Bazemore qualifies 2nd, Scelzi 5th, Cannon 15th in Pomona

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
K&N Winternationals
Pomona (Calif.) Raceway
Saturday, Feb. 8, 2003

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501

FUNNY CAR THIRD-ROUND QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES

In third round of qualifying, GARY SCELZI, in the OAKLEY TIME BOMB DODGE
STRATUS R/T FUNNY CAR, posted a strong 4.818-second pass to put him into
fifth place with one round of qualifying to go. However, his half-track
speed of 264 mph was a clear indicator that he was on one heck of a lap
before the engine let go at 900 feet on the quarter-mile track.

SCELZI: "It was incredible. We were talking this morning that we were going
to try to run a .70 and then when the sun came out, Mike (Neff, crew chief)
said, 'You know I'm going to pull it back, I'm going to try to run a low .80
flat, .82, .83. Let's go down the race track again and forget those .70s.
and then (Tony) Pedregon ran a .76, right in front of us. The next thing you
know, right before we started, the box opened up, he sped the timers up,
which releases the clutch faster, and I think he figured let's go see what
this thing will do. And it stuck; this thing was motivating. It was on when
the big red Oakley O was saying, Oh, no, here we go. It's just awesome. Then
all of a sudden -- there wasn't much warning, it just went flat for a second
and bang. The potential is there and it was plenty safe. We're going to come
back, and put a different body on it. We'll repair this one tonight and
we'll go run the gray one. We will run a brand new Dodge Stratus with paint
on it in the next round, one of the spares for Baze and me. I don't know
what happened. Something had to have happened with an intake failure for an
explosion like that."

OAKLEY'S PROFESSIONAL RACING CYCLES DIVISION HOSTED A GROUP OF PROFESSIONAL
CYCLISTS TODAY, including Floyd Landis, four-time Tour de France champion
Lance Armstrong's right-hand man and a professional road cyclist for USPS;
Brian Lopes, two-time world mountain-bike champion, considered to be the
fastest mountain-biker in the world; Chann McRae, reigning U.S. National
Road Cycling Champion; Jay Baush, former pro surfer, also right-hand man to
Channa McRae; Kyle Strait, 15-year-old free-ride mountain biker, who
appeared in five videos, considered to be the future of mountain biking. All
were turned on by Lance Armstrong, who visited his first NHRA drag race in
2002, and urged his friends and teammates to check it out. We're told that
Landis is now totally into NHRA drag racing.

FUNNY CAR FINAL QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES

WHIT BAZEMORE, MATCO TOOLS IRON EAGLE DODGE STRATUS R/T FUNNY CAR, qualified
second with a 4.766-second, 325.69 mph pass, the best speed of the round:
"We're real happy. Technically, it was our fourth run this weekend, but it
was more like our second because we had some component problems on the Matco
Tools Dodge Thursday and Friday. Those were kind of wasted opportunities. So
we came out today with our first run with the car right and we ran an .83,
which is a good baseline run. And then Lee Beard and the Matco Tools team
did their magic and we stepped up to a .76, which is outstanding. It's the
second fastest speed we had, fastest for a Dodge, and it's the first race of
the year. So we're pretty happy. Tomorrow is a different day. "We're going
to try to push the envelope. The car didn't run well down there, believe it
or not. It had a little tire spin and it lost a little power. I think the
potential is there with this Dodge body and because of it. Today is special
because Oakley, which sponsors world-class athletes all over the world,
brought some professional road cyclists, professional mountain bikers and
free-style guys. So, as a bike geek, which I am, it's very cool to have
these guys come and hang out and experience NHRA drag racing."

CHANN MCRAE, REIGNING U.S. NATIONAL ROAD CYCLING CHAMPION: WHAT DID YOU
THINK OF THIS EXPERIENCE? "It's something else. I've never witnessed so much
power right in front of my face. I'm just honored to be here at the season
opener and watch these guys do their thing. It's incredible; it's cool."

