Scelzi goes five strong laps, exits early in Topeka

2004 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
O'REILLY NHRA SUMMER NATIONALS
HEARTLAND PARK TOPEKA (Kan.)
RACE DATES: MAY 28-30, 2004
SCELZI RUNS FIVE STOUT LAPS, GOES OUT IN FIRST ROUND

TOPEKA, Kan. (May 30, 2004) - Gary Scelzi's HEMI-powered Oakley Dodge
Stratus Funny Car qualified eighth and made five good runs this weekend at
the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals.

When you qualify eighth in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, you find
yourself facing the No. 9 qualifier in first round of eliminations and it's
probably one of the toughest rounds a Funny Car racer has to face, as the
cars are often close to being equal in performance. Gary Densham from John
Force's team was Scelzi's opponent in today's first round.

Densham had the slight edge in reaction time and stayed the course to the
finish line, while Scelzi got slightly out of the groove and spun the tires.
The end result was a winning 4.780/324.05 for Densham, and a losing
4.826/315.78 pass for Scelzi.

"We felt really good about going into the first round against Densham," said
Scelzi, the top-speed national record holder of 330.55 mph. "We thought we
could run a high 4.70 to a 4.80, and that's exactly what this HEMI-powered
Oakley Dodge was going to run.

"I got it out of the groove a little bit and it started spinning the tires
and that hurt us. Densham had a great light (.083 to .104) on the starting
line and ran low ET of that round. Unfortunately, any time you race a John
Force car, they can lower the boom on you at any time. It's unfortunate that
we lost, but the car went down the race track, it ran very well. It probably
would have won some rounds today; we just ended up in the wrong spot at the
wrong time.

"It actually made five runs this weekend with no tire smoke, even though we
had some engine problems. We're learning what the HEMI Oakley Dodge wants
and it's getting better every event. We were five for five this weekend,
which is pretty big. Not a lot of people can say that."

Next up is the Pontiac Excitement NHRA Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, June
11-13.

POINT STANDINGS:

1. Whit Bazemore, 697
2. Del Worsham, 621
3. John Force, 617
4. Eric Medlen, 570
5. Gary Densham, 513
6. Tim Wilkerson, 512
7. Gary Scelzi, 485