Scelzi lands in semis at Mopar Mile-High Nationals

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Round 13 of 23
MOPAR MILE-HIGH NHRA NATIONALS
Bandimere Speedway
Morrison, Colo.
Race Dates: July 15-17, 2005

MORRISON, Colo. (July 17, 2005) - Gary Scelzi almost conquered the Mopar
Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, one of just three tracks at which
he's never won (as well as Gainesville, Fla., and Englishtown, N.J.). He
didn't win, but he did break his streak of never going past the second round
of eliminations at this track by landing in the semifinal round today.

Scelzi steered the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus Funny Car through the first
round by defeating Cruz Pedregon with a 5.023/297.22 to Pedregon's losing
5.142/286.13. He then dismissed Del Worsham in the second round with a
5.050/301.60, while Worsham smoked the tires to a 6.774/143.86.

The semifinal round for Scelzi versus Robert Hight was pivotal in the
championship, as the winner would take over the lead in the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings. John Force, the leader coming
into this race, had been eliminated in the first round for the second
straight event.

Scelzi torched the starting lights with a blistering .039 reaction time to
Hight's .057, but it didn't achieve the desired result, as the Mopar/Oakley
Dodge lost traction immediately and Scelzi was unable to recover, slowing to
a losing 11.255/78.82 pass while Hight took the victory with a 4.964/316.75.

Scelzi dropped to third in points, but is now only 14 points behind John
Force in second, and 36 short of Robert Hight, who took over the lead with
his win.

"I'm happy," he said. "We came in here in second place, three rounds out of
first. We're leaving here in third, but we're only going to be one or two
rounds out of first. I've never been past second round here and I've only
been to the second round once. So I made it to the semis. We'll be fine.

"We had a cylinder that was hot and, for whatever reason, we don't know, the
engine was running funny up there. And when I stepped off, it pulled on the
engine too hard. We haven't found out exactly what happened, but we will.

"We're going to be good. We'll be good in Seattle, we'll be good in Sonoma.
I'm very pleased to be right in the middle of this thing."

The Funny Car battle is heating up. The top four drivers are in close
striking distance of the Funny Car championship, with Scelzi's teammate Ron
Capps in fourth, only 81 points behind the top spot.

Next up is the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals on July 22-24, 2005.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Robert Hight, 893 (winner today)
2. John Force, 871
3. Gary Scelzi, 857
4. Ron Capps, 812
5. Tommy Johnson Jr., 731
6. Cruz Pedregon, 695
7. Whit Bazemore, 689
8. Eric Medlen, 656
9. Del Worsham, 633
10. Tony Pedregon, 596