Scelzi on bubble after two qualifying rounds in Denver

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Round 13 of 23
MOPAR MILE-HIGH NHRA NATIONALS
Bandimere Speedway
Denver, Colorado
Race Date: July 18-20, 2003

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501, cell 203-243-2438

SCELZI ON THE BUBBLE AFTER TWO QUALIFYING ROUNDS IN DENVER

DENVER, Colo. (July 18, 2003) - Gary Scelzi, driving the Oakley Time Bomb
Dodge Stratus in the first round of qualifying and the Dodge "Grab Llife By
the Horns" Stratus in the second, found himself on the bubble in 16th place
when rain and lightning cancelled tonight's qualifying session with two
Funny Cars left in the staging lanes.

Scelzi's 5.221/282.24 pass in the first round of qualifying keeps him in the
field, as his tire-smoking 5.906/164.87 in the second round didn't help move
him up the charts.

"We tried to step up the program in the second round," he said. "Obviously,
the track was going to handle it. We had the best 60-foot (time) we've had;
it ran really well up to that point, almost as good as we have at sea level,
but it got out there at 400-500 feet and smoked the tires. It just wouldn't
take what we were going to give it.

"I was encouraged by the first round, but I was more encouraged by what it
ran before it smoked the tires. That seems to be where we have our
difficulty, and we didn't, and it ran good through there. We might have just
gotten a little greedy, but probably not by much. We didn't miss it by a
lot."

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