FW: NHRA NEWS: SCHUMACHER AND SCELZI TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

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From: "Anthony Vestal" 
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 18:14:41 -0800
To: "Anthony Vestal" 
Subject: NHRA NEWS: SCHUMACHER AND SCELZI TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: NHRA Communications, (626) 914-4761
 
NHRA TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
TONY SCHUMACHER AND GARY SCELZI
 
            MODERATOR: NHRA would like to welcome the members of the media
who¹ve joined today¹s teleconference to kick off the 2006 season, which
begins next week, February 9th to the 12th, with the CARQUEST Auto Parts
Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
Auto Club Raceway at Pomona was where the curtain fell on the 2005 season
back in November and it did so in quite memorable and dramatic fashion for
the two drivers we have joining us on today¹s teleconference: Tony
Schumacher and Gary Scelzi.
Schumacher capped off his second straight POWERade Series world championship
and third overall with a victory that gave him sole possession of three NHRA
record streaks in Top Fuel that remain intact entering this season: most
consecutive wins ­ 5; most consecutive final rounds ­ 7; and most
consecutive round-wins ­ 20.
Scelzi did not win the final event of 2005, but he did just what he needed
to do to win the POWERade Series world championship in Funny Car after a
well-documented two-month battle with John Force and teammate Ron Capps. The
Funny Car championship, combined with his three previous Top Fuel
championships, made Scelzi one of only two drivers along with Kenny
Bernstein to have won POWERade Series championships in both Top Fuel and
Funny Car.
At this point I will ask each driver to briefly share their thoughts on the
upcoming 2006 season and then we¹ll open it up for questions from the media.
 
Q.     MODERATOR: Tony, give us your thoughts on the 2006 season.
            TONY SCHUMACHER:  I have to start by saying it's going to be a
tough act to follow that 2005 season.  But it was the same comment we made
last year where 2004 was incredible, and you think to yourself, how are you
going to go and surpass that, or even equal it.  With Alan Johnson and that
Army team, we did.  We went out there and matched, if not beat most of the
records.  Just look forward to it. 
            You know, not only do we have a great race team, but we've kept
every guy on the team and we get to share the championships with our
teammates, we are just going to show up and really have a good time.  I
think it's the right group of people both on the funny car and the dragster
side that's going to make it fun.  As much business as it is now in racing,
we still will love what we do, or there's a lot of other ways you can make
money.  This is something you really have to enjoy and with all of the
records we set with the vision to what we can do this year, I'm just looking
forward to getting going.
 

            Q.  MODERATOR: Gary, I know you feel the same way about that,
and this is a sport you really love and you'd do it for nothing, but it's
nice to have some of the side benefits you get, right?

            GARY SCELZI:  Don't tell Schumacher I'll do it for nothing, I'll
get another cut in pay.  You know, it's funny because this off-season, I
really spent a lot of time with my kids and my wife and back in the family
business.  When the first test session at Vegas came, I thought what I
wouldn't give to have another week or two.  When I pulled in the gates in
Las Vegas and sat in the car and warmed up for the first time, it was like
my first car sitting in a fuel car in 1997.  I was so excited to get ready
and going and I was screaming and yelling and high-fiving the guys, saying
"'06, let's get it, let's defend."  Fortunately for us, the testing went
really well, I am ready to go to Pomona today.
            

Q.  RON MARTIN, FOCUS ON RACING RADIO: When you look at this upcoming
season, you've got to be thinking as close as things were during -- up until
about the middle part of the season, you've really got a target on your back
and how tough do you think it's going to be to once again defend, because
guys are not going to like to watch you win it again.

            TONY SCHUMACHER:  I think what made our team win so many races
was that we were not -- we understand that there's a Target there, but these
guys are like a machine.  These guys are so good at what they do, that each
and every round is as important.  I think we had a little team meeting last
year and said, you know, you don't win by 400 points, you don't win by 300,
you don't win by 200 if you don't get those first 20 points; each and every
round is critical. 
            At the end of the deal, it could come down to what we saw in
Funny cars last year.  It could be that eight points separating 1 and 2.  I
think it's critical that we start out the season and we do it effectively
and we go out and win a few races, because those guys are going to shoot for
us. 
            You know, it's hard to stay on the kind of roll that we've been
on.  So none of us are thinking, hey, this is going to be an easy one and
the other guys shouldn't show up.  That's not a fact.  These guys are going
on out trying to get us at each and every race and doing whatever they have
to do legally and the rule books to take us out.
 

