SCELZI AND MOPAR TEAM ON POSITIVE PATH WITH NEW CHASSIS FOR ATLANTA
ScelziPR,April 23, 2008 Read More ...
SCELZI SQUEAKS INTO ATLANTA FIELD IN NO. 16
ScelziPR,April 26, 2008 Read More ...
SCELZI FALLS TO NO. 1 QUALIFIER WILKERSON IN ATLANTA OPENING ROUND
ScelziPR,April 27, 2008 Read More ...
SCELZI FALLS TO NO. 1 QUALIFIER C. PEDREGON IN HOUSTON FIRST ROUND
BAYTOWN, Texas (March 30, 2008) - Four-time NHRA world champion Gary Scelzi faced a tough match-up in today's opening round of eliminations at the NHRA Spring Nationals. As the No. 16 qualifier in the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T he was forced to meet up with the No. 1 qualifier Cruz Pedregon.
In a brand-new Brad Hadman chassis under the Mopar/Oakley Dodge body, Scelzi drove up to the starting lights with confidence and bluster, but expectations fell short as he lost traction at the hit of the throttle, slowing him to a 13.823-second run at 72.29 mph, while Pedregon pulled out a 4.937/304.74 pass to win the round.
On top of the Mopar/Oakley team's struggles to qualify, track conditions this weekend were questionable. "All I can say is I can't wait to get the hell out of Houston," said Scelzi, the 2005 Funny Car champion. "This has been a miserable three days. I've never seen track conditions like this. But that's not an excuse, because obviously there have been cars better than ours. But I've never seen so much tire smoke in my life. Then there's the bumps, and the right lane is absolutely horrible. But we just could not get a handle on anything.
"We only made it down the track one out of four times anyway, so it's not an excuse for us. We should have gone down the track, but there's not a whole lot of race track to get anything done when you see a load of 4.90s. When a 5.05 (-second elapsed time) gets in the show it's pretty pitiful, and I was that 5.05." Scelzi squeaked into the 16-car field with an average 5.052-second run. "This has been the most confusing race track I've been to in a long time," he said.
"We'll take this Hadman, we'll roll 'er into Vegas and see if it acts like a normal race car. But we've got a brand-new Murf McKinney car too. All the cars were acting goofy here, so it's not the chassis. Thank God for that. We've got a test scheduled in Vegas on Monday after the race there and we'll run the wheels off of both cars. And hopefully we can do well in Vegas and it will be a fun test on Monday."
Scelzi is currently 12th in the Funny Car point standings.
The next NHRA event for the Mopar/Oakley Dodge team is NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the fifth round of the year, April 10-13.
FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Cruz Pedregon, 260
2. Jack Beckman, 249
3. Tony Pedregon, 233
4. Robert Hight, 232
5. Ashley Force, 231 (runner-up today)
6. John Force, 219
7. Gary Densham, 208
8. Tim Wilkerson, 204
9. Del Worsham, 187 (winner today)
10. Jim Head, 156
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12. Gary Scelzi, 145
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15. Ron Capps, 130
Jerry Toliver, 130
SCELZI A VICTIM IN VEGAS OPENING ROUND
SCELZI A VICTIM IN VEGAS OPENING ROUND
LAS VEGAS (April 13, 2008) - Four-time NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series champion Gary Scelzi wasn't able to parlay his solid qualifying effort at the NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway into a first-round win.
The Fresno, Calif., native squared off against the reigning Funny Car champion and No. 10 qualifier Tony Pedregon in the opening stanza, charging off the line with a .072 reaction time to Pedregon's .082 (.000 is perfect). Scelzi led the first 330 feet then hazed the tires on the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T. Pedregon's run wasn't perfect, but it shot him to the finish line first with a 5.120-second elapsed time at 294.05 mph to Scelzi's losing 5.351/256.94.
"It went out there and it got a little bit fast and the ass end of the car washed out a little bit," said Scelzi, who is 13th in the Funny Car point standings, "and I got it back and I was on the right side of the groove and then it got the right tire and it just drove me out of the groove and smoked the tires. Got it back, but by then it was too late. We were in trouble.
"It's unfortunate. We've really got a race car now that's going down the race track. It's doing what Todd (Okuhara, crew chief) wants it to do. It's frustrating as hell because we're trying so hard. And we know that we can win right now. You can't force it; you've just got to let it happen, and it's just not giving it to us.
"It's a tough class," he said of the 21-plus fields recently, "but we've got a car that should be able to go out there and whip some ass, and it will. But we want it now."
Next up is the NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga., April 25-27.
