Scelzi hangs on to No. 1 in Joliet

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2007 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 9 of 23
TORCO RACING FUELS ROUTE 66 NHRA NATIONALS
ROUTE 66 RACEWAY
Joliet, Ill.
June 8-10, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

SCELZI HANGS ON TO NO. 1 IN JOLIET

JOLIET, Ill. (June 9, 2007) - Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
driver Gary Scelzi held on as low qualifier through two more rounds of
qualifying for the Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals today,
collecting his second No. 1 of the season and the 44th of his career.

His other No. 1 came in the season-opener at Pomona, Calif., which he
translated into his first victory of the season.

Scelzi struggled in both of today's qualifying attempts, posting two sub-par
tire-smoking runs of 9.539/82.07 and 9.865/83.26 on a hot and unforgiving
race track.

"Basically, one out of four runs is not the kind of car we had in Pomona,"
said the four-time NHRA world champion. "In Pomona it went down the race
track every run. I'm actually a little surprised that it didn't make it this
last run. We had it backed down enough, we thought, and it just went out and
shook the tires. We just downloaded the computer right now, so I'm not sure
what's wrong. 

"The car's had a vibration today, for whatever reason. We changed tires,
we've done some different things, and the vibration is in the burnout and
it's on the run and I'm not sure where it's coming from. I don't really like
going into Sunday with that kind of a race car and I'm not sure what that
problem is. Hopefully, tonight we'll find something. I don't know what, but
we're going to change a lot of things. But, I know we can run, I know we can
run on hot tracks."

Scelzi faces No. 16 qualifier Bob Gilbertson in first round of Sunday's
eliminations.

***