            Q. RON MARTIN, FOCUS ON RACING RADIO: Gary, you're up, here is
your question.  Is the key to your success, and you've been around a number
of teams and you've won championships with other teams, but with Schumacher
Racing, what makes it special?

            GARY SCELZI:  I don't know about Schumacher Racing in general
but I know about the Oakley Dodge and I know that Mike Neff is a key
ingredient to this whole thing and so is Alan Johnson, the crew chief on
Tony's car.  The key is morale and staying focused and Mike Neff is able to
do that.  And no matter what goes on, with all of the nine teams, because it
is such a huge organization, Mike keeps everybody focused on what we have to
do.  And even when we have a bad weekend or things don't go the way we want
it, Mike is not a guy to beat the team up.
            He is a guy to charge the team up and he's very laid back.  He
doesn't show a lot of emotion as we saw him winning by eight points there;
Mike didn't really change expressions.  He's just a good leader and he's an
asset to this team.  And I think one of the biggest reasons, besides the
sponsors bringing us the money, is Mike Neff's ability to lead a team and
even if we are in trouble, he doesn't let us know that.
 

            Q.  RON MARTIN, FOCUS ON RACING RADIO: So the two of you being
totally opposite works.

            GARY SCELZI:  It works really well.  Mike talked to me at the
end of the year.  He said, you know what, you were really kind of a pain in
the ass halfway through to the season.  You were not as fun as you were, you
were too serious, and you need to be more fun and to lighten up a little
bit.  And we either are going to do it or we're not, but let's have some
fun.  Because the pressure, it was incredible, knowing that we had a shot at
it, and there were so many teams at the top involved, there were five teams
that could have won the championship.  It was a stressful time for all of
us, away from the family, being on the road, testing, and every round was so
important, it got to me.
 

            Q.  STEVE BALLARD, INDIANAPOLIS STAR: After the way it went last
year for you and Tony, given your druthers, would you rather win a
championship with the way that you did, all of the stress round by round and
going right down to the last race of the year, or would you rather just go
out and cover the field and blow them away like Tony did?

            GARY SCELZI:  I'd rather blow them away.  But realistically,
this championship did a lot  for Gary Scelzi.  I'm watching in airports with
Oakley clothing on and people are recognizing me and saying, hey, you know
what I started watching that drag race and that Funny Car Championship was
incredible, man, you know, I had tears in my eyes when it was over.
            We bitch about the NHRA promoting us and stuff, but we have so
many new viewers and so many new fans that I'm really starting to realize
that, hey, I started watching it and they recognize me.  I'm sure the
³Scelzi Sez² doesn't hurt that we're doing on ESPN.  But more people are
starting to watch.  That Chase was a big thing.  I don't know which is more
satisfying or not because both of them are sweet, killing them and going
down to the wire both ways, I've done it both ways, but I think I guess if
you could pick, I guess it's better to go down to the wire like I did last
year and everybody is just battling and you don't know who is going to win.
 

            Q.  STEVE BALLARD, INDIANAPOLIS STAR: Gary, do you see this year
developing the same way? Is Force still the guy to beat and who else besides
him? 

            GARY SCELZI:  Force and his two other cars are very angry right
now.  They went into test mode.  Force doesn't come around and joke
anymore.  He's dead serious, it cost him a lot of money to not win the
championship and (Austin) Coil (crew chief) and those guys are working a lot
of overtime.  And so are we.  We're not going to rest on our laurels, it's
not like we crushed them last year but we did have one of the quickest and
fastest cars consistently all year long, but it could have gone either way. 
I could have won it, John could have won it, but they didn't.  The way
testing went the last couple of weeks, I'm ready.  I'm ready for them.  I
think Mike Neff is ready for them and let's start the swing and ring the
bell. 
 

            Q.  MARTIN HENDERSON, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Gary, it seems as
though there are about 11 cars in the field this year that have a chance to
maybe even win a title.  Can you talk a little about whether you think this
year's championship will be harder to win than last year's championship, and
I mean, is it possible that this thing could be even closer than last year
in?

