Scelzi No. 10 after three U.S. Nats qualifying rounds

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 18 of 23
50th ANNUAL U.S. NATIONALS
INDIANAPOLIS RACEWAY PARK
RACE DATES:  Sept. 3-6, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

SCELZI NO. 10 AFTER THREE ROUNDS OF QUALIFYING FOR U.S. NATIONALS

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 4, 2004) - Following three of five rounds of Funny Car
qualifying for the prestigious U.S. Nationals, Gary Scelzi is No. 10, based
on his run from the first qualifying session last night of 4.879 seconds at
319.75 mph.

In the second round today under hot and sunny conditions, he posted a
4.892/314.97. Tonight his HEMI-powered Oakley Dodge Stratus lost traction
for a 6.075/152.06 pass.

"We made a good run last night, we made a good run during the day, which was
the second quickest of the round," he said. "Tonight we swung for the fence.
We ran a 4.770 (in the heat of the day) in testing here and we tried to
duplicate that, but the race track would just not see it.

"We don't race in these conditions. We wanted to make a statement tonight
and it didn't happen, so we're fine for race day tomorrow (for the Skoal
Showdown, which includes two more qualifying rounds). The sun is going to be
out, it's going to be hot, loose and we've got a race car that will go down
a hot race track. We're ready."

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