O'Reilly Fall Nationals : Scelzi takes No. 2 in final Dallas qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Round 21 of 23
O'Reilly Fall Nationals
Texas Motorplex
Ennis, Texas
Race Dates: Oct. 10-12, 2003

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

SCELZI DROPS TO NO. 2 IN FINAL QUALIFYING, IS NIPPED BY FORCE

ENNIS, Texas (Oct. 11, 2003) - It was good while it lasted, but the cloud
cover that enveloped the Texas Motorplex during the final Funny Car
qualifying session for the O'Reilly Fall Nationals handed the opportunity to
just about anyone to depose Gary Scelzi from the No. 1 qualifying position
he earned last night.

Only one driver managed to knock Scelzi and his Oakley Time Bomb Dodge
Stratus off the podium and that was John Force with his 4.814-second pass at
322.11 mph. Scelzi was staged just behind Force and knew he had to step it
up to regain No. 1. It didn't happen, as he hazed the tires and dropped
cylinders to a less-than-spectacular 4.925-second run at 279.24 mph. He did,
however, retain the top speed of the meet of 323.97 mph, which he set Friday
evening. The 4.828-second pass he posted then held up for the No. 2 spot.

"We saw Force go to .814  and so we jumped on it. It knocked the tire loose
a little bit down track and put a couple of cylinders out and burned the
motor up," Scelzi said. "We put ourselves in a position to do that, which is
what you need to do. But it went down the race track. We just got a little
aggressive toward the top end trying to run the big speed again and we got
caught."

Despite losing the pole to Force and smoking the tires in the third
qualifying round, Scelzi was pleased with the car's performance. "It went
down the race track three for four times," he said. "We're ready for
tomorrow. We can go down when it's hot, we can go down when it's cooler. The
track's not as good as we'd like to see it, but that's not going to hurt us,
so we're in good shape.

Scelzi will face Dale Creasy Jr. in the first round of final eliminations
tomorrow.

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