            GARY SCELZI:  I believe it can.  I think that there's 11 cars
that can win.  I don't think there's 11 cars that can go (for the
championship).  But I do believe that there's going to be at least six that
could come down to Pomona.  Three of those cars being Force's cars, at least
one of them, Capps and myself being able to go the distance and there's a
couple of Pedregon cars, Worsham cars, six or seven you'll see at the end. 
But I guarantee you up until halfway through the season, you'll have 11
different winners and you'll have everybody pretty tight, but I believe by
Indy it will start to separate.
 

            Q.  MARTIN HENDERSON, LOS ANGELES TIMES: What is it that's going
to separate guys over the long haul?  Why do you guys have an advantage or
Force have an advantage or what if Worsham gets hot?

            GARY SCELZI:  Well, we've been together a lot longer.  You know,
our team has not had a change in personnel in four years with the Oakley
Dodge.  (Schumacher¹s crew chief) Alan Johnson is a genius and an inventor,
and not everybody has a guy like that; John Force does (with Austin Coil). 
I think that just the way our team is run and the resources we have. 
            And I think we've been through that enough now in a number of
years that Schumacher Racing has been around that we can distinguish what's
good and what's bad.  So I think that's an asset.  Plus we have three cars
that we can draw from, we can try stuff on my car, Capps' car, the crew
Chiefs are all working together.  And I don't know that you have that on any
other team except for John Force's.
 

            Q.  MARTIN HENDERSON, LOS ANGELES TIMES:  Who is it that worries
you the most, I know that Dixon has a new crew chief this year, and how big
an impact is that going to have?  I realize you're kind of on the outside
looking in at those guys, but who worries you the most?

            TONY SCHUMACHER:  That's a good question.  Last year I would
have said the Kalitta cars and I'd probably still have to go with that
because I think -- that car goes out  in testing and ran a 45.  I just think
over time, Alan has a better handle on different racetracks, different
places, not to say we can win 23 races, but some of those guys have a better
handle on individual tracks and the Kalitta cars would be the group that I
fear the most. 
            Last year I would have said near the end of the year Dixon, but
we're going to have to wait and see.  That's a tough question.
            It's so early in the season because we don't know what the new
crew chief is going to do.  He may go out and be great but we just don't --
that's a tough question to answer right now.  I think Morgan is going to be
winning his first race this year, but I don't know if he's going to go out
and win several of them.  Bernstein is always right there.
            And you know, you're watching what happened in testing and that
doesn't mean anything next week.  It sounds great that we went out and ran a
48 and Grubnic ran a 45.  Bernstein could go out and win the first three
races, you don't know.  They haven't lost any talent over there.  They know
what they are doing and Brandon has grown into a better driver each and
every year. 
            So there are several guys to look out for.  This is not a
runaway field.  Even though you get guys commenting like Scott last year
saying that we have a car that's running away, that is just pressure for
other teams to try harder and when they catch back up, it's a battle. 
Scelzi has been with Alan Johnson for years, too.  He knows how that works. 
Alan is strong at the beginning, the middle of the year he does a lot of
testing, and at the end of the year he's almost unbeatable.  But what if he
doesn't come out as strong at the end of the year; what if things don't go
as what you're counting on at the end of the year.  We were not ahead at
Indianapolis and we needed those last seven races to catch back up.
 

            Q.  MARTIN HENDERSON, LOS ANGELES TIMES:  What are your thoughts
on Hillary Will, is she likely to be a player in determining who wins the
championship? 

            TONY SCHUMACHER:  I think she's going to be a tough one to race
against because she's first a lightweight driver, she had a very fast car
(at testing).  Now can she drive a fast car?  I don't know, man.  I can't
even begin to answer that.  These cars, the faster they go, the harder they
are to drive, and with wheelstands and stuff they are doing some silly
things out there.  We have seen them go down the racetrack and run in the
40s.  Can they do it when it's hot and smoking the tires?  I can't begin to
give you that answer yet.
            I think the best people to answer that question are her
teammates that are watching her in and out and probably helping guide her
through the first 100 runs or so. 
 