SCELZI SET FOR SERIOUS VEGAS RUN
RESNO, Calif. (April 7, 2008) - Four-time NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series world champion Gary Scelzi is set for a serious run in the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, site of the fifth round of 24 on the 2008 NHRA professional circuit.
No. 12 in the point standings after four events, which included one DNQ, Scelzi is ready for the stellar conditions expected at The Strip, as he aims to propel himself up to the front in the Funny Car point standings.
"It's been a tough year," said Scelzi, Funny Car winner at The Strip in 2004, "but, you know what? Las Vegas is always one of my favorites. The surroundings, the race track, the facility, the people, especially after leaving Houston (where he endured questionable track conditions), help bring your sanity back knowing that you're going to a race track where they really care about the racers and they care about the fans. (Track owner) Bruton Smith spends whatever it takes to keep up the facility and make it one of the quality ones that we go to.
"I've said it in the past and I'll say it again, anything that Bruton Smith owns sets the standards for the NHRA tour, and I'm glad he does that.
"It's easier on parts, it's easier on the crew chiefs. Not that this is an easy deal, but at least we're going to a facility where we know we can go down the race track, the lanes are equal, the track is prepared the best it could possibly be, and the surface is a racing surface.
"I can't guarantee that we're gong to do well, but I have a hard time believing that we won't.
"Then we also have a planned test on Monday to try some new parts to make our Brad Hadman car even more consistent.
"I'm always excited about going to Vegas. My kids (sons Dominic and Giovanni) will be with me. They don't go to many of the races, so it's always great to have the boys with me and they get to hang out with Dad, and I sure enjoy their company.
"My whole mind set will be really good in Vegas and being back on the West Coast. This is it for me before everything is back East again until the West Coast Swing," added the Fresno, Calif., native. "I'm in a good mood and life is good.
"And what makes this trip to Vegas even better is the fact that the local Integrity Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge dealership is providing the Don Schumacher Racing team with vehicles for the weekend. I can't thank them enough on behalf of DSR, because it definitely makes our lives easier at the races, and we get to drive some of the baddest cars that Dodge makes."
GARY SCELZI QUICK FACTS:
* No. 12 in points after four events in 2008 (two quarterfinal finishes, one first round and a DNQ)
* Has one national event win at The Strip in Funny Car (2004-2)
* Was low qualifier at The Strip in FC twice in 2005, at both events
* Qualified No. 6 at 2007 spring event at The Strip, lost first round to Jim Head
* Third in 2007 Funny Car point standings
* Won class-best four national events in 2007, in four final rounds
* Qualified No. 1 and won the 2007 season-opening Pomona event (against Robert Hight), again qualified No. 1 and won the Chicago event, then won in Memphis and Richmond
* Seventh in 2006 Funny Car points, with one win in three final rounds, no low qualifiers
* Claimed the 2005 Funny Car championship, his first, by eight points over his teammate Ron Capps, 32 over third-place John Force
* Won three times in 2005, was low qualifier six times
* Is a three-time Top Fuel champion (1997, 1998, 2000)
* Became only the second NHRA driver to have won crowns in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. Kenny Bernstein is the first
* Has set 24 Funny Car top speeds since joining Don Schumacher Racing in 2003
* Is first Funny Car driver to break the 330-mph barrier (330.15 mph at Route 66 Raceway in 2004)
* Career Funny Car bests: 4.690-second ET (Pomona 1 '07), 333.49 mph (Pomona 1 '07)
* Qualified in top five 19 times in 2005, No. 1 six times
* Has 37 career national-event titles in 58 final rounds
* Career round win-loss record is 371-195
* Age 47 (Aug. 11, 1960), born and raised in Fresno, Calif., where he lives with wife Julianne and sons Dominic and Giovanni
* Dominic, 10, races Restricted 600 Mini Sprints
* Runs Scelzi Enterprises, a custom truck body design and manufacturing business in Fresno with his two brothers
* Won his first Top Fuel crown as a rookie
* Has 12 Funny Car wins, 25 Top Fuel wins
* Sixth in 2003 Funny Car points, his first full season in that class
* 2008 is his sixth straight season racing for Don Schumacher Racing
* Is the only NHRA driver to have won in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car. He accomplished this feat by winning Nitro Funny Car at Infineon Raceway in 2003
* Is one of the few Funny Car drivers who has a round-winning record against the 14-time Funny Car champion John Force: 3-1 in final rounds, 12-11 in head-to-head match-ups
* Said early in 2007 that he would step away from NHRA competition at end of season. An offer from NHRA team owner Ken Black to fly him to and from 10 races in 2008, so he could spend more time with family business and family, helped him change his mind and return with DSR in 2008
SCELZI MAKES HOUSTON FIELD IN NO. 16
AYTOWN, Texas (March 28, 2008) - Following his DNQ (did not qualify) at the previous event of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, in Gainesville, Fla., Scelzi came back to seize the 16th spot in Funny Car qualifying for the NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park.
