Gary Scelzi is a four-time NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series champion
(three in Top Fuel, one in Funny Car), and has 37 national-event career
victories in 58 final rounds. He has won twice in Top Fuel (2000, 2001) at
Pacific Raceways, holds the Funny Car top-speed record there (325.85 mph), set
in 2005, was low qualifier there four times (1997, 2000 and 2001 in TF; in FC in
2003), but has never won a fuel Funny Car national event at this facility in the
Northwest corner of the United States.

Driving the Mopar/Oakley Dodge
Charger R/T in his sixth season with Don Schumacher Racing, Scelzi is ready to
get back down to earth following last weekend's Mopar Mile-High Nationals in
Denver and change that statistic. He's pumped up about his, the team's and the
car's performance after spending a large part of the first half of the season
adapting to a new car, new NHRA rules and, most recently, racing to the 1000-ft.
mark instead of the traditional 1320-ft. finish line.

As the No. 16
qualifier in Denver he knocked out low qualifier Tony Pedregon in the opening
round at the Mile-Highs, and despite his close loss to Robert Hight in the
second round, "Wild Thing" - as he's known by his fans - is charged up by his
Dodge Charger.

The 2009 John Force Racing Team Calendar, with 16 months full of drag racing
excitement, is now available for pre-order. Pre-orders are being taken
exclusively through John Force RaceStation online at www.JohnForceRaceStation.com or
via phone at (714) 921-1651. Tell them you saw this on CompetitionPlus.com.

Dave Connolly was succinct while recapping the performance of the Charter
Communications/LifeLock Chevy Cobalt Sunday in the opening round of the Mopar
Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.
 
“I wasn’t the best of days,
Connolly said of his frustrating first-round loss to Larry Morgan in .  “It took
us forever to make a decent run and we thought we’d have some of that today.  We
made a decent run but you can’t make decent runs anymore if you want to win. 
You’ve got to hit the tree and you’ve got to make nice runs and weren’t doing
that.”

Greg Anderson admitted Alan Johnson gave him an old fashioned spanking two weekends ago in Norwalk,
Ohio, during the race-within-a-race, $50,000-to-win K&N Filters
Horsepower Challenge. He returned the favor at Johnson’s sponsor’s
race. The loss in Norwalk was also at Anderson’s sponsor’s race.

The victory marked the fourth consecutive victory in 2008 for the 56-time winner.

Peggy Llewellyn was so enthralled with her return to Pro Stock
Motorcycle that she decided to hang around until the semi-finals.

Llewellyn, who qualified 15th, stopped Chip Ellis and Chris Rivas
before losing a tough battle to defending world champion Matt Smith.

Super
Stock legend Judy Lilly buckles up prior to her match with Don Garlits.
She beat him on the starting line but he got her at the finish when she
lifted early.

Mopar rolled out its Dodge Challenge drag racing package in grand
style. After an unveiling on the starting line, drag racing icons “Big
Daddy” Don Garlits and Judy Lily squared off in a debut match race.

Lily snagged big on the starting line and appeared on her way to the
win but Garlits caught her in the lights with an impressive “street
legal” 11.248 elapsed time at 121.52 miles per hour. Lily had run a
7.114, 96.96 to the eighth mile.

John Force Racing’s Robert Hight could have easily panicked. After all,
his plate was filled with many variables headed into the 29th running
of the Mopar Mile-High Nationals.

There were a handful of NHRA mandated changes that could have wrecked
havoc on John Force Racing. The racing distance was reduced to 1,000
feet for the first time in the over fifty year history of the sport.
The new chassis was mandatory for all Funny Car teams, there was the
new Goodyear tire and all the teams were racing over a mile above sea
level but none of these new changes tripped up the JFR drivers. Instead
it was the familiar face of Tim Wilkerson that derailed not one, not
two but three different drivers from reaching the winners circle.

"Tim Wilkerson and his team have been running great. They have been on
a roll. I've been on rolls like that too. I am excited that our Ford
Mustangs are coming around. Robert has moved up to No. 2 and Neff has
moved up a little in points. We all start from scratch when you come to
the hill (Bandimere Speedway),” said John Force.

If nothing else, FRAM Top Fuel dragster driver Cory McClenathan has
demonstrated a streak of consistency. McClenathan advanced to the
semifinals for the third consecutive NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
race at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals today, moving up to fourth
in Top Fuel point standings. It was the fourth time in the past five
events that McClenathan has advanced to the semis. He also set low
elapsed time of 3.929 seconds and top speed of 308.07 mph of the event.

As No. 1 qualifier, McClenathan began the day with a single "bye" run
in the first round of eliminations as only 15 Top Fuel cars were
competing at the event. He roared to a 4.283/209.79 pass to gain lane
choice over quarterfinal opponent Doug Kalitta. The 17-year Top Fuel
veteran then took out Kalitta with a 4.197/270.59 to Kalitta's
4.403/237.38, earning him lane choice again in the semifinals against
Antron Brown.

Antron Brown raced his David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster to his
fourth final-round appearance of the season Sunday afternoon at
Bandimere Speedway. The two-time Top Fuel winner remains second in the
NHRA Top Fuel standings following 13 of 24 races on the 2008 NHRA
schedule.

Brown qualified the Matco Tools/Go Fast rail in the No. 4 position for
the fourth time this season with an elapsed time of 3.998-seconds on
Friday evening at the Denver track. During eliminations he defeated
teammate Hot Rod Fuller, veteran racer Bob Vandergriff, Jr., and
30-time Top Fuel winner Cory McClenathan, before falling to five-time
series champion Tony Schumacher in the final round.

Matched up against his teammate for the first time this season, the two
David Powers Motorsports drivers used solid reaction times as Brown
sped the Matco Tools/Valvoline dragster to low elapsed time of the
round to score the win. Brown’s Lee Beard-tuned rail clocked a run of
3.995 seconds at 298.21 mph to hold off Fuller’s pass of 4.115 at
277.43 in the Caterpillar dragster.

"Fast" Jack Beckman raced the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge
Charger R/T directly into his seventh career final round today at the
Mopar Mile-High Nationals and into the No. 10 spot in the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings.

No. 10 qualifier Beckman charged his way through the field en route to
the final, dismissing Tommy Johnson Jr., Gary Densham and Cruz Pedregon
along the way, with passes of 4.296/292.33, 4.362/281.77 and
4.334/290.82 on a 1000-ft. dragstrip for the first time in pro nitro
NHRA history.

He faced points leader Tim Wilkerson in the final stanza without lane
choice. Beckman launched first at the starting lights with a .046
reaction time to Wilkerson's .098 (.000 is perfect). Heading to what
Beckman was hoping would be his second victory of the season, the
Valvoline/MTS Dodge lost traction early, slowing to a losing
4.661/205.41 pass, while Wilkerson, who also lost traction later in the
run, claimed the victory with a 4.398/262.23.