Scelzi steps up to plate, qualifies No. 9 for U.S. Nationals

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 STEPS UP TO THE PLATE IN FINAL QUALIFYING ROUND AT U.S. NATIONALS

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 5, 2004) - Gary Scelzi and the HEMI-powered Oakley Dodge
Stratus Funny Car team stepped up to the plate this afternoon in the final
qualifying session for the U.S. Nationals, by posting the second-quickest
pass of that round in hot and humid conditions, under a slight cloud cover.
His 4.870-second elapsed time at 316.82 mph moved him up to ninth place, and
it gave the team encouragement for good performance under similar conditions
in tomorrow's eliminations rounds.

"An .87 wasn't bad," he said at the top end, "but it wasn't looking good
against that 4.84 of Tony's (Pedregon in the other lane).

"We got in trouble this morning (losing in the first round of the Skoal
Showdown). We smoked the tires, so Zippy (crew chief Mike Neff) changed
things around a little bit. I'm sure the cloud cover helped a little bit (in
this run), but tomorrow there's going to be sunshine. We're coming out
swinging tomorrow, Baby, because that's all you can do.

"These are the conditions we're racing in. Actually, the track was a little
better than we thought when we got up there.

"With an .89 in the heat of the day (in the second qualifying round) and an
.87 right now - except for the miscue this morning - we're going for it.
We'll see what happens."

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader John Force
qualified No. 1. Scelzi is second in points and would like nothing better
than to carve away the 220-point deficit he holds, with six events left in
the season. "We've just got to pay attention and hope Force goes out early,"
he said.

"He's looked pretty strong in qualifying, but I've seen that happen before
and he kind of slipped up tonight in the final of the Skoal Showdown (where
he hazed the tires at the finish and lost to his teammate Gary Densham).
Maybe he'll have a little trouble tomorrow."

Force will meet No. 16 qualifier Jim Head in the first round of
eliminations. "Jim Head's gone down the track a couple of times," added
Scelzi, "and Force could be there for the picking tomorrow."

Scelzi faces his teammate Johnny Gray in Don Schumacher's Wonder Wagon
Stratus in the first round of eliminations, which begin at 11 a.m. on
Monday.

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