Seattle: Gary Scelzi Saturday notes

SCELZI BENEFITS FROM POINT STANDINGS IN SEATTLE QUALIFYING, TAKES NO. 16

KENT, Wash. (July 21, 2007) - With only one qualifying round held today of four scheduled for the Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals because of rain, four-time NHRA champion Gary Scelzi found himself out of the field of 16 Funny Cars after smoking the tires to a 11.509-second pass at 77.01 mph.

NHRA's rules allowed for the top 10 qualifiers to retain their positions in the field, while the bottom six were determined by the point standings and the driver's performance in that one session. Based on that, fifth-in-points Scelzi, driving the gold "Tribute" Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T, was moved into the No. 16 position and will face No. 1 qualifier Robert Hight in first round of eliminations on race day.

"We have a brand-new car that we're running," said Scelzi, "that we made like two test runs with in Chicago, but never went past 400 ft. with it, and it shook on the first run and it smoked the tires, and we think we know why. But we sure would've liked to have gotten one more run in before we went into eliminations.

"So, we'll go up there and roll the dice and hopefully we'll end up being on the winning end of it," added Scelzi, who has never won a Funny Car national event in Seattle.

-credit: dsr