Columbus: Gary Scelzi Saturday summary

SCELZI HAS AN AIR OF CONFIDENCE AFTER QUALIFYING SIXTH IN OHIO

HEBRON, Ohio (May 21, 2005) - Gary Scelzi has a renewed air of confidence after qualifying the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus Funny Car No. 6 today for the NHRA Nationals at National Trail Raceway, despite a 5.495/183.42 pass in the final qualifying session.

After struggling to get into the field in the first two attempts, the 4.833-second elapsed time at 320.13 mph he posted in the third session was the third quickest of the round and placed him solidly into No. 6 for final eliminations.

"Excellent," he said after the final run. "We wanted to see where we could go. And it's very close right there. We're OK. I'm pleased. The Mopar/Oakley Dodge is reacting good at 60 ft. We're ready for tomorrow. It's the best I've felt all year long.

"I was nervous about not qualifying early on, because this is a different combination that we're running. It's something new that we tried in Vegas that we hadn't been able to run as of yet because of the weather and Mike (Neff, crew chief) made the commitment to run it. And it's looking good.

"We don't want to be too excited, but it looks pretty raceable for tomorrow, absolutely."

Scelzi faces Tony Pedregon in the first round of eliminations that begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

-dsr-