Driving a brand-new Brad Hadman chassis on the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T, Scelzi struggled to get down the track during all four qualifying runs, but squeaked into the field with a 5.052-second pass at 296.57 mph in the final qualifying round. His other laps included an 8.430/92.38 (DNQ), a 14.543/74.23 (DNQ), and a 5.787/196.24 (No. 15 at the time).
"We got behind," said Scelzi, who still holds the track elapsed-time record here in the Top Fuel category (4.480 seconds), set in 1999. "This race track is definitely tricky. We have a brand new Hadman car that's doing the right things. We had a clutch malfunction last night, and it blew the tires off right at the hit. Shouldn't have done that. We found out what the problem was, we fixed it, we came out today and it ran really good to 500 feet, then smoked the tires. I pedaled it, desperately trying to get into the field.
"Thank God there was no rain (as had been predicted). And then in this last session we just had to get down the race track and we slowed the thing down, probably a little too much because it put a cylinder out. But it's in the show.
"I don't care. We can win from 16, but we can't win from 17. I'm excited about tomorrow. We're going to go in there with that kill-or-be-killed attitude and I think we can be dangerous. I wouldn't want to be Cruz Pedregon tomorrow," he smiled.
Scelzi will meet up with Pedregon in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.
FUNNY CAR RACER SCELZI STILL HOLDS TOP FUEL RECORD IN HOUSTON
HOUSTON, Texas (March 26, 2008) - Four-time NHRA world champion Gary Scelzi returns to Houston Raceway Park this weekend for the fourth round of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series driving the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car. The Fresno, Calif., native who left the Top Fuel category at the end of 2001 to join the Funny Car class still holds the Top Fuel elapsed-time track record (4.480 seconds) at Houston Raceway Park, set in 1999.
Scelzi, who joined Don Schumacher Racing in 2003 and captured the 2005 NHRA Funny Car championship, is a two-time Top Fuel winner in Houston (1997 and 1998), but has not won here yet in Funny Car. He's aiming to change that statistic at this weekend's NHRA Spring Nationals.
"That's really kind of amazing," he said of his track record. "When we set the record in Houston in Top Fuel the engine actually blew up at 1100 feet and we still set the record. It would have been the quickest and fastest run in the history for a long, long time, but it would have been too quick to back it up for a national record (track records are backed up if a second similar run is within one percent). So, it actually worked out pretty well.
"That run actually was the only run in the history of Top Fuel where someone broke the three-second barrier to the eighth mile. We ran 2.999 seconds, which is also amazing, because the 4.48 has been beaten as a national record, but no one has gone quicker to the eighth mile than myself and (crew chief at the time) Alan Johnson, which is no surprise with Alan Johnson (who now tunes five-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher's U.S. Army dragster)."
Scelzi also returns to Houston after a DNQ (did not qualify) at the last event in Gainesville, Fla. "Going back to Houston after a DNQ - even though people may find this hard to believe - is almost like after a win wanting to get to the next track," said Scelzi, who is currently 11th in the point standings after three of 24 races. "Obviously, it's not as exciting, but after a DNQ you want to get back to a race track and redeem yourself, and, first of all, qualify, which has always been our method: get the car in the show on the first run and then improve on your qualifying position as the qualifying sessions go on. That didn't happen in Gainesville because of the rain (which washed out the two Friday qualifying runs), but I still feel very confident in our tune-up. I'm very confident in (crew chief) Todd Okuhara and all the Mopar boys. And I think that we can come into this race track, qualify and win the race. It would not surprise me, and I really don't think it would surprise any of our competitors.
"I also think we're going to see a lot of big names on that DNQ list this season, much like we did last year, and, obviously, it didn't affect the way the POWERade points championship turned out.
"The main thing is we want to be in the top five when we leave Indy (for the start of the Countdown to One playoffs after the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day), although we know it takes the top 10. We want to be in the upper half and our plans are still on track. We had a little setback in Gainesville, but we're ready to go to Houston."
As for whether the Mopar/Oakley team will run the Murf McKinney or the Brad Hadman chassis in Houston, "The decision will be made probably on Thursday if we're going to run the Hadman car or the McKinney car," Scelzi said.
