Great article by CompPlus with Gary Scelzi talking about the need to update or revamp the licensing procedures for fuel drivers. I agree 100% with him on this, I think it's too easy to land in one of these cars and have it be way premature from an experience standpoint. I don't know if he'll ever have the time to do it, but it would be huge if he ever became a fuel teacher or some kind of consultant. This is a great read.

Awesome read!!! And I think he's totally right!!!

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"I'm not crazy about running 1,000 feet. I hope it's very temporary." - Larry Dixon

I'm surprised this thread hasn't seen a lot of action. With all the talk about who's trying out for rides and people trying to move up, I thought my fellow Maters would have found this to be a pretty good article. Anyway, with Scelzi returning full time, I doubt we'll see him start a school of any type anytime soon.

I agree that the drivers should have some expierience in an Alky car before getting in a Nitro car just because it is the closest speed wise. A nitro car isn't comparable to anything else. Even the current pros have problems from time to time of keeping the car in their lane and not hitting the wall. Ashley Force has had her share of problems but I wouldn't consider her a danger to anyone on the track. Few teams have enough money to send fuel car down the track 100 times just to get the driver some track time.

Notice he didn't say anything about this till after a certain someone made some test runs in a AA/FC, Ashley Force's problem is her famous last name, it's like she's not allowed to make any mistakes, and anything she does wrong gets put under a 20,000x microscope.

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"I'm pi$$ed at all most everthing."

Personally it almost seemed like the article was a shot at Ashley Force. She is the only rookie nitro driver this year. I'm sure that isn't the case but she had more runs than most rookies. It is possibly his concern that a bunch of unknowns applied for his vacated ride and thought most of them had no business being in a nitro car. With the cost of fuel racing MONEY seems to be the most important requirement and not skill.

I don't think he was taking a shot a Ashley at all. Actually, she did it the right way, and had a TON of laps before this year, from S/C to A/FD to test laps in the FC. And she still has a steep learning curve. These cars are not easy, and even seasoned pros make mistakes. Gary made some good points about how starting in karts and beater cars when you are young gives you a big advantage as far the general feel of a vehicle, and control. I thought it was funny that he questioned how many up and comers couldn't drive a stick, and I bet it's more than we might think.

Gary would be a great instructor....he is a fun guy to hang w/ and some of you read right into what Gary won't say in print...Alot of you 'nailed' it w/ the 'rookie' situation.
There are naturals that can jump in a fuel car and be competitive and there are some that need to be trained....

Del Worsham took over the driving of his dads car with no experenince. The only race he had been in was BMX bikes. There were no problems with his driving at that time. I wonder what Papa John started in maybe a semi.

Really good article.

I wouldn't mind seeing a TA/FC with a centrifugal clutch as a training ground.
Those TA/FC drivers are very busy in that cockpit.

They have A Fuel Dragsters, why not A Fuel F/C's!

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"I'm pi$$ed at all most everthing."

Carefully read the first sentence in my reply.

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"I'm pi$$ed at all most everthing."

Did ya think about this? Crew chief (with absolutely no fuel car experience) goes to JFR to supposedly drive FC #4. Gary is now so pleased with Todd and his new jet ride courtesy of KB that he decides not to retire . . . again.
Could JFR hire Gary to teach Zippy how to drive a FC and sign off on his license? From Arte on Laughin . . . "very interesting" -

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"The Counterfeiter"