Scelzi No. 6 in final Firebird qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2004 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
ROUND 2 OF 23
CHECKER SCHUCK'S KRAGEN NHRA NATIONALS
FIREBIRD RACEWAY
CHANDLER, ARIZ.
RACE DATES: March 5-7, 2004

CHANDLER, Ariz. (March 6, 2004) - Final qualifying is over for the CSK NHRA
Nationals at Firebird Raceway and Gary Scelzi sits in the No. 6 position for
tomorrow's final eliminations following the last two rounds of qualifying
today. 

The third qualifying round saw few cars get down the track at any
substantial speed or elapsed time as a result of temperatures close to 80
degrees. Scelzi and his HEMI-powered Oakley Dodge Funny Car, however, proved
their mettle by posting the second quickest E.T. of that round,
5.086-seconds, and the fourth fastest speed, 238.43 mph.

In the final round, as the temperatures cooled and the sun lowered in the
desert sky, Scelzi pulled out a stronger 4.843/318.54 lap, not good enough
for No. 1 but more than adequate to move him into No. 6.

"It's in the top half of the field, and that's what we were after," he said.
"We made it down the race track three out of four times. The Friday night
shot, like I said, you just throw that in the weeds and if it sticks, it
sticks, and ours didn't.

"We're in good shape for tomorrow. (Teammate Whit) Bazemore was No. 1 for
awhile, so he's in the top half. Unfortunately, we'll have to face each
other in the semifinal if we both make it that far. For now, we have to
worry about Ron Capps in the first round. That's what my focus is on, as
usual."

Last week's Winternationals Funny Car winner Jerry Toliver failed to make
the field, opening up the door for third-place Scelzi to gain in points in
the Funny Car class of the 2004 POWERade Drag Racing Series. "With Toliver
out that's a big move for us," Scelzi said. "There's going to be a lot of
shuffling of the deck, come tomorrow."