Scelzi goes to semis in Chicago

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 10 of 23
CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals
Route 66 Raceway
Joliet, Ill.
Race Date: June 9-11, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

SCELZI GOES TO SEMIS IN CHICAGO

JOLIET, Ill. (June 11, 2006) - Gary Scelzi couldn't get out of the
4.7-second range all day today in eliminations at the CARQUEST Auto Parts
NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, but it worked well for him, at least
until the semifinal round.

The reigning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car champion and
defending event champion, driving the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny
Car, first defeated Mike Ashley with a 4.783-second elapsed time at 329.75
mph, then disposed of Tommy Johnson Jr. on a holeshot advantage with a
4.772/303.50.

The semifinal round found him matched up against John Force Racing's Robert
Hight in a spectacular side-by-side contest that saw Hight edge out Scelzi
by a mere seven inches. Scelzi launched first, with a .070 reaction time
(.000 is perfect) to Hight's .089. The pair swapped the lead twice down the
quarter-mile, but it was Hight first at the finish with a 4.700/330.55 to
Scelzi's 4.720/332.10.

In that last pass, Scelzi's rocket ship Charger tuned by Mike "Zippy" Neff
earned its 23rd Funny Car top speed since Scelzi joined Don Schumacher
Racing in 2003.

"You know what," said Scelzi, "the car's been improving every race and I'm
improving every race. Our Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger is ready to win. I
think it proved it today.

"No matter what the temperature is in Englishtown (the next event), I think
we're good. We ran well in Topeka in the heat, ran (well) here in the cold.
We still didn't get quite what we wanted out of it here, but it was getting
better.

"It ran 332 mph and it finally ran a .72. The change we made for the semis
obviously worked. So, we've just got to keep plugging; it will come.

"We want to run in the 4.60s when we get the opportunity, and our car should
run .60s. It's closer, it's better and I think we have a car that is capable
of winning right now and we moved up to eighth in points. We've just got to
keep climbing that climb."

On that close race against Hight: "You can't see in these cars. I'm not
looking who's next to me. If you can see him, you're done. And I never saw
the win light all day. So, I didn't know if I missed or not, but the first
thing I did was get on the radio and they told me he ran a .70 and we went
.72. We just missed."

Scelzi moves up into eighth in the Funny Car point standings and is just 89
points out of fifth place.

Next up is the K&N Filters Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J., June 16-18.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Ron Capps, 833
2. John Force, 785 (winner today)
3. Robert Hight, 647
4. Eric Medlen, 604
5. Tony Pedregon, 562
6. Tommy Johnson Jr., 536
7. Whit Bazemore, 503
8. Gary Scelzi, 473
9. Del Worsham, 469
10. Cruz Pedregon, 467

***