Scelzi Conquers Infineon's Quarter Mile, Wins His First Funny Car Race

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Round 15 of 23
Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals
Infineon Raceway
Sonoma, Calif.
Race Dates: Aug. 1-3, 2003


SONOMA, Calif. (Aug. 3, 2003) - Oakley Time Bomb Dodge Stratus driver Gary
Scelzi finally conquered the Infineon Raceway quarter-mile, winning not only
his first NHRA pro event at this Northern California dragstrip in either Top
Fuel or Funny Car, but the first event of his NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series Funny Car career.

By defeating Dean Skuza in the final round today in a close match-up, Scelzi
also became the only driver to have won in the Alcohol Dragster, Alcohol
Funny Car, Top Fuel and Fuel Funny Car classes. He is also the 13th driver
driver in NHRA history to win in both Nitro classes. The Fresno, Calif.,
native has won 25 Top Fuel events in his career, and this win is his first
in a pro NHRA class since September 2001.

On top of four solid qualifying runs, Scelzi won every round in final
eliminations in under five seconds. In the opening round he disposed of his
teammate Scotty Cannon with a 4.899, giving him lane choice over his other
teammate Whit Bazemore in the second round. He beat Baze with a 4.975,
earning lane choice once again, this time against John Force in the
semifinal. Scelzi dismissed the 12-time NHRA champion with a 4.954, which in
turn gave him lane choice for the final.

The final round saw a close race to the finish line between Skuza and
Scelzi, who have met twice before, each taking a win. Scelzi launched with a
quicker reaction time of .063 to Skuza's .084. They were side by side for
the entire pass, until the finish line, when Scelzi got the win light by a
margin of .0291 seconds, with an elapsed time of 4.958 at 312.21 mph.

Earlier in the weekend, Scelzi established a new track record for speed of
318.92 mph with his Oakley Dodge rocketship.

"It's pretty incredible," he said following an emotional win. "This is the
whole reason why I race, is to win. I didn't want to drive just any car. I
wanted to drive a car that I felt was capable of winning, with equipment
that was capable of winning and I really wanted to be with Don Schumacher
Racing.

"I always felt that I could drive anything with four wheels and I felt I
could drive it well," he added. "And I felt that in the right conditions,
with the right people and the right equipment that I could win. That's how
it works. It takes a crew chief, it takes a team, it takes a budget and at
Schumacher Racing and Oakley and Matco Tools and all the sponsors, that's
what we've got. And today is the result of all the right things put
together."

The three-time Top Fuel champion gave full credit to his team and crew chief
Mike Neff. "Mike Neff used to work for Joe Gibbs and he gives speeches every
day at the end of the day," Scelzi commented. "He let's the guys know
they've done well or if they need to pick it up in a certain area. He
doesn't beat the guys up, he doesn't beat me up. But they praise me and I
praise them. So those guys on that team have made me as strong as I am right
now.

"Mike tuned that car to eight great runs this weekend. That's pretty
phenomenal: eight fast and quick runs. Every time he told the car to do
something it would do it. Every spot on the race track he wanted to slow it
down or speed it up it did it. I can't tell you how I feel right now."

Oakley's Mad Scientist Jim Jannard was on hand to watch his driver take his
first win for Oakley. "I think Jim is a little numb right now," said Scelzi.
"This is as big thing. It's a big thing for me, it's a big thing for Jim,
it's a big thing for Oakley. They've been in this position before but they
haven't been able to get it done."

If anyone could have been even more emotional, it was team owner Don
Schumacher. "That was fantastic," he said with a quiver in his voice. "That
team really needed that win. We are really a united team right now. It was
great for Gary , Zippy (Neff), Jim Jannard and Oakley, Matco Tools, U.S.
Army, everybody. We are one great team out here right now that's working
together and that's just super."

Neff was ecstatic in his usual calm, steady and focused way. "That feels
great," he said. "We've been long overdue. I'm just so happy for my team and
Gary and Oakley and Schumacher. We really had a lot of pressure stacked on
us for quite a while now that we haven't been making the results that have
been expected of us. I'm glad we finally gathered it up this weekend and we
were able to pound out eight respectable runs and earn a victory and not
have anybody giving us anything."

Scelzi jumped to eight place in the point standings, with 718, just 62
behind Tommy Johnson Jr.