Scelzi gains on Force, loses ground to Hight in Seattle

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 14 of 23
CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals
Pacific Raceways
Kent, Wash.
Race Dates: July 22-24, 2005


SCELZI GAINS GROUND ON FORCE IN SEATTLE, BUT HIGHT OUTDOES THEM BOTH

KENT, Wash. (July 24, 2005) - Gary Scelzi, by virtue of qualifying No. 2 to
John Force's No. 6, is now just 11 points behind 13-time champion Force,
despite his first-round defeat today at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA
Nationals. Force was also dispatched in the first round - for the third
straight race. The last time that Force lost three consecutive first rounds
was in 1989.

The spoiler in this hugely popular Scelzi vs. Force rivalry is Force's
teammate Robert Hight, who reached the final round for the second straight
race today. Hight had moved ahead of both Force and Scelzi when he won last
week in Denver, and today he extended his lead to 84 points over his
employer and 95 over Scelzi in third after his runner-up finish against his
teammate Eric Medlen.

Steering the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car, Scelzi faced his
teammate Whit Bazemore in the opening round today. Scelzi launched first
with a .046 reaction time, Bazemore with a .098. The race was over when
Scelzi immediately smoked the tires and slowed to an 8.976-second pass at
94.62 mph, while Bazemore shot to the finish line with a winning
4.907/311.56. 

"It smoked the tires," Scelzi simply stated. "I guess the track got bald and
we didn't make enough of an adjustment to slow the car down on the bald
spots. You can't keep making mistakes like that. The driver can't make
mistakes, the crew chief can't  make mistakes or we're going to be worrying
about fifth place and not the championship.

"One thing about drag racing is when you think that you've got a handle on
everything and you think you have a shot at it and your car runs well -- we
made four great qualifying runs -- there's no reason this thing should have
done that. Yet it did.

"No reason Force should be stumbling like he's been stumbling, and if we
keep this up we're going to be crowning a new champion, and it ain't going
to be Force and it ain't going to be Scelzi."

Scelzi hangs on to third place in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny
Car point standings, and is now 50 points ahead of his teammate Ron Capps in
fourth. He also held on to his track speed record here of 325.85 mph.

Next up is the Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma,
Calif., July 29-31.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Robert Hight, 989
2. John Force, 905
3. Gary Scelzi, 894
4. Ron Capps, 844
5. Tommy Johnson Jr., 806
6. Eric Medlen, 774 (winner today)
7. Whit Bazemore, 760
8. Cruz Pedregon, 747
9. Del Worsham, 667
10. Tony Pedregon, 649