Indianapolis: Gary Scelzi Saturday summary

Scelzi No. 10 after three U.S. Nats qualifying rounds

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 4, 2004) - Following three of five rounds of Funny Car qualifying for the prestigious U.S. Nationals, Gary Scelzi is No. 10, based on his run from the first qualifying session last night of 4.879 seconds at 319.75 mph.

In the second round today under hot and sunny conditions, he posted a 4.892/314.97. Tonight his HEMI-powered Oakley Dodge Stratus lost traction for a 6.075/152.06 pass.

"We made a good run last night, we made a good run during the day, which was the second quickest of the round," he said. "Tonight we swung for the fence. We ran a 4.770 (in the heat of the day) in testing here and we tried to duplicate that, but the race track would just not see it.

"We don't race in these conditions. We wanted to make a statement tonight and it didn't happen, so we're fine for race day tomorrow (for the Skoal Showdown, which includes two more qualifying rounds). The sun is going to be out, it's going to be hot, loose and we've got a race car that will go down a hot race track. We're ready."

-dsr-