Scelzi holds No. 1 in Reading, gains five points on Hight

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. 17, 2005) - Except in the first round of Funny Car
qualifying for this weekend's NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, when he
qualified No. 2, Gary Scelzi has stormed through each remaining session with
the quickest passes in each.

The driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car ripped down the
quarter-mile Friday night to a pole-setting 4.765-second elapsed time at
322.11 mph, and held it through the final qualifying round, posting a
4.817/316.90 earlier today and finally a crushing 4.769/323.58 in the heat.

The three-time Top Fuel champion who is seeking his first Funny Car crown
sent a clear message that his is the car to beat in Sunday's eliminations.

Scelzi collected his fourth No. 1 of the season, his 40th career, and gained
five points on Robert Hight, who qualified No. 8. Scelzi now leads the Funny
Car point standings by six points over Hight.

The Fresno, Calif., native and defending Funny Car titlist here, faces Gary
Densham in the first round of eliminations, while his teammate Ron Capps,
also in the Funny Car championship chase, will meet Hight.

"[The Mopar/Oakley Dodge] has been the most consistent, it's been the
quickest, or right next to the quickest every single run, which is scary.
Because sometimes you wait for that one bad one and you think, OK, that's
out of the way. We've done well when we've made four qualifying runs in the
past. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

"Nobody knows. It's going to be a hell of a race tomorrow, first and second
round."

On Maple Grove Raceway being famous for great numbers because of the usually
cooler conditions present here at this time of year: "This track is really
good when it's cold," said Scelzi. "I've got to eat my words. It's pretty
darn good when the sun's out. We ran well, the dragsters have run well and
as porous as the asphalt is I wouldn't think that would be possible.

"The NHRA has done a hell of a job. I'll eat my hat...if it had a steak on
top of it.

"We just deal with the weather as it comes. There's nothing we can do about
it. So I'm not one to play much into it. That's all (crew chief) Mike Neff's
problems. That's not my problem.

"My problem is to hit the gas on time and keep it in the groove and
hopefully the win lights will come on."