Scelzi exits Memphis early

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 19 of 23
O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals presented by Pennzoil
Memphis Motorsports Park
Memphis, Tenn.
Rainout date: Sept. 22, 2003

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 22, 2003) - Gary Scelzi found himself exiting Memphis
Motorsports Park early with his first-round Funny Car loss at the O'Reilly
Mid-South Nationals. The driver of the Oakley Time Bomb Dodge Stratus lost
to Dean Skuza, who produced his best run of the weekend, a 4.877/312.06, to
beat Scelzi's 4.864/318.09.

Earlier in the session, No. 1 in points Tony Pedregon advanced to the second
round with his best pass of the weekend, 4.825/315.78, which proved to be a
bellwether of the excellent track conditions the racers would see today
following yesterday's rain, with temperatures in the 70s under partly cloudy
skies.

"It was very unfortunate that that happened and the way it happened. We went
in thin for lane choice in case we had Tony Pedregon the next round," said
the Fresno, Calif., resident. "We didn't have time when we found out how
good the track was to put some counterweight on it to make it run an .82 or
better and I went in thin. Dean rolled it in; he had a .054 light, I had a
.104, just like I had all weekend qualifying thin.

"We just got beat. There's no excuse, no anything; it's just what happened.
We still have a good car. There's no game-change plan. We're not going to
have our heads down. We're not going to change anything; we're going to stay
the same. 

"It's just part of the game. I could be upset, but it's not going to change
anything. We dust ourselves off, we load it up and we get on down the road.
You can't beat yourselves up because then you'll start making mistakes and
you'll start doing things that are out of the realm, and that's not what
we're going to do.

"We raced smart. Skuza hadn't been better than a 5.05 all weekend, and he
unloaded on us."

Scelzi stays in eighth place in the POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car
point standings, with 849.