Veteran Funny Car driver Whit Bazemore will drive the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Top Fuel dragster for David Powers Motorsports in 2007. This will mark Bazemore's first foray into the Top Fuel class after 18 years in a Funny Car. He will be teammates with David Powers Motorsports racer "Hot Rod" Fuller; both drivers will be running under the tuning expertise of decorated crew chief Lee Beard.

"Whit Bazemore is an outstanding driver, and he's been a real asset to Matco Tools over the years," Powers said. "We selected him from a long list of very qualified applicants, and we certainly weighed in the opinions and desires of everyone at Matco Tools. The fact he's worked with Lee Beard in the past allowed us insight into how he conducts his professional life, and we quickly reached the conclusion that he was our man."




Veteran Funny Car driver Whit Bazemore will drive the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Top Fuel dragster for David Powers Motorsports in 2007. This will mark Bazemore's first foray into the Top Fuel class after 18 years in a Funny Car. He will be teammates with David Powers Motorsports racer "Hot Rod" Fuller; both drivers will be running under the tuning expertise of decorated crew chief Lee Beard.

"Whit Bazemore is an outstanding driver, and he's been a real asset to Matco Tools over the years," Powers said. "We selected him from a long list of very qualified applicants, and we certainly weighed in the opinions and desires of everyone at Matco Tools. The fact he's worked with Lee Beard in the past allowed us insight into how he conducts his professional life, and we quickly reached the conclusion that he was our man."

Bazemore lost his seat at Don Schumacher Racing after the recently completed Mac Tools U.S. Nationals when his longtime sponsor Matco Tools announced it would be switching to Top Fuel and leaving DSR for DPM. Within days, Schumacher replaced Bazemore with former Top Fuel driver "Fast Jack" Beckman, who brought sponsorship money.

Matco Tools, which boasts 1,600 franchise truck owners across North America, has backed Bazemore since 2000, when it was an associate sponsor on the Chuck Etchells-owned Kendall Camaro Funny Car. The company convinced Powers to keep its man in Matco colors to capitalize on the equity it has built with Bazemore.

"I'm very grateful to the Matco Tools family of distributors for having the faith in me to continue to lead their racing efforts in the sport of drag racing," the 43-year-old Bazemore said from Las Vegas. "David's commitment to success will ensure outstanding results for all aspects of the race team.

"Racing a Top Fuel dragster will be a new challenge, but it's one I'm looking forward to a great deal. David, Lee Beard, and Rob Flynn are in the process of assembling a first-class team that I know will make the Matco Tools Iron Eagle dragster a contender right away. I fully expect us to contend for the POWERade title in 2007 and beyond."

An avid cyclist away from the track, Bazemore entered 336 national events in a Funny Car, third-most among active, full-time racers behind John Force and Gary Densham. Aside from his 20 victories in 46 final-round appearances and 338-294 race-day record, Bazemore is perhaps best known as 13-time champion Force's archrival. The two have shared many on-track battles over the years.

"I'll miss racing Force and the other guys over there, but at the same time, I look forward to racing Brandon Bernstein, Larry Dixon, Doug Kalitta, and the rest of the Top Fuel racers, so it's a nice trade-off," Bazemore said. "This is just a new chapter in my life and my career, and I'm very excited about the possibilities."