Scelzi has an air of confidence after qualifying No. 6 in Ohio

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 8 of 23
PONTIAC PERFORMANCE NHRA NATIONALS
NATIONAL TRAIL RACEWAY
HEBRON, OHIO
Race Dates: May 20-22, 2005

HEBRON, Ohio (May 21, 2005) - Gary Scelzi has a renewed air of confidence
after qualifying the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus Funny Car No. 6 today for
the NHRA Nationals at National Trail Raceway, despite a 5.495/183.42 pass in
the final qualifying session.

After struggling to get into the field in the first two attempts, the
4.833-second elapsed time at 320.13 mph he posted in the third session was
the third quickest of the round and placed him solidly into No. 6 for final
eliminations.

"Excellent," he said after the final run. "We wanted to see where we could
go. And it's very close right there. We're OK. I'm pleased. The Mopar/Oakley
Dodge is reacting good at 60 ft. We're ready for tomorrow. It's the best
I've felt all year long.

"I was nervous about not qualifying early on, because this is a different
combination that we're running. It's something new that we tried in Vegas
that we hadn't been able to run as of yet because of the weather and Mike
(Neff, crew chief) made the commitment to run it. And it's looking good.

"We don't want to be too excited, but it looks pretty raceable for tomorrow,
absolutely."

Scelzi faces Tony Pedregon in the first round of eliminations that begin at
11 a.m. on Sunday.