Scelzi makes field in final qualifying round

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Round 3 of 23
MAC TOOLS GATORNATIONALS
GAINESVILLE (Fla.) RACEWAY
SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2003

FINAL QUALIFYING:

SCELZI MAKES THE FIELD IN FINAL QUALIFYING

GARY SCELZI, OAKLEY "GRAB LIFE BY THE HORNS" DODGE STRATUS R/T, after being
bumped out of the field in today's third round of qualifying when he posted
a 5.406/191.28, came back in the final round to collect a No. 10 spot. He
and his Oakley Dodge team breathed a sigh of relief by getting his new red
Dodge down the quarter-mile with a 4.873-second pass at 313.69 mph.

SCELZI: "We came here to 'Grab Life By the Horns' with this new red Dodge
and I feel like we've grabbed the track by the throat. I think that took 10
years off my life. No question about it, the Oakley Dodge is way better than
what is shown in the POWERade points and it's way better on the race track
than it looks like in the standings. We just got behind on Friday and today
it smoked the tires way down the race track and I shut it off (in today's
first session). I didn't expect it to smoke the tire where it did, and
normally when it's down there and it smokes the tire that hard and you stay
with it there's a big kaboom to follow. And instinct just told me not to. If
I had to do it over again, yes, I'd stay with it and let it kaboom. It all
worked out well; it showed what this team is made of and what I've been
talking about since I started here. Mike Neff (crew chief) is a genius. He
knew where to slow it down, what to do and the car went right down the race
track (in the final round). So, we know what to do in the sun and we should
know what to do tomorrow. We'll see what the weather brings here in Florida,
but I feel pretty good."

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