Scelzi goes to quarterfinals in Columbus

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 8 of 23
Pontiac Performance NHRA Nationals
National Trail Raceway
Columbus, Ohio
Race Date: May 19-21, 2006



HEBRON, Ohio (May 21, 2006) - A rare broken rear-end on the Mopar/Oakley
Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car put Gary Scelzi on the sidelines today in the
quarterfinal round of final eliminations at the Pontiac Performance NHRA
Nationals at National Trail Raceway.

After switching from a damaged Charger to the Stratus in qualifying and for
eliminations, the reigning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car
champion easily disposed of Scott Kalitta in the opening round with a solid
4.846-second pass at 314.17 mph. The second round, however, saw his demise,
as he crossed the finish line in smoke and haze with a 5.053/237.63 pass to
Pedregon's winning 4.865/320.74.

"I've broken every race part known to man, and never, since I've been NHRA
racing, have I broken a rear end," he said. "They're huge, they're strong,
they're reliable. 

"We used to get 80-90 runs out of them. We started changing them at 50 and
this one broke at 32.

"It probably has a lot to do with the (tire) shake and the race tracks that
we've been on, the bumps, loading and unloading. It's hard on equipment. The
rev limiter is hard on the equipment, the bumps are hard on the rear end;
off and on, and bounce and shake.

"We just found another way to get beat. what are you going to do?

"The good news is we figured out some things aerodynamically with the
Charger that I think will make it better, make it more driver-friendly. What
I've learned we passed on to (teammates Whit) Bazemore and (Ron) Capps, so
they're not going to have the struggles that our car has had, and we should
have a pretty good race car come Topeka. Maybe we can break through there.

"We're not giving up on winning, that's for sure."

Scelzi stays 11th in Funny Car points.

Next up is the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kan., May 25-28.

NHRA FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Ron Capps, 666
2. John Force, 575
3. Eric Medlen, 482
4. Robert Hight, 474
5. Tommy Johnson Jr., 446
6. Tony Pedregon, 434
7. Del Worsham, 428
8. Whit Bazemore, 412
9. Cruz Pedregon, 402
10. Phil Burkart Jr., 354

***