Scelzi holds on to No. 1 in Vegas qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 5 of 23
NHRA SUMMITRACING.COM NATIONALS
THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS
Race Dates: April 15-17, 2005



SCELZI HOLDS ON TO NO. 1 IN VEGAS QUALIFYING

LAS VEGAS (April 16, 2005) - Gary Scelzi held on as low qualifier through
two more rounds of qualifying today for the NHRA Nationals at The Strip at
Las Vegas. The Fresno, Calif., native's elapsed time of 4.797 seconds at
325.06 mph, set last night, was not surpassed today in the heat of the
desert sun.

In today's third round of qualifying he recorded a 4.941-second pass at
311.05, and in the final session he posted the second-best of that round of
4.892/320.20. Only last week's winner in Houston Robert Hight (of John Force
Racing) bettered that time with a 4.811/325.77.

"Three out of four good qualifying rounds, that's not bad," he said. "We'll
see. A lot of guys had a lot of trouble (getting down this track). Mike
(Neff, crew chief) seems to be able to master this Mopar/Oakley Dodge and
the weather is going to be just like this tomorrow.

"I didn't think anybody was going to beat that time today. Even with Robert
running an .81. I thought that was one of those on-the-edge kind of deals.
And it was in the left lane, and there's more shade in the left-hand lane,
so that didn't bother me."

Scelzi faces Eric Medlen in the first round of eliminations on Sunday.
Medlen struggled to qualify, ending up No. 16. "I'm not a big fan of racing
Eric Medlen," said Scelzi, "because his team has a lot of information and
they do share information over there at  John Force Racing.

"We're as good as Force, we're as good as Robert (Hight), we're as good as
any of them. Well just go out there and I'll get my elbows up on the seat
and do the best we can, and hopefully we'll put this Mopar/Oakley Dodge in
the final.

Scelzi also held on to his No. 2 qualifying spot in the Meer Capital
Partners Alcohol Funny Car. Unfortunately, Scelzi was defeated in the first
round of eliminations.