Drag racing

KENT - Whit Bazemore drives a Funny Car in the NHRA's Winston Drag Racing Series.

But he raised a serious safety issue with his assertion in a national-TV interview that Seattle International Raceway "is a disgrace to the sport."

It's one that Graham Light, NHRA senior vice president of racing operations, said the sanctioning body plans to fix.

Bazemore's beef - seconded by several teams in all three nitro categories - was with the left lane of the quarter-mile strip during the 13th annual Prolong/NAPA Northwest Nationals.

The consensus is it's dangerous. Critics also say it causes an unfair balance of competition that could lead to risky car setups or driving.

SIR operator Jim Rockstad said it's the best track in the Northwest and NHRA must like it because it keeps bringing a national event here.

Rockstad's lease runs out Dec. 31, 2001, and he indicated he's not planning to put any more cash into the facility. He said he has invested $2 million of his own in improvements.

"Safety is our primary concern, regardless of when the track operator's lease expires," Light said. "We're not naive enough to say the track's perfect. It's premature right now to say to what extent and how fast improvements will be made.

"Seattle is a good market - a market we can deliver for our sponsors that Winston Cup can't."

He said NHRA conducts post-race evaluations, then forwards its comments to track personnel. That process has not begun yet for the Northwest Nationals.

"Contractually, tracks are responsible for the racing surface. I understand Rock's position. We'll work with Jim," Light said.

Said Bazemore, "I'll stand by what I said. It's nothing personal. If (Rockstad) took it that way, I'm sorry.

"But I don't understand why that situation hasn't been rectified better than it has. I know they paved it a couple of years ago, but they missed the problem and it still exists."

He said Rockstad has not spoken with him to explain his position: "If there's an excuse I'd love to hear it."

Most drivers agree with him, Bazemore said. One who does is Ron Krisher, SIR's top Pro Stock qualifier, who is second in points.

"It's pretty bad, and it hasn't changed. It's rough on the (top) end, and for Pro Stock cars it's pretty dangerous," he said. "There's some real concern about that racetrack.

"From the second round on, . . . it became very dangerous. You could get in a lot of trouble at that racetrack in either lane," Krisher said.

He said the background sunlight hampered drivers' view of the "Christmas tree," the electronic starting device. That hurt reaction times and helped doom Top Fuelers Tony Schumacher, Cory McClenathan and five-time SIR champion Joe Amato. They were disqualified for leaving the starting line too early.

"We got beat in the good lane, and in in 1997, we won the race from the bad lane. So it's not something that's 100-percent decisive," Bazemore said. "It's a one-lane track. If you're in the left lane, you're at a serious disadvantage."

Alan Johnson, Team Winston owner, and Lee Beard, crew chief for Kenny Bernstein's Budweiser King Dragster, also complained publicly.

Gary Scelzi, Top Fuel winner Sunday and series points leader, has heightened safety awareness. He stepped into the Team Winston Dragster after the 1996 death of driver Blaine Johnson, and he has survived frightening crashes at Topeka and Joliet, Ill.

"We don't have crash dummies (for testing). We learn by accidents," Scelzi said.

Eddie Hill has said he's alive after a violent crash at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., because of repairs made following driver Carrie Neal's death.

Scelzi said although a dragster is a stable machine, at speeds faster than 300 miles per hour it rides "like a tiger with a rag doll in its mouth." Had he smoked the tires over the bumps Sunday, he could've missed his $40,000 payday - or worse, lurched out of the groove and pitched into the unforgiving wall or possibly the other lane.

"The concrete section is the best launching pad (drivers) have had this season," Light said. "But we have to improve anything that's a safety concern. We don't want to see a one-lane track, either.

"But we had a great race in Seattle."