No matter how young you might be you’ve certainly heard the expression
“He wears his heart on his sleeve.” That, in a nutshell, is 18-year
fuel racing veteran Whit Bazemore’s persona.

For whatever
reason, Bazemore has never been able to stifle his emotions. While some
have blistered him for his openness and personal honesty while usually
completely ignoring how beneficial that honesty has been for the sport,
others – apparently in the minority – have rallied to Bazemore’s
defense for those very reasons. Ironically, at a time when even some
within the NHRA management team have decried the complete lack of
personal rivalries within the sport, when an individual like Bazemore
steps to the forefront with a willingness to speak his mind on any
number of subjects there are legions of fans who appear appalled at his
having done so.

Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com has heard from several sources
that the Professional Racers Owners Organization (PRO) Board of Directors is
short one man after the sudden resignation of Barry Mano.

Mano came to the PRO from a professional referees
organization, and had the kind of vast union organizing experience that the
racing community was desperate for. His lack of actual drag racing
experience was apparently never a problem, as Mano was able to look at the
issues facing the sport without having any built in attitudes or feelings.

The gold “tribute” Dodge that was unveiled for driver Gary Scelzi last
weekend has generated a lot of talk among the fans, most of whom love
it. They aren’t alone. Scelzi was skeptical about the project, and
actually never saw the finished product prior to Thursday evening’s
Mopar Block Party in downtown Golden (there’s that word again), but he
was instantly sold.

“I
love it,” he said. “I’m not a big fan of gold, but when I saw this
thing unveiled at the block party I was impressed. Everybody out here
has also been impressed with it.”

Scelzi was under the mistaken belief that this would be a one-off
appearance of the car, but tuner Mike “Zippy” Neff informed Torco's
CompetitionPlus.com that the car would also appear at both Seattle and
Sonoma.

How much is eight thousandths of a second? Not much, admittedly, but
under the right circumstances it can be huge. In two recent races, the
Pro Care Rx Nationals at Englishtown and the Mopar Mil-High Nationals
in Denver, heat may have played a pivotal role in the outcome of Pro Stock Motorcycle competition.

Old Bridge Township Raceway Park and Bandimere Speedway are similarly
configured in that the competitors approach the starting line by
rolling under the control/VIP suite towers. When the weather’s hot as
it was at both races, the shade afforded by the tower can be
unbelievably important to the motorcycle competitors. If the lines are
long, the racers whose motorcycles are in the shade ultimately end up
with a considerable advantage over those who remain out in full
sunlight.

The Fifth Annual Women in the Winner's Circle Luncheon will be held at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26. This event is held annually to help
raise funds for the Women in the Winner's Circle Foundation (formerly the Lyn
St. James Foundation), founded by racing driver and motivational speaker Lyn St.
James in 1993.

The Foundation is a non-profit educational organization
focusing on worldwide activities and programs for automotive safety and driver
development, especially for women who aspire to become race-car drivers. The
Foundation remains dedicated to continuing to train, advocate and educate for
diversity in racing until "opportunity" and "diversity" are no longer concerns
and are taken for granted.

To date, the foundation has trained over 230
female race-car drivers from 38 states and three countries through its Driver
Development Program and has contributed to Girls, Inc., the Wilbur Shaw Soap Box
Derby Hill in Indianapolis, and other charitable organizations. The WWCF has
also donated numerous autographed items for various charities throughout the
world.

YNOT Racing is proud to announce the YNOT Racing/St. Jude Children's Hospital
Challenge to raise funds and awareness to benefit St. Jude Children's Hospital
at both the Seattle and Sonoma NHRA National events. YNOT Racing will pledge
funds per run at both events to benefit St. Jude.  YNOT Racing challenges all competitors in all
classes to do the same

Torco Race
Fuels has joined YNOT Racing and announced that they will make the first pledge
to support the challenge in any way they can. 
At the end of the two event challenge, YNOT Racing and Torco Race Fuels
will formally announce, during a ceremony at the YNOT pit, the total funds
raised by the racers and sponsors. 100 percent of all funds raised will directly
benefit ALSAC St. Jude  Children's
Research
Hospital.

  St. Jude Children’s
Research
Hospital is
internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving
children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Founded by late
entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis,
Tenn., St. Jude
freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the
world. No family ever pays for treatments not covered by insurance, and families
without insurance are never asked to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by
ALSAC, its fund-raising organization. For more information, please call
1-800-954-5499 or visit www.stjude.org

J.W. Performance Transmissions has offered $1,000 in awards for the
perfect reaction times.  The first ten racers to claim perfect reaction
times will receive a $100 gift certificate from J.W. Performance
Transmissions.

Robert Patrick has encountered more than his share of obstacles in drag
racing but in the days leading up to the IHRA Torco Sooner Nationals,
the IHRA Pro Stock racer suffered a loss that had him questioning more
than drag racing.
 
Patrick lost a friend, and a close one.
 
Cary
Coleman’s death left Patrick reeling from a setback that no test
session could overcome or that money couldn’t buy relief from.
 
Patrick
learned a lot from Coleman over the years about fitness and proper
maintenance of his body, but the most invaluable lesson – how to be a
friend – was what left a lasting impression.

This is the first installment of what’s destined to become an on-going
series of short articles on Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com. There’s not
going to be a firm schedule of when these inclusions will appear, so we
hope you’ll keep an eye out for them in the future. We’re also hoping
that you’ll let us know whether or not you like it.

Drag racing is a dream world. We’re all so wrapped up in what we’re
doing that we sometimes forget that there’s life beyond the finish
line, and we’re determined to demonstrate that racers are about more
than just elapsed times and speeds.

In the coming months we’ll talk to more drivers, and will also include
mechanics, tuners and sponsors in our little very unscientific
studies. Finding out what drag racers like and dislike, know and don’t
know, is going to be interesting, so let’s get to it.