Houston marks also the first time Scelzi will enjoy the luxury of a round-trip private flight courtesy of team owner Ken Black, something that was offered him for 10 events at the end of last year in order to keep Scelzi competing while spending more time with his family and business in Fresno. "Thursday afternoon I'm flying to Vegas and Thursday night we're flying to Houston," said Scelzi. "Sunday night I'll be back at home by 9 p.m. and be able to go to work on Monday.
"Actually, the first time I flew back with Ken was from Gainesville on Sunday night. This is going to be the first round-trip deal. But Ken has made it clear it's not an issue to fly me home, so he might be able to do more than he promised as far as getting me home on Sunday nights."
SCELZI FAILS TO QUALIFY AT GATORNATIONALS
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 15, 2007) - Four-time NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series champion Gary Scelzi failed to qualify for the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway today, after Friday's two rounds of qualifying were washed out due to rain.
Scelzi's Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charge R/T Funny Car suffered a mechanical problem in the final of only two laps available to qualify. He had posted a tire-smoking 7.936-second lap at 108.77 mph in the first session, which placed him outside of the field. With one last chance to make it in, Scelzi looked like he was on a strong run, but the 5.014/307.37 run that popped up on the scoreboard was clearly not stout enough to earn him a spot in the top 16.
"We had a mechanical problem," said Scelzi, who has never won the Gatornationals in his 37 career national-event victories. "There's a switch on the bottom of the throttle that goes into retard mode. If I have to pedal it, it knocks a bunch more timing out of it and it starts everything over slower, and even though I never closed the throttle, that switch activated itself, which retarded the timing. It made it like I pedaled it. So it didn't have all the timing. It pulled everything back. It was on top of our 4.87-second run in Phoenix (the last race three weeks ago), and that's about what we were trying to run.
"We got bit. It has nothing to do with having only two qualifying runs. You need to be good enough to do that. You need to be able to pull it out. This team is good enough to do it, but unfortunately a mechanical thing just got us. It happens. It's going to happen to everybody this year. I have a feeling this year is going to be a lot like last year." In 2007 every Funny Car top contender failed to qualify at least once during the season.
"This is one that got away from me this year."
Next up for Scelzi is the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, Texas, March 28-30.
HAPPY WITH VALDOSTA TEST, SCELZI LOOKS FOR FIRST GATORS WIN
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 11, 2008) - Gary Scelzi joined his Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car teammate Jerry Toliver at South Georgia Motorsports Park the last few days testing new chassis in advance of the NHRA Gatornationals this weekend, the third of 24 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series events.
The results were positive said the four-time NHRA world champion who drives the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing. Scelzi is hoping the new Murf McKinney chassis the team will run in Gainesville will help him win his first national event here. Since joining the Funny Car class full-time in 2003 with DSR, Scelzi's won 12 Funny Car titles to go with his 25 Top Fuel victories, but none of those wins were earned at the Gatornationals.
Before the Norwalk, Ohio, and Charlotte, N.C., races were added to the NHRA schedule, Scelzi had only Gainesville and Englishtown, N.J., to check off his list. Now, there are four NHRA venues at which he has yet to win.
"Maybe not everybody knows this," said Scelzi, a Fresno, Calif., native, "but I certainly know that I have never won the Gatornationals, and it's just one of those deals. It's so old and so prestigious. The Gatornationals to me may not be as important as the U.S. Nationals (which he won in Top Fuel in 1998), but it's pretty damned close.
"We're going to the Gators with a new naturalized tubing Murf McKinney car," he added. "We just finished testing at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Ga. We had a great test with the Brad Hadman car and the Murf McKinney car. We found out that the two cars have different characteristics, but they're both pretty good.
"We're very happy with the test, and I'm very excited to go to Gainesville," said Scelzi, who is fifth in the point standings after the first two events of the season. "We're looking for some big things. We've been fortunate enough, and unfortunate enough, to only go out in the second round both times this season. Those aren't first-round losses, so that's big. Now we need to carry it a little bit further and try to get this Mopar/Oakley Dodge team a win at Gainesville.
"We've also got Rob Richard coming to the Gators," said Scelzi. "He's the new Director of Global Mopar Parts, Sales and Service Marketing, Chrysler LLC. This is his first race as the 'boss' and we'd like to give him his first race win as well."
Scelzi's Gainesville record includes low qualifier in 1998, 2000 and 2001 (all in Top Fuel), a 2001 runner-up finish in Top Fuel, and a Funny Car runner-up finish in 2002.
In 2007, he qualified No. 2, but lost to Kenny Bernstein in the opening round of eliminations.
