Scelzi out in first round at U.S. Nats

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 17 of 23
U.S. NATIONALS
INDIANAPOLIS RACEWAY PARK
Rainout Race Date: Sept. 5-7, 2003

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept.7, 2003) - In the last four races of the 23-event NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series Gary Scelzi has qualified in the top five four
times, including two No. 1s, a No. 5 and, here at the U.S. Nationals, a No.
2. Scelzi parlayed one of those strong qualifying results into one Funny Car
victory (his first career Funny Car win), but he wasn't able to make it two
at the U.S. Nationals.

In the first round of final eliminations at this prestigious event, Scelzi
was paired with Tim Wilkerson. Sometimes stuff happens, we've all said at
one time or another. And so it did today. Scelzi staged deep, launching at
.102 of a second to Wilkerson's .076. But that was all she wrote as Scelzi's
Oakley Time Bomb Dodge Stratus dropped a cylinder immediately, resulting in
a valiant but losing pass of 4.968-seconds at 299.80 mph.

Wilkerson took the win with a 4.829/321.27.

"It was very unfortunate for the Oakley Dodge," said the Fresno native and a
former U.S. Nationals champion in Top Fuel. "We were OK, everything was
good. For whatever reason it dropped a hole (cylinder) at the step of the
throttle. The car didn't move. It pushed me over to the right side to get me
to go over the centerline. I fought it back, fought it the whole way down.
It just kept getting worse as I was going down the race track. And I saw
there was no chance of catching Tim so I just ended up shutting it off.

"It's very unfortunate at this race of all races to have a problem like that
when we've had such a good race car, actually, since Denver. And we still
have a good race car. We had something mechanical go wrong, maybe an
ignition part. Something failed. We don't know what it is just yet, but
we've got plenty of parts. We'll put all new stuff on it. And we'll go run
this thing again and see what happens."

The three-time Top Fuel champion and fastest Funny Car driver in the world
(328.06 mph), hangs on to eighth place in the Funny Car championship point
standings, with 813 points.

Next up is Round 18 of 23 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series events, the Lucas
Oil NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., Sept. 12-14.