Scelzi No. 1 qualifier on Friday in Reading

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
ROUND 19 OF 23
TOYO TIRES NHRA NATIONALS
MAPLE GROVE RACEWAY
READING, PA.
Race Dates: Sept. 16-18, 2005

READING, Pa. (Sept. 16, 2005) - After two of four qualifying sessions, Gary
Scelzi holds the No. 1 qualifying position for this weekendıs NHRA Nationals
at Maple Grove Raceway. Driving the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car
for Don Schumacher Racing, Scelzi posted a 4.766-second elapsed time at
322.11 mph in the evening session, under the coolest conditions of the
weekend.

Scelzi, in the Funny Car points lead by a single point over Robert Hight,
stands eight positions ahead of Hight right now, whoıs in ninth.

³Donıt count on that happening very long,² he said of that margin. ³In fact,
everyone was making a joke that I was the point leader until I got into
Reading because Robert has been on such a tear in qualifying. Weıre
ovbviously not dead just because weıve got only a one-point lead. Thereıs
five of us right now that could be the champion. We just donıt know whatıs
going to happen until we play this thing out.

³It sure looks good with me on top,² he laughed.

As for the hot conditions here today, and not the usually expected cool
temperatures: ³Actually, I like it like this,² he said. ³Itıs a little bit
harder to negotiate and the asphalt here is very porous. Itıs got holes in
it. So when the track gets warm you have a lot of trouble when you come off
the concerete of slipping the tire. We didnıt know what was going to happen
with these rev limiters and all this type of stuff. Plus we learned a lot
from last year.

³Last year was very difficult to negotiate and (John) Force was a killer,
even in the sunlight. We had our backs against the wall in the final round.
Fortunately for us he had a clutch problem because we knew he could run a
.70 something and we werenıt going to try to run that.²