SCELZI MAKES IT A RACE FOR SECOND TOMORROW, TIES WORSHAM IN POMONA QUALIFYING

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2004 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 23 of 23
AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NHRA FINALS
POMONA (Calif.) RACEWAY
Race Dates: Nov. 11-14, 2004


POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 13, 2004) - After a disappointing third qualifying
session, where he smoked the tires on his HEMI-powered Oakley Dodge Stratus
Funny Car (10.521/80.29), Gary Scelzi poured it on in the final round and
put a period on the script for the second act of the continuing drama called
the chase for second place against Del Worsham by posting a stellar
4.728-second pass at 326.00 mph.

That was good for No. 1 at that point, but five more pairs were in the wings
before the curtain would come down and the third act of the 2004 NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series - final eliminations - could begin. Scelzi held
on to No. 1 through three more pairs until Gary Densham pulled out a
4.706/329.75, which his boss John Force then demolished in the final pass
with a 4.698/329.18 to take the top spot in the quickest Funny Car field in
NHRA history (4.698 to 4.854).

In the lane next to Force was Worsham, polesitter coming into today's final
session. In a scenario only a playwright could script, Worsham, who is tied
with Scelzi in championship points, also matched Scelzi's pass with an
identical 4.728 but with a faster speed. By virtue of speed, Worsham took
over No. 3, relegating Scelzi to No. 4.

"I'm trying not to get nervous about this whole thing," said Scelzi. "We're
just trying to stay focused on what we've got to do. I tell you, I was
fighting it. We were lined up on the left-hand side of the groove and the
thing was chasing me over there. I kept trying to herd it back in there. I
hit the 'whoa' button, 'whoa, over here, baby, that's not where I want you
to go.'" 

"It's exciting. Whatever happens, happens.

"We're happy as long as we're in the top half. I was kinda hoping we'd end
up No. 5, because that's what's happened the last two races," he said of his
two consecutive wins from fifth position. "But the HEMI Oakley Dodge finally
did what it was supposed to do. We have some clutch glitches here. We made
an educated change. Zippy (crew chief Mike Neff) said 'I know what I gotta
do. It'll be fine.' It went out and ran a .72. It dropped a hole (cylinder)
right before the finish line, so it probably would have been a little bit
better.

"But we can race. We're one point behind Del in qualifying. We'll just go
win the race and we won't have to worry about that one point. That's 20 big
ones, maybe we'll win it by 19. We'll take them one at a time tomorrow and
see what happens."

Scelzi faces Bob Bode in the first round of eliminations on Sunday, which
begin at 11 a.m. He and Worsham are on different sides of the ladder.