Dallas: Gary Scelzi Saturday summary

SCELZI ROCKS TO NO. 5 IN TEXAS QUALIFYING

DALLAS (Oct. 8, 2005) - Gary Scelzi qualified the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car No. 5 at the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex, posting the second quickest elapsed time of the final session under the warm Texas autumn sun.

While his best qualifying effort came in the cooler conditions Friday night, where he recorded a 4.716-second elapsed time at 326.40 mph, his 4.797/321.88 later today was stout for the mid-day conditions similar to what's expected on Sunday. Today's earlier round resulted in a 5.684/169.96.

"Everything is good," said the Funny Car points leader who is seeking his first Funny Car crown to go with his three Top Fuel championships. "We found out where we can go, where we can't go, and we should be good tomorrow. It's going to be critical. It's going to be warmer, lane choice is going to be a factor, but we're ready to play. Bring 'em on.

"The race track was different today. When the sun comes out it doesn't like it. The right lane is worse, so we'll try to stay out of there. We'll try to just play the left-hand card and hope for the best."

Scelzi faces Phil Burkart Jr. in first round of eliminations on Sunday, and is on the same side of the ladder as his teammate Ron Capps, who is second in NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points.

-dsr-