Scelzi's dramatic day ends in quarterfinal in Atlanta

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 7 of 23
NHRA SOUTHERN NATIONALS
ATLANTA DRAGWAY
COMMERCE, GA.
Race dates: May 13-15, 2005

SCELZI'S DRAMATIC DAY ENDS IN SECOND ROUND IN ATLANTA

COMMERCE, Ga. (May 15, 2005) - Gary Scelzi's dramatic day at the NHRA
Southern Nationals ended in the quarterfinal today when he lost to Cruz
Pedregon. The fact that the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus Funny Car even made
it down the track in 4.917 seconds at 304.05 mph to Pedregon's winning
4.882/315.78 was testament to crew chief Mike Neff and his band of warriors
who put the car back together following an explosion in a winning first
round against Richard Hartman.

Scelzi won the opener with a 7.425/112.64 pass to Hartman's 9.017/126.80,
but a burst of fire in the car at half-track demolished a number of valuable
components, which had to be replaced before the second round match-up. As
the team scurried to replace the damaged parts, a welcome rain shower
provided some breathing space. Following five warm-ups to set the rpm
readings, the team was back on the starting line in the first Funny Car
match-up after the rain stopped.

The Fresno, Calif., native launched first off the line with a .072 reaction
time to Pedregon's .082. It was close, but a failing cylinder pulled Scelzi
to the wall, and his day was over, as Pedregon edged him out at the finish
line by .0256 of a second.

"It didn't do what it wanted to do, obviously," said a disappointed Scelzi.
"We had to change superchargers, fuel pumps, we had problems with the
computer. We had a lot of things that we had to change after that explosion.
It shook, I pedaled it, and for whatever reason the bottom of the fuel pump
suction broke off, it went lean, and all the fuel ignited when it banged the
supercharger. We had a lot of havoc here.

"It was a pretty big effort to drag the Mopar/Oakley Dodge back up there and
run as well as it did. It dropped a hole (cylinder) down there a little
ways. It was driving over to the wall and I had to click it. I clicked it a
little early, but Cruz was running pretty well.

"It was one of those unfortunate things, but we'll be OK. We'll get
everything straightened out this week and pull into Columbus (Ohio) as good
as we've ever been."

Scelzi is now fifth in the point standings, with 428 points.

Next up is the Pontiac Performance NHRA Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, May
20-22, 2005.