Scelzi struggles, qualifies No. 10 in Las Vegas

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
The ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals
Round 22 of 23
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nev.
Race Dates: Oct. 24-26, 2003


LAS VEGAS (Oct. 25, 2003) - Gary Scelzi and his Oakley Time Bomb Dodge
Stratus Funny Car team qualified No. 10 for the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA
Nationals, the penultimate round of the 2003 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series, by virtue of a 4.916/313.51 pass in today's third qualifying
session.

In his final qualifying pass he coasted across the finish line in 9.711
seconds at 88.25 mph

"We have been running way lean because the air is so dry there are no water
grains in it," he said. "And that was one of the reasons I over-revved it in
the burnout last night. You speed the blower up because you're at altitude,
but you're in the desert so you need more fuel. So we made the change on
that last run and it was better, but we still didn't have enough on it.

"Tomorrow we should be back to normal. The tune-up should be what we want it
to be, and we're going to chase Force. And hopefully he'll be seeing the
back of the Oakley Dodge like he's seen twice this year."

Scelzi will face John Force in the first round of final eliminations, whom
he's beat two out of the three times they've met this season.