            Q.  MARTIN HENDERSON, LOS ANGELES TIMES:  When you talk about
her being a lightweight driver, do you have any idea how many pounds you're
giving away to her?

            TONY SCHUMACHER:  I'm 158 pounds, and look at her, I can't see
that she's 100 pounds.
            You know, the car still has to weigh the same amount.  It
doesn't matter, if we can take the weight off in different areas, we're
good.  My car is not that heavy.  We're only barely 10 pounds over anyways. 
So we can move the weight, too, and fortunately I'm not a heavy guy, so I
still have to make horsepower.  But when you have 8,000 horsepower, does it
matter if it's 8,002?  Herbert is a heavy driver, he's a big guy, he's in
the middle.  But me and her and Melanie (Troxel) and guys like (Ron) Capps,
and Scelzi has been working out, he looks in shape.  That's determination
there, man.  A lot of people don't get that.
 

            Q.  GARY GRAVES, USA TODAY:  Tony, as competitive as this
division is, with so many challengers, the fact is, there have been many
dynasties between you and Larry, is it one of those things where you win a
championship and that formula tends to stick and it lasts longer than, say,
some of the other divisions?

            TONY SCHUMACHER:  You know, if there were no rule changes and
none of that happening, I would say, yeah, man, we've got a great handle on
it and this thing can go for a long time.  But it has simply blown my mind
over the last two years how many rule changes we've gone through.
            You can have something that is working just absolutely perfect
and year-in and year-out be successful and all that can change.  I mean, we
stepped up around Larry when they were running extremely well, and no one
could come close and force them to step up a little bit, which took them a
little while and ran them out of time.  If a team comes around and does that
to us, it's going to be the same situation.
            Fortunately, and I know Gary is going to answer this, too, we
have Alan Johnson.  He is just so smart that when he can put a team together
and put in the same guys and maintain his trust this them, it's a hard act
to follow.  I hope I answered that question right.
 

            Q.  GARY GRAVES, USA TODAY:  Yeah, yeah, kind of leads me to
this other one, with all of these rule changes that you alluded to, you
still have been able to adapt and win and you credited Alan Johnson for
that, but have you really allowed yourself to think about a 3-peat?

            TONY SCHUMACHER:  I would love nothing more.  I get up every
morning and I do whatever it's going to take to keep me in shape physically
and mentally to do that now -- inaudible -- people ask, are you ready to go,
and the fact is when we show up in Southern California, we are all tight and
everything sounds great but we have to go out and win rounds.
            And my team, I'm blown away that they are not cocky in any way,
shape or form.  They show up earlier than everybody, stay later than
everybody and work harder because they do want that 3-peat.  It's just a
word right now but those guys have so much determination that me as the
driver, man, I want to show up and -- I sure don't want to be the weak link
with that many people showing up.  Those guys eat and sleep drag racing
every day and they can't wait to go win a race.  So that makes me feel
comfortable. 
            Do I want to look nine months into the future?  No.  I'm just
going to show up because I can't think about anything that's going to help
me do it other than focusing on the first round that we get to.
 

            Q.  JEFF DAVIS, FRESNO BEE:  Leading into the last few races
last year, we talked and the subject of retirement came up, and you kind of
hedged there.  But you said it was close.  Was that ever a consideration in
the off-season thinking that, you know, maybe I'd like to go out on top
here? 

            GARY SCELZI:  Oh, I thought about it.  I'm not ready to quit. 
I'm just going to play it year-to-year and see what happens.  Both of my
boys came up to me after we won the championship, I went to the motor home
and they said, "Dad, you can't quit, you can't quit, this is great."  And
that's my biggest thing is being away from my kids.
            We'll just see how it goes, we'll see how it goes this year, and
if I'm still having fun and life is good, you know, Schumacher Racing, I'll
stay.  If it's not, then I'll leave.  Now, whether I retire or not, I don't
know.  We'll just have to wait and see.
 
            Q.  EVAN JONES, READING EAGLE:  Quick question on the Dodge
Charger body, how is that coming along, how did you like it in the testing?

