Deby
Nitro Member
<img src="http://gallery.nitromater.com/files/6/5/g_scelzi06.jpg" alt="g_scelzi06" align="left"borders="0"/>
MORRISON, Colo. (July 15, 2006) - Gary Scelzi almost had it, but he fell just .003 of a second short of grabbing the Funny Car pole at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals today in the final qualifying session, taking No. 2 instead with a solid 4.896-second elapsed time at 310.20 mph. That pass was the quickest of that round, held under slightly cooler conditions later in the afternoon.
The reigning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car champion's other passes this weekend included an ugly 7.384/115.20 in the opening session in 90-degree temperatures, a 4.932/308.00 in the cooler Friday night round, and the quickest pass of the third session in the 100-degree-plus heat of the day, a 5.116/290.88.
"We tried to steal it," said Scelzi, who has never won here at Bandimere Speedway. "We're not going to race in conditions like this tomorrow. It's going to be hot and miserable, and so we said, You know, let's just shoot our shot and see if we can get the pole and it put a cylinder out about 900 feet or we would have had it.
"That's OK. Zippy (crew chief Mike Neff) is so confident that the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T is pretty much doing everything he wants it to do. I'm feeling good in the car. And now if we can just have a little bit of luck tomorrow, maybe I can finally get myself a Mile-High Nationals win."
Scelzi faces Scott Kalitta in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.
SCELZI CLOCKS QUICKEST ET OF FINAL SESSION, TAKES NO. 2 IN DENVER
MORRISON, Colo. (July 15, 2006) - Gary Scelzi almost had it, but he fell just .003 of a second short of grabbing the Funny Car pole at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals today in the final qualifying session, taking No. 2 instead with a solid 4.896-second elapsed time at 310.20 mph. That pass was the quickest of that round, held under slightly cooler conditions later in the afternoon.
The reigning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car champion's other passes this weekend included an ugly 7.384/115.20 in the opening session in 90-degree temperatures, a 4.932/308.00 in the cooler Friday night round, and the quickest pass of the third session in the 100-degree-plus heat of the day, a 5.116/290.88.
"We tried to steal it," said Scelzi, who has never won here at Bandimere Speedway. "We're not going to race in conditions like this tomorrow. It's going to be hot and miserable, and so we said, You know, let's just shoot our shot and see if we can get the pole and it put a cylinder out about 900 feet or we would have had it.
"That's OK. Zippy (crew chief Mike Neff) is so confident that the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T is pretty much doing everything he wants it to do. I'm feeling good in the car. And now if we can just have a little bit of luck tomorrow, maybe I can finally get myself a Mile-High Nationals win."
Scelzi faces Scott Kalitta in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.
