Scelzi No. 1 Qualifier on Fri. in Seattle

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
CARQUEST AUTO PARTS NHRA NATIONALS
Round 14 of 23
Pacific Raceways
Kent, Wash.
Race Date: July 25-27, 2003

KENT, Wash. (July 25, 2003) - Gary Scelzi put his Oakley Time Bomb Dodge
Stratus Funny Car smack into the No. 1 position in this evening's second
qualifying session, with a stout 4.964/299.33 mph pass, which put back that
smile on not only Scelzi's face but the faces of his crew and crew chief
Mike Neff. In the first session, in the heat of the Northwest sun, Scelzi's
5.165/284.15 pass was good for No. 2 at that point. These two strong passes
were important to the team that has struggled this season.

"I was nervous because the left-hand lane has more bumps in it," said
Scelzi, who's still looking for his first Funny Car win. "And when I did the
burnout and pushed the clutch in and was coasting down, the wheelie bar hit
two or three times on those bumps. I thought, Oh, this is going to get
exciting. We were fine with what we did earlier today, and that's why it's
so important. That's what all the drivers say, that it's so important to get
down the race track on the first run so you have something to look at.
Theoretically and historically, the right-hand lane is the best lane here.
That was the lane we wanted for this afternoon's run."

Scelzi credits his crew chief Mike Neff for the good results. "I am so
impressed with Mike Neff right now and I have been since we tested in
Phoenix before the season started. He's really good, he's young, he's
aggressive."

There's no question that the Oakley Dodge is fast, with Scelzi establishing
a national speed record with his 328.06 mph lap in Joliet, Ill., this year,
but the team has been searching for consistency all season. "We set the
national record at 328. It runs 4.70, it runs 325, 328 or it smokes the
tires. There's no happy medium," he said. "It's like a finicky cat, you
never know what you're going to get. We try to slow it down and sometimes
it'll shake and it smokes the tires, and sometimes it just overpowers it,
and we've had a hard time getting a handle on it this year. That's why we're
11th in points. The good news is that every time we pull next to Tony
(Pedregon) or (John) Force or any of these hitters they know they've got a
real race car next to them and they know that we can do some damage, even
though we haven't done it yet. But I think and I feel this is what you're
going to see from here on out. I've been feeling this for a while, but it
looks like we've finally put it together."