Scelzi collects No. 5 in Topeka qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 9 of 23
O'REILLY NHRA SUMMER NATIONALS
HEARTLAND PARK TOPEKA, Kan.
Race Dates: May 27-29, 2005



TOPEKA, Kan. (May 28, 2005) - Gary Scelzi came on strong in the first three
rounds of qualifying for the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland
Park Topeka in the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus Funny Car.

He grabbed No. 2 in the first round, with a 4.800/323.66 pass, and
established an identical 4.800-second pass in the second session, at a
slightly slower speed of 318.92 mph.

The third round produced the second quickest pass of the session for the
three-time Top Fuel champion, a 4.844/313.15 run, which placed him fifth in
the field.

However, an experiment in the final round failed to work for crew chief Mike
Neff, and Scelzi lit the tires to an 11.648/78.57 lap. Scelzi held on to No.
5.

"Well, we were three for four," said the Fresno, Calif., native. "We had the
second quickest run in the first (second of the weekend) run today. And we
tried something a little different in the last round after we saw our
teammate Ron Capps smoke the tires in front of us.

"We're good. We just tried something at the last minute and obviously it
didn't work. We're fine, we're ready to go into race day - cold, hot,
whatever it takes. We're ready to go."

Scelzi faces Tony Bartone in the first round of final eliminations on
Sunday, whom he hasn't met in a round so far this season.