SCELZI HAVING A BLAST
Fri, 2008-01-11 04:23
Four-time drag racing champion Gary Scelzi is still having a blast at
the 22nd annual Dodge Chili Bowl Nationals, driving the Jegs/K&N
Filters/Scelzi Enterprises/Mopar USAC midget. The Fresno, Calif.,
native finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in his two qualifying
races Wednesday night on the Tulsa Expo Raceway clay oval, but it did
not get him into the A-main and final event on Saturday night.
Scelzi, whose usual mount is the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, still has one chance -- although extremely remote -- to make the field, in another qualifying event on Saturday.
"I'm guaranteed to race on Saturday," he said, "because there are several 'Mains' (or consolation races). The A-main is obviously the main deal, but there isn't a chance in hell of my making that. I knew that going in. There's no way a guy is going to come from as far back in the field as I am and get up front. I don't think Tony Stewart could make the A-main from where I'll be starting in the field. Four-time drag racing champion Gary Scelzi is still having a blast at the 22nd annual Dodge Chili Bowl Nationals, driving the Jegs/K&N Filters/Scelzi Enterprises/Mopar USAC midget. The Fresno, Calif., native finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in his two qualifying races Wednesday night on the Tulsa Expo Raceway clay oval, but it did not get him into the A-main and final event on Saturday night.
Scelzi, whose usual mount is the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, still has one chance -- although extremely remote -- to make the field, in another qualifying event on Saturday.
"I'm guaranteed to race on Saturday," he said, "because there are several 'Mains' (or consolation races). The A-main is obviously the main deal, but there isn't a chance in hell of my making that. I knew that going in. There's no way a guy is going to come from as far back in the field as I am and get up front. I don't think Tony Stewart could make the A-main from where I'll be starting in the field.
"I'll get to race on Saturday in my consolation race and we'll have an in-car camera because Jeg's is sponsoring me. So, we will be on HBO (Pay-Per-View) for sure.
"We came here to have fun, and we're doing that. We're making a lot of new fans. I wish I had done better, but I knew what could happen going in."
As for his Wednesday night races, "You get passing points," he said. "So I started in a good position to get passing points, but I just didn't pass anybody. I started fourth in the heat race and finished fifth. I had to finish in the top two in the 'Last Chance' consolation race to make it into that night's Main, and I started in the second row on the outside, and ended up sixth.
"I'd never raced a midget. I came here to have some fun. We struggled with setup trying to get the car to turn and when the car was too tight I tried to drive it harder to make it turn, which made it worse. That's what somebody with no experience does. We finally got the car pretty decent for the Last Chance qualifier. I spun, another driver wrecked, got passed, passed guys back. There's so much going on with this little fifth-mile racetrack that you've got to be on your game and on the edge and you've got to make moves fast. And this is the place where you have to slow down to go fast.
"We didn't flip it, we kept it upright. I had a ball doing it. That's why we did this thing, is to have some fun. We accomplished a lot. We have a lot of fans here. I was surprised at how many NHRA fans are actually at this Chili Bowl. And everybody was thanking me for coming and taking the chance of looking like an idiot.
"I also talked to a lot of big-name people who come here and there are going to be several big-name guys who don't make the A-main on Saturday because you don't get to practice much here. You get five laps and then you go to the heat race and you have to perform. And this race track is like none other in the United States. That's one of the reasons why it's so exciting."
Scelzi, whose usual mount is the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, still has one chance -- although extremely remote -- to make the field, in another qualifying event on Saturday.
"I'm guaranteed to race on Saturday," he said, "because there are several 'Mains' (or consolation races). The A-main is obviously the main deal, but there isn't a chance in hell of my making that. I knew that going in. There's no way a guy is going to come from as far back in the field as I am and get up front. I don't think Tony Stewart could make the A-main from where I'll be starting in the field. Four-time drag racing champion Gary Scelzi is still having a blast at the 22nd annual Dodge Chili Bowl Nationals, driving the Jegs/K&N Filters/Scelzi Enterprises/Mopar USAC midget. The Fresno, Calif., native finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in his two qualifying races Wednesday night on the Tulsa Expo Raceway clay oval, but it did not get him into the A-main and final event on Saturday night.
Scelzi, whose usual mount is the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, still has one chance -- although extremely remote -- to make the field, in another qualifying event on Saturday.
"I'm guaranteed to race on Saturday," he said, "because there are several 'Mains' (or consolation races). The A-main is obviously the main deal, but there isn't a chance in hell of my making that. I knew that going in. There's no way a guy is going to come from as far back in the field as I am and get up front. I don't think Tony Stewart could make the A-main from where I'll be starting in the field.
"I'll get to race on Saturday in my consolation race and we'll have an in-car camera because Jeg's is sponsoring me. So, we will be on HBO (Pay-Per-View) for sure.
"We came here to have fun, and we're doing that. We're making a lot of new fans. I wish I had done better, but I knew what could happen going in."
As for his Wednesday night races, "You get passing points," he said. "So I started in a good position to get passing points, but I just didn't pass anybody. I started fourth in the heat race and finished fifth. I had to finish in the top two in the 'Last Chance' consolation race to make it into that night's Main, and I started in the second row on the outside, and ended up sixth.
"I'd never raced a midget. I came here to have some fun. We struggled with setup trying to get the car to turn and when the car was too tight I tried to drive it harder to make it turn, which made it worse. That's what somebody with no experience does. We finally got the car pretty decent for the Last Chance qualifier. I spun, another driver wrecked, got passed, passed guys back. There's so much going on with this little fifth-mile racetrack that you've got to be on your game and on the edge and you've got to make moves fast. And this is the place where you have to slow down to go fast.
"We didn't flip it, we kept it upright. I had a ball doing it. That's why we did this thing, is to have some fun. We accomplished a lot. We have a lot of fans here. I was surprised at how many NHRA fans are actually at this Chili Bowl. And everybody was thanking me for coming and taking the chance of looking like an idiot.
"I also talked to a lot of big-name people who come here and there are going to be several big-name guys who don't make the A-main on Saturday because you don't get to practice much here. You get five laps and then you go to the heat race and you have to perform. And this race track is like none other in the United States. That's one of the reasons why it's so exciting."
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