SCELZI CLAIMS NO. 6 IN BRAINERD QUALIFYING

BRAINERD, Minn. (8/12/06) -- Gary Scelzi is a happy man. The Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car he drives for Don Schumacher Racing performed consistently in three of the four qualifying passes for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals this weekend, resulting in a No. 6 qualifying position for the reigning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car champion.

Scelzi recorded his quickest pass in the third session earlier today, a 4.797- second lap at 321.12 mph. His previous attempts included a 4.943/312.35 and a 4.879/316.75. The final pass, however, was a tire-smoker, producing a 7.442/105.99.

"Three out of four ain't bad," he said. "We made some pretty big changes in the car (before the weekend). It looks good. We just wanted to find out where we could go and where we couldn't go in this last run, and so now we
know. It made it out there quite a ways before it smoked the tires. We're really pleased and we'll see what happens tomorrow.

"We went to Chicago (Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill.) and made some test runs on Tuesday, so we found out a lot of things. The Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger looked like it was responding better. It wasn't as finicky, and whenever Mike would make a change, it would do something. Before, it wasn't responding to the changes, so now it's responding."

Scelzi faces Cruz Pedregon in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.