Scelzi No. 9 in final Bristol qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2004 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 6 of 23
O'REILLY NHRA THUNDER VALLEY NATIONALS
BRISTOL (Tenn.) DRAGWAY
RACE DATES: APRIL 30-MAY 2, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

SCELZI NO. 9 IN FINAL BRISTOL QUALIFYING

BRISTOL, Tenn. (May 1, 2004) - Gary Scelzi ended up No. 9 in the Funny Car
field after four rounds of qualifying for the O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley
Nationals, the sixth round of 23 in the 2004 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series.

His passes in two out of four of those rounds were good enough to place him
in the top half of the field: 4.857/319.52 in the second round and
4.877/319.22 in the third round, which was the third quickest of that
session. Unfortunately, in the final round, his HEMI-powered Oakley Dodge
Stratus lost traction at 60 feet and Scelzi coasted to an 11.568-second pass
at 82.92.

This was disappointing to the Fresno resident as it dropped him to the
bottom half of the field, in the No. 9 position, but it was not enough to
discourage him.

"We're still struggling with our combination," he said. "But the important
thing is that we're in the field. We'll continue to work on the setup and do
the absolute best we can. We have an awesome crew here, who can tackle any
problem and fix it. I've won from the top half of the field and the bottom
half of the field. We'll just suck it up and get the job done tomorrow."

Scelzi will face Tommy Johnson Jr. in the first round of eliminations on
Sunday, which begin at noon.

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