Scelzi on hot seat for Reading
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES READING, PA. Race Dates: Sept. 16-18, 2005 READING, Pa. (Sept. 13, 2005) - The Auto Channel reported thatGary Scelzi is on the hot seat in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car championship chase as the circus unfurls its tents this weekend at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. The three-time Top Fuel champion is leading the Funny Car point standings for the first time since he joined the class in 2002, by a single point. With only five races left of the 2005 season, the driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car has already made it into the history books after his semifinal finish at the prestigious U.S. Nationals on Labor Day in Indianapolis. He became the first non-John Force Racing driver to leave the U.S. Nationals in the Funny Car points lead since 1990. On top of that, the NHRA record books show that since 1983 the Funny Car driver who left the U.S. Nationals in the lead won the championship every time except one. In 1992 Force left Indy with the lead and Cruz Pedregon won the championship. The Fresno, Calif., native is in a good place right now, he believes, as he returns to Maple Grove as the defending Funny Car champion and a two-time Top Fuel winner here. ³One point obviously doesnıt mean anything,² he says. ³That could be taken care of in qualifying. And the guy behind me in second (Robert Hight) is the king of qualifying right now. ³Buit the good news is that weıre coming to Reading, Pa., as the defending event champion. Our Mopar/Oakley Dodge team has always run well here. Iıve run well here in the dragster as well, so itıs a race track thatıs been pretty kind to me. ³You look for any advantage you possibly could have and Iıve won this race twice in Top Fuel and once in Funny Car, and I was a Top Fuel runner-up once. ³Iıve been to four finals and won three of them. Itıs also good thing to know that Iıve done well at the last five race tracks weıll be racing at to the end of the season. ³Itıs just good to be a part of this thing. You just canıt make any mistakes right now. (Crew chief) Mike Neff had a team meeting the other day. He said he canıt make mistakes, the driver canıt make mistakes and the team canıt make mistakes. We canıt have bolts falling out, we canıt have parts breaking, we have to really look at every single thing weıre doing, more so now than ever, if we want to be the POWERade champions. ³I think everybody is focused, everybody is on the same page and weıll just go see what fate has for us.² GARY SCELZI QUICK FACTS: * Leading the 2005 Funny Car points after 18 races; has three wins (Bristol, Chicago and Sonoma); was low qualifier three times (Las Vegas, Atlanta and St. Louis) * Is in fierce battle with 13-time champion John Force, rookie Robert Hight, teammate Ron Capps and Eric Medlen for 2005 Funny Car crown; is one point ahead of Hight in second, 36 points ahead of teammate Ron Capps in third, 47 ahead of Force in fourth, and 55 in front of Medlen in fifth * If he wins the Funny Car championship this year he will become only the second NHRA driver to have won crowns in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. Kenny Bernstein is the first. * Qualified fifth at the 2004 Nationals at Maple Grove; defeated John Force in the final * Has one Funny Car win here (Œ04), two Top Fuel wins (1998, Œ01), one TF runner-up (Œ00) * Is a member of the largest team in NHRA pro history: Don Schumacher Racing, with nine teams - two in Top Fuel, three in Funny Car, two in Pro Stock, two in Pro Stock Motorcycle (all four pro categories) * Is first Funny Car driver to break the 330-mph barrier (330.15 mph at Route 66 Raceway in 2004) * Career Funny Car bests: 4.717-second ET (Pomona '05), 331.53 mph (Pomona '05) * Third in 2004 Funny Car points, with three wins in six final rounds * Qualified in top five nine times in 2004, No. 1 once * Age 45, born and raised in Fresno, Calif., where he lives with wife Julianne and sons Dominic and Giovanni * Dominic, 8, races Junior Sprints * Runs Scelzi Enterprises, a custom truck body design and manufacturing business in Fresno with his two brothers * Is a three-time Top Fuel Dragster champion * Won his first Top Fuel crown as a rookie * Has seven Funny Car wins, 25 Top Fuel wins * Sixth in 2003 Funny Car points, his first full season in that class * 2005 is his third straight season racing for Don Schumacher Racing * Is the only NHRA driver to have won in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car. He accomplished this feat at Infineon Raceway in 2003 * Is one of the few Funny Car drivers who has a round winning record against the 13-time Funny Car champion John Force: 9-8, 3-1 in final rounds * Wants to become only the second driver to have won championships in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. Kenny Bernstein is the first ***