Johnny Gray out in first round at U.S. Nationals

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 18 of 23
50th ANNUAL U.S. NATIONALS
INDIANAPOLIS RACEWAY PARK
RACE DATES:  Sept. 3-6, 2004

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 6, 2004) - Johnny Gray's first appearance in Don
Schumacher's Wonder Wagon in Funny Car eliminations at the prestigious 50th
Annual U.S. Nationals was cut short today in the first round, when he lost
to his teammate Gary Scelzi.

The new team, led by crew chief Dan Olson, had struggled all weekend after
posting a strong No. 8 qualifying effort on Friday, and the troubles
continued today, as Gray lost traction at the hit of the throttle and
coasted to an 11.060/89.73 pass, while Scelzi rocketed to the finish with a
4.897/312.28 run.

"We tried several things to figure out the problems we had in the last four
qualifying rounds," he said. "But, we're testing this car, we're testing
several different components on the car. We thought we had some stuff
resolved and we thought we had a good competitive race car today.
Unfortunately, like in the other qualifying runs, we didn't quite have it
right. But we'll get there."

Next on the NHRA schedule is the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa.,
Sept. 16-19.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:

1. John Force, 1379
2. Gary Scelzi, 1173
3. Whit Bazemore, 1152
4. Del Worsham, 1107
5. Gary Densham, 1090 (Winner today)
6. Eric Medlen, 1059
7. Tim Wilkerson, 1039