Scelzi on rails; qualifies third in E-town

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 11 of 23
K&N FILTERS SUPERNATIONALS
OLD BRIDGE TOWNSHIP RACEWAY PARK
ENGLISHTOWN, N.J.
Race Dates: June 17-19, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

SCELZI ON RAILS; QUALIFIES THIRD IN E-TOWN

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 18, 2005) - Except for a 5.144/219.97 pass in the
third round of qualifying for the K&N Filters SuperNationals, Gary Scelzi
and the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus rocketed down the track in every
qualifying session and set a speed track record of 328.30 mph while
qualifying No. 3.

Friday's first pass placed him No. 1 for that round, with a 4.875/315.49. He
then established the sizzling 4.793/328.30, which set the record but was
only good for No. 3.

The final round pass of 4.844/322.73 clocked the fastest speed of the round
and placed him solidly in No. 3 behind Cruz Pedregon and Jeff Arend.

"The Mopar/Oakley Dodge is really good. It's doing everything we want it to
do and then some," said Scelzi, who would like to continue cutting away at
John Force's points lead. "It's going down the race track. On the third run
we wanted to see exactly where we could go, and it spun the tires down
track, so I shut it off.

"Other than that, it's making it down the race track, with very minimal
vibration, no shake, and the motor looks good. We're ready to go some rounds
tomorrow."

Scelzi meets Phil Burkart Jr. in the first round of eliminations on Sunday.

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