Scelzi takes No. 12 in rescheduled Richmond qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 21 of 23
TORCO RACING FUELS NHRA NATIONALS
Virginia Motorsports Park
Dinwiddie, Va.
Race Date: RESCHEDULED to Oct. 13-15, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

SCELZI TAKE NO. 12 IN RESCHEDULED RICHMOND QUALIFYING

DINWIDDIE, Va. (Oct. 14, 2006) - Reigning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi qualified No. 12 for the rescheduled (because
of a rainout last weekend) Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals at Virginia
Motorsports Park, just south of Richmond, Va.

The driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T posted his quickest elapsed
time of 4.844 seconds at 302.08 mph in Friday night's very cool session,
which followed a tire-smoking 14.07/71.30 in the opening round. His third
and fourth attempts resulted in a 4.875/296.57 and finally a slow
8.931/83.98.

"I'm not quite sure what happened on the last run," he said. "We're 50-50,
two out of four, which isn't really good. We're trying some things. It's
showing promise, it's just not consistent. I think we're going to stay with
it for tomorrow.

"We're not in the top half of the field. I don't like the right lane, but
I'm sure that's where we're going to get stuck. I know we can run 4.70s over
there; we're just going to have to turn the right knobs."

There is some good news for Scelzi today. After four qualifying runs in the
Top Fuel class, three-time Top Fuel champion Scelzi, who hasn't raced in
that class since 2001, still holds the track record here at VMP, set in
1999. The last time the NHRA POWERade series competed here was in 2000. No
one was able to break Scelzi's record of 4.494 seconds today. The best was a
4.512 by Tony Schumacher.

"Yeah," Scelzi said, "and I think it's going to be safe tomorrow. It's going
to be a little warmer. This track is tricky, so I don't think anybody is
going to be really trying to go for it tomorrow. I think they all tried it
tonight and they couldn't pull it off. We might have it for another year."

Scelzi faces Jim Head in first round of eliminations on Sunday.

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