening there - I might be wrong, but if I remember correctly, it didn't even blow up. Whew.
And go easy on Beard. Don't need my fan pissing anyone off.

Racing JB in the final at IRP? Kinda like the thought of that one.

Seriously, thanks for the support and kind words from everyone. Even you, Alan. It means a lot.

I might go to some races this summer, and Kurt, I'd love to meet your friend from Bend. Does he ride?

Looking forward to watching G'ville.

WB

Thanks for showing up, Whit..I miss you out there, Man, and I hope all is well with you and your family.

 

[merc49]

Good to see Whit come in and mix it up with all us keyboard jockeys. Whit, your 'ol pal Hiprogerr (Roger Hood) has to be smiling right now. I'm sure he misses you being out there on the track like some of the rest of us do. Glad to hear you haven't lost any of your passion. Someday I might find myself in Bend, OR and will have to look you up. Have a friend who lives there by the name of Levi and you guys should meet sometime.

Are you going to be at the Gator's?

Kurt

Kurt, thanks for the mention of ol' Hiproger! That was nice. If ever there was a fan, it was Roger. A four star post!