Scelzi No. 4 in Friday Seattle qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2004 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 14 of 23
CARQUEST AUTO PARTS NHRA NATIONALS
PACIFIC RACEWAYS
KENT, WASH.
Race Dates: July 23-25, 2004

KENT, Wash. (July 23, 2004) - In extremely hot conditions in both qualifying
sessions today for the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals, Gary Scelzi
qualified the HEMI-powered Oakley Dodge Stratus No. 4, producing the first
4-second run (4.990 seconds) and the fastest pass of the day of 308.85 mph
at Pacific Raceways under the new 85 percent nitromethane rule.

Despite the slower passes in the first round of qualifying, when Scelzi
posted a 5.413/267.43 for No. 15, it appeared that Scelzi and his HEMI
Oakley team were able to get a handle on the rules changes this weekend,
which included the lower percentage of nitromethane, a new Goodyear tire,
newly-mandated tire pressures, as well as a resurfaced race track and
temperatures in the mid-90s.

"It sure looks like it works," he said after the final pass this evening.
"We went in there really weak on the first run, but it made it down the race
track so I wasn't that depressed. Again, like I've said in the past, it
needs to go down the race track, even if it's not a good run, so you have
something to look at. If it smokes the tires, you've got nothing to look at.

"So we came back and made some changes to the engine. Lee (Beard, teammate
Whit Bazemore's crew chief) and Zippy
(Scelzi's crew chief Mike Neff) and Dan (Olson, co-crew chief) looked at
everything. We made a change. Bazemore stepped up (5.048/296.24), we stepped
up. I'm pretty pleased to be in the top half of the field.

"The track surface is smooth. The sun is still a problem (shining directly
in the drivers' eyes during sunset), but the sun is a lot easier to deal
with than rain. But, no, everything was great. They did a really good job on
the race track. It's fine."

Two more qualifying sessions are scheduled for Saturday.