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IF BASKETBALL SEASON IS OVER, IT MUST BE TIME TO DRAG RACE

After completing his 12th season as an NBA power forward, Tom Hammonds has traded in his Minnesota Timberwolves jersey for a fire suit and helmet. Hammonds intends to drag race full time after he leaves the NBA next year.

"I've got one more year left on my contract with the Timberwolves, and with the way my nagging injuries have plagued me throughout the year, we'll just have to see how I feel this summer. But there's no guarantee that I will go back and play next year," he said.

Although Hammonds was a DHQ at Englishtown, perhaps with more time to devote to the race track that situation will change.

LONG WEEKEND FOR WHIT OR THE PHANTOM 4.77

Whit Bazemore, who drives Don Schumacher's Fuel Coupe, had a very long and entertaining weekend at Englishtown. First, the team ran a career best 4.77 during Friday night qualifying. When a couple of people in the press room looked at the stats they noticed that Whit had a .821 sixty-footer and a reaction time in the .600 range. Their alarm bells went off and in the morning they approached NHRA officials with the info. In the meantime the Lee Beard lead crew had stayed around until midnight getting the car teched for a possible record run the next day.

Saturday morning NHRA informed the team that the pass was disallowed. In the meantime the Press had already notified the immediate western hemisphere of the phantom 4.77 and had to send out retractions. Whit and Lee Beard took the news with grace but did say (and were backed up by NHRA) that the computer graph for the 4.77 was better than the team's career best of 4.83 they ran at Phoenix. As the old saying goes "Good but no cigar."

Then Whit got into it with Scotty Cannon on the top end in an exchange that would have done triple-H and Stone Cold proud. Whit is Agent 1320's favorite driver and speaker -- never a dull moment or interview.

MEMPHIS NMCA EVENT RAINED OUT

As Outlaw Pro semi-finalists Bob Rieger and Hank Hill were staging to determine who would face Tony Christian in the final round, the skies opened and brought an end to the 'National Muscle Car Association's Hot Rod Magazine Power Festival presented by Chevolet' at Memphis Motorsports Park. Christian had just defeated new-to-NMCA Jason Collins by three thousandths of a second. All remaining rounds will be contested at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky June 23-24. "We will have the unusual opportunity to crown two separate event champions at the same venue in Bowling Green," said Race Director Bobby Cross. "It is conceivable that a competitor could cash two paychecks with good performances at our next event."

 

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