Whit Bazemore is expected to be introduced to Matco Tools distributors today in Las Vegas as the driver of a second David Powers Motorsports Top Fuel dragster that the tool company will sponsor next year.
Bazemore, 43, had driven a Funny Car owned by Don Schumacher and was sponsored by Matco until being released by Schumacher last month. Bazemore has won 20 NHRA Funny Car titles, including one this year, and 13 of those titles were won with Schumacher.
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In a telephone interview Monday from his home near Indianapolis, Bazemore would not say he had reached an agreement with the Powers team, but acknowledged he planned to be in Las Vegas today to make an appearance at the Seven Cycles display at the Interbike International Bike Expo at the Sands Convention Center.
"I know Whit is our No. 1 candidate and he's been talking with David, but I don't believe any agreement has been reached," said Las Vegas resident Rod Fuller, who was runner-up Sunday in Top Fuel in Ennis, Texas.
Fuller, who moved up to fifth in series points, said he plans to attend the Matco function today in Las Vegas because the company will be an associate sponsor on his Top Fueler. ...
Also at the Texas Motorplex on Sunday, Boulder City resident Duane Shields won the Top Alcohol Dragster title. ...
Near Denver on Sunday, Justin Lamb of Las Vegas won the Fast 16 title at Bandimere Speedway after he beat the top two qualifiers. Lamb was running a new Madcap engine.
• NASCAR -- Nextel Cup teams will get their first chance to run on the revamped 1.5-mile tri-oval at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in January during the second official Cup test of the NASCAR season.
The first session is scheduled from Jan. 8 to 10 at Daytona International Speedway. Cup teams are set to be in Las Vegas for the Jan. 29-30 session, with Feb. 1 set as a rain date.
NASCAR Busch Series teams are expected to be in Las Vegas the following week.
The testing will prepare them for the March 9 to 11 weekend in Las Vegas.
Other test dates for 2007 are: Feb. 28-March 1, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway; April 3-4, Richmond (Va.) International Raceway; May 7-8, Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.; May 14-15, Dover (Del.) International Speedway; and Sept. 10-11, Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
These are the only times Cup teams can test on tracks that host series races. ...
Former Formula One star Juan Pablo Montoya took his first laps in a stock car with the Chip Ganassi Racing team Monday at Talladega after being released from his contract with the McClaren F1 team with which he started the year. Ganassi said Sunday that Montoya would begin his stock-car career by testing in an ARCA stock car and that he would be entered in as many events as possible this year.
• DESERT RACING -- North Las Vegas resident T.J. Clark won the Super Buggy class title in Sunday's Championship Off Road Racing event in Chula Vista, Calif.
Clark, a former competitor in the Mickey Thompson Stadium and NASCAR Craftsman Truck series during the 1990s, was a last-minute substitute for an injured driver.
Clark's son, Spencer, was a top local stock-car driver when he died in a traffic accident in New Mexico in May.
NO. 1 -- JEFF BURTON The veteran driver for Richard Childress Racing picked the perfect time to peak when he won Sunday's Nextel Cup Series race in Dover, Del. Burton's first victory in 176 starts, dating to Oct. 28, 2001, gave him the series points lead with eight races left. He has won 18 Cup races, including those at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1999 and 2000.
NO. 2 -- MIKE SKINNER Skinner had not won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in four previous NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races. That changed Saturday night. He not only won the race at the track but shattered his 2-year-old track qualifying record by 13 mph and led 114 of the 146 laps.
NO. 3 -- A.J. ALLMENDINGER The only American in the Champ Car World Series won Sunday at West Allis, Wis., his fifth victory since joining Forsythe Championship Racing early in the season. The triumph delayed a seemingly inevitable championship celebration by two-time reigning series champ Sebastien Bourdais, who leads Allmendinger by 58 points.