            GARY SCELZI:  Capps is the only one that drove it.  I wasn't
there in Vegas in December.  I sat in Ron's car when I was back in Indy a
couple weeks back and it is a really swoopy looking piece, it is really
neat.  My car is being mounted right now and it's off the paint.  I don't
believe we're going to have it by Pomona.  But we should have one or
possibly two for Phoenix, it just depends how quick they are coming out of
the mold.  I'm not sure on that to answer your question.  As soon as my car
is painted and complete, from what I understand, we will be the first ones
running it. 
 

            Q.  EVAN JONES, READING EAGLE:  When you were saying that Force
is no longer cracking jokes, do you mean he's actually not saying anything
or is he still the same old John just maybe not telling as many stories?

            GARY SCELZI:  No, John is as nice as he's always been to me.  I
believe that we're friends and that's never going to change.  But he doesn't
come around much and offer me a beer.  (Laughter).
            He's been pretty focused the last couple of weeks and rightfully
so.  He lost his championship.  Not only did it hurt his budget from the
bonuses I'm sure that he lost, but John doesn't want to not be known as the
champ and miss getting all of the attention.  I can't say that I blame him. 
When I lost the championship to Tony and the other guys in Top Fuel,
Bernstein and those guys, I didn't like it.
            Once you've tasted it and you've eaten from that golden spoon,
you want it more and you get greedy and you want to win it more and more and
you want more attention.  It's just good for morale.  When you don't have
it, you work harder to get it back, and they are going to be plenty tough.
 

Q.  RON MARTIN, FOCUS ON RACING RADIO: When you look back over this past
season, was there any one thing that was critical that turned the team
around and got you in the Championship Chase?  Is there any one thing that
you can look back on and say, that's what did it?

            GARY SCELZI:  You know, I really can't.  Because our focus from
the beginning was to be good, and to be better than we were on the tracks
that we were the year before, and I think we accomplished that.  You know,
we were five final rounds and in the final round we ran as good as anybody
else, and they were both close races, so we could have won five races just
as easy as three.  I can't really take anything out.  I can pick a mistake
out that I thought lost it and that was my untimely red-light, red-light in
Dallas, which amazed me.  It was my second red-light in my career, and where
it came from, I have no idea.  I was as shocked as anyone.  I do know that
I've learned a lot of things about myself over last year that I believe I'm
on the right track on and ready to do battle this year, and I know Mike Neff
has learned some things in mistakes we made last year.  One thing we did
last year is when we made a dumb mistake, we fixed it right then.  We made
sure that mistake would never happen again.  Now unfortunately in drag
racing you always come up with a new mistake, but we were able to fix things
as we went and got better as a team.  And that's one of the reasons why I'm
so excited about the beginning of this year.
 

            Q.  DICK SISICH, KCCL RADIO (SACRAMENTO): You had that rivalry
with John Force and of course with Capps.  It was a great shootout finish,
you finally beat Force, he came in third, not second.  Do you think maybe
you created a monster? He's been testing in the 60s and he seems really
motivated.

            GARY SCELZI:  We were right with him.  We ran 70 flats at both
places and ran 330.  So again like Tony mentioned earlier, the testing thing
is great and the one thing that we learned was to be consistent and we tried
some new parts that didn't work, some of the new parts did work.  Force is
going to be tough on a dirt road.  Is he going to be more focused? 
Absolutely.  And if someone is able to beat him again this year, then you
know what, then that's going to show you who really means business this
year. And you know, like I said, we may be in 10th place, who knows, but
right now I like my chances.
 

            Q.  DICK SISICH, KCCL RADIO (SACRAMENTO): And you've got the
same crew so you have the consistency that you're going to carry over in
2006. 

            GARY SCELZI:  It's very important to keep the same people like
Tony mentioned again, it's the fourth year that every single guy on my team
is there that and they are all motivated and they are focused and they are
there because they want to be there. So, you know, they are happy where they
are at.  They all know their jobs.  One run in Vegas, and we've been off in
the winter months, they serviced that car just as quick as they did at the
finals last year.  I know Force has some new members on his team and
sometimes they make mistakes until they get in the group.  Hopefully those
mistakes don't cost them races, and you know, we all make mistakes, but I'm
very confident in my team and my crew chief that, you know, if we can't get
the job done, we're going to be right in the middle of it.
 
-30-
 


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