Scelzi No. 3 in Bristol

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 6 of 23
O'REILLY THUNDER VALLEY NHRA NATIONALS
BRISTOL (Tenn.) DRAGWAY
Race Dates: April 29-May 1, 2005

SCELZI NO. 3 IN RAIN-SHORTENED BRISTOL QUALIFYING

BRISTOL, Tenn. (April 30, 2005) - Rain showers shortened qualifying sessions
to only one for Sunday's O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol
Dragway, and Gary Scelzi made the best of it by qualifying No. 3 in the
Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus
Funny Car.

Scelzi recorded a stout 4.814-second pass at 322.19 mph before the rains
cancelled a second session today. Friday's qualifying was a complete
washout. With only one session completed, the NHRA set the field by assuring
the top 10 in points a place in the field, with the rest of the field made
up of those who qualified today. This is only the second time in NHRA
history that this rule was applied; the first was at the World Finals in
2002.

"I was very impressed with (crew chief) Mike Neff," said Scelzi, eighth in
points. "We learned some stuff in Vegas testing on Monday after the event
(two weeks ago). Mike was pretty confident that the Mopar/Oakley Dodge was
going to go down the race track and run a mid- to low 4.80. We've been
thinking we were really close to that all along.

"It was actually the first time all year that we put the car deep into the
show on the first run, which would have given us our shot in the night run
to go on the pole.

"But, since we had bad weather, we didn't have a second session. But I'm
very excited. I'm very proud of these guys for doing such a great job. We've
had a car to beat all year long. No matter what's happened through
qualifying, we've had one of the quickest cars out here, but we just haven't
had any luck. We're still one of the quickest cars; I don't see why that
should change for tomorrow.

"Should it be overcast, the track should be tight, and I think we can run
4.80s all day long and maybe even some high .70s.

"I'm not worried about having just the one round of qualifying. I'd like to
have had at least two shots to be able to find out where we can't go. You
know what, we just won't go to the unknown. We'll try to keep this thing
under control, run low .80s and take it a round at a time, and hopefully
when we're done, Scelzi will have Bristol."

Bristol is one of only four NHRA pro tracks at which Scelzi has not won in
his successful NHRA pro career.

Scelzi faces Gary Densham in the first round of eliminations on Sunday,
which begin at noon.