Scelzi sizzles at Brainerd, Qualifies No. 1

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
NO. 16 OF 23
BRAINERD (MINN.) INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
LUCAS OIL NHRA NATIONALS
RACE DATE: AUG. 15-17

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

SCELZI SIZZLES ON HOT BRAINERD TRACK, TAKES NO. 1

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 16, 2003) - Gary Scelzi's been sizzling the last three
races and he continued that trend on a hot Brainerd International Raceway by
qualifying No. 1 for the second time in three races. And the race in which
he didn't qualify No. 1, well, he won that one, in Sonoma, Calif., for his
first career Fuel Funny Car victory.

After the final two qualifying sessions were held today, the driver of the
Oakley Time Bomb Dodge Stratus held on as low qualifier with the
4.940/311.63 pass he established on Friday evening. It was another scorcher
today, and no one was able to knock Scelzi out of the top spot. In the third
qualifying session today, the slippery track wasn't able to produce any
stellar runs, and Scelzi spun the tires to a 5.617/182.08 lap. In the final
session in slightly cooler conditions Scelzi knocked off the third quickest
run of that round, 4.991/311.99.

"I feel good. I'm glad we made it down the race track tonight," he said.
"Even though we were No. 1 qualifier you don't like to go into Sunday with
one out of four runs. It almost made it the run before, but it was just a
little bit on the aggressive side. It probably would have run a 5.10, but it
started spinning the tires so I shut it off.

"So we kind of went back to how we were going to run it tomorrow and it came
back and ran a 4.99. The car had a vibration in it in the burnout and it had
carried it all the way through on the run. I'm not sure what that was. It
might be a tire out of balance or something; we'll have to check. We're
ready for tomorrow, we've got tires that are scuffed and we've got brand new
tires, so we're ready for whatever tomorrow brings. If it's hot we should be
OK; we should be able to go down the race track. I feel pretty good about my
chances for tomorrow.

"Everybody is upbeat and everybody's dancing to a little bit different
drum," he remarked about his revitalized team after his two No. 1s and a win
in Sonoma. "Right now they're knocking that thing apart like it's between
rounds. They're looking everything over, but they're hustling. Everybody is
upbeat and excited. It's good when you have that feeling. You're coming off
a win, another No. 1 qualifying. We need this. We need to make a move in
these POWERade points and that's what we want to do. We can't really slip up
from here on out. We've got to do well and we've got to go late in the
rounds."

With No. 6 in points Ron Capps not qualifying this weekend, and with just a
62-point deficit to No. 7 in points Tommy Johnson Jr., who's qualified 10th,
Scelzi has an opportunity to move up even further in points from his No. 8
standing. He will face Phil Burkart Jr. in the first round tomorrow and,
surprise, he can only meet his teammate Whit Bazemore on Sunday if they both
make it to the final round!

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