Scelzi squeaks into Houston Funny Car field

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2004 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
ROUND 5 of 23
O'REILLY NHRA SPRING NATIONALS
HOUSTON RACEWAY PARK
RACE DATES: APRIL 16-18, 2004



SCELZI MAKES IT INTO HOUSTON FIELD IN FINAL PASS

HOUSTON, Texas (April 17, 2004) - It was a squeaker, but Gary Scelzi finally
got his HEMI-powered Oakley Dodge Stratus into the Funny Car field for the
O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals in today's final pass, following a series of
tire-smoking qualifying rounds, which found him on the outside looking in,
in No. 17.

After three uncharacteristically slow passes of 10.566/79.49, 9.087/88.07
and 6.032/222.00, you could say he improved in every round. And, of course
he did. Unfortunately, he was still in No. 17 as he came up to the line for
his final chance to play on Sunday. He's had better runs, but the
5.080-second elapsed time at 297.48 mph was good enough to move him safely
into No. 14.

"I really don't get nervous anymore," said Scelzi, who owns the national
top-speed record of 329.18 mph. "And for some reason I wasn't nervous this
time. Before we pulled up, (crew chief) Mike Neff said it should go down
there. I said, Well, you know what, it's fate. It's either going to go or it
isn't going to go. We're either going to get in or we're not going to get
in. 

"You could make yourself a mess and force a mistake by anticipating a
problem. I've been doing this for a long time. If you just go do it and you
don't think about it - like I did when I had to pedal it - you just do it.
The car either recovers or it doesn't. Fortunately for us it did."

Scelzi started out the 2004 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season strong
by going to the semifinals in the first race and now finds himself battling
to remain sixth in points after being as high as third. "We made a major
change again," he added. "The car hasn't been consistent like we've worked
all winter to get it to do. And we can't wait any longer. It's crunch time
now. We cannot fall any further back in the points. We have to get this
combination right. We think what we've got now is right. Time will tell. But
I feel good.

"You can't win if you're not in the show and we're in the show. I've won
from 16th, 15th and from No. 1. We're going to give it everything we've got
against whoever pulls up beside me. Hopefully the HEMI-powered Oakley Dodge
will just do what it's supposed to do and we'll get the rest."

Scelzi will face Jeff Arend in the first round of eliminations tomorrow.