Commerce: Gary Scelzi Saturday summary

SCELZI'S FEELING GOOD IN ATLANTA, QUALIFIES NO. 5

COMMERCE, Ga. (May 6, 2006) - Reigning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi is feeling good so far this weekend, after three strong qualifying runs placed him solidly in No. 5 for Sunday's eliminations at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

The driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car registered his quickest elapsed time in Friday night's session, a 4.744-second pass at 328.78 mph. His other attempts included a 4.751/323.74, a tire-smoking 11.889/71.71 under a hot Atlanta sun, and a stout 4.816/324.20 in the final session.

"I tell you, between Bristol (last weekend, where he finished in the semis) and here, I feel really good about our tune-up," said the Fresno, Calif., native. "We had one tire-smoker, but the majority of the cars smoked the tires in the third qualifying session. And it went right down the race track on that (final) run. No tire smoke, no trouble, no shake. We were third quick of the round. We're really excited to go racing again on Sunday.

"I know we're way back in points (11th, 363 points behind first place), but you have to start somewhere. Now we start to climb. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a good day and we can end up going at least to the semis or the final or winning the race. I'm looking at winning the race. That's the choice I want to take, because we have a big hill to climb over, but it's a great start."

Scelzi faces Scott Kalitta in first round of eliminations on Sunday.

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