JAY BAUSH, FORMER PRO SUFER, ALSO RIGHT-HAND MAN TO MCRAE: "It was a rush,
being in the middle there (at the starting line). It was a great experience,
definitely. I'm glad I came and experienced it and see what these guys are
all about; it was awesome. I'll definitely be back."

LEE BEARD, BAZEMORE'S CREW CHIEF: "It's a real tribute to the team, coming
from the top with Don Schumacher and his motivation to go out and find the
proper financing and get all of the right people in here. Putting Dan Olson
over on the Funny Car side this year is going to pay some big benefits. With
the new Dodge Stratus body and the entire program things are coming into
place real fast for us. On Thursday and Friday we had some ignition problems
we couldn't identify until Friday evening, but we were able to locate them
and fix them, come back today, and put down two pretty decent runs; an .83
in the heat of the day, we were happy with that, and a .76 at 325 mph;
obviously we're happy with that. I'm sure after we look at the computer data
we'll find that we left a little on the table and be able to say that we
could go quicker and faster, but we'll just live with that right now."

DAN OLSON, CO-CREW CHIEF ON SCELZI'S AND BAZEMORE'S CARS: "Both these guys
(Neff and Beard) are doing a great job; I'm just here trying to give them a
hand."

GARY SCELZI, OAKELY TIME BOMB DODGE STRATUS R/T FUNNY CAR, again scored his
personal best in a Funny Car, with a final pass of 4.790 seconds at 322.58
mph, qualifying fifth in his first race for Don Schumacher Racing: "This is
exciting. I told everybody in Phoenix (testing) how well we gelled and how
well I thought this team was going to be. We came in here, first round today
we had a supercharger explosion, we had a parts failure, messed up the Dodge
Stratus body, we had to change bodies, we had to get it fit, service the
car, change motors, do all these things. It was just like clockwork. I was
so relaxed, so calm when we pulled up to the starting line. I asked Mike
Neff, 'Hey do you want to go to the finish line?' He said, 'Hell, yeah, I
want to go the finish line. It'll go; nothing to worry about.' And that
breathes confidence in me when I know that I've got the best guys working on
my car, I know they don't miss a beat, they check and they double-check. it
makes a driver relax. That's how I can do my job on the starting line and do
my job down the race track. And it was so smooth. I really didn't even think
it was a .79. It just kind of cruised on down there and just kept pulling
the way it's supposed to do. I sound like a kid that's just opened all his
Christmas presents. Every day it's Christmas again. Every time I hit the gas
in this thing it seems like my personal best. And Mike Neff -- I said it
before, guys, I hope everybody is listening -- they're going to hear a lot
from him this year and this Team Oakley Dodge."

MIKE NEFF, SCELZI'S CREW CHIEF: 'We're really happy to finally break into
the 4.70s here at a national event. We couldn't be happier right now; going
down the track four times, improving each time, excactly what our goal was.
Gary is doing a great job, my crew is doing an outstanding job. I couldn't
be any happier than I am right now with the way things are going so far."
DID YOU EXPECT THIS? "Yes, I did. I was on an actually better run the run
before, so if we didn't run in the 4.70s I was definitely going to be
disappointed. I'm happy."

SCOTTY CANNON, OAKLEY TIME BOMB FUNNY CAR, made it into the field on his
final run, in 15th, with a 4.890/313.88 lap. His first round saw a good
pass, but in the next two he experienced mechanical problems. He will face
his teammate Whit Bazemore in the first round: "We're fortunate to be in the
field. We may have found something in the last run; I don't know, it didn't
blow up. It didn't blow up in the first run either when we got here, so
we're not sure. We need a couple of more runs to see. I've got to run
Bazemore in the first round tomorrow; that's one of our guys. We have
everything to gain, nothing to lose. I'm pretty sure they know that. All I
can do is tell them good luck, so we're going to let it all hang out. If it
makes it, it may not be pretty."

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