Four-time NHRA champion Gary Scelzi is the all-around winningest driver at
Gateway International Raceway, with three Top
Fuel victories (2000, 1999, 1998)
and one Funny Car title (2004). He also holds the Funny Car elapsed-time track
record of 4.724 seconds, set in 2004. He's also been low qualifier at Gateway
five times!
So, you can understand why the driver of the Mopar/Oakley
Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car is looking forward to this weekend's NHRA Midwest
Nationals, the seventh round of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. After
a tough start to the 2008 season, in which his best results were two
quarterfinal finishes, "Wild Thing" is aching to get to a track where he's
enjoyed past rewards.
"I think now the timing is absolutely perfect to go
to Gateway," said Scelzi, of the track located just over the bridge from St.
Louis, Mo., in Madison, Ill. "With the beginning of the season that we've had,
we need to go to a place that I've had success at.