Scelzi sets top-speed record of 330.55 in Joliet

JOLIET, Ill. (May 23, 2004) - Gary Scelzi, crew chief Mike Neff and the
HEMI-powered Oakley Dodge Stratus continue to break and back up national
Funny Car speed records, especially when they come to the super-fast and
ultra-quick Route 66 Raceway. They did it again this weekend, when Scelzi
became the first Funny Car driver to break the 330-mph barrier with a
330.15, then backed it up for a national top-speed record of 330.55 mph.

Although his teammate Whit Bazemore ran a faster 333.25 mph in today's
semifinal round, he was unable to back it up, so Scelzi was credited with
the record following the completion of final eliminations. Scelzi smashed
his existing national top-speed record of 329.18 mph, set last year here in
the fall.

Scelzi, No. 3 qualifier, made a surprisingly early exit today when a
possible ignition problem put him out of the running in the first round
against Tony Bartone. Scelzi nailed Bartone in reaction time (.100 to .145),
then seemed to experience tire shake at the 330-ft. mark, resulting in a
slow and losing 7.010/129.44 pass to Bartone's winning 4.825/310.84.

"I don't know what happened," said Scelzi. "We had a great car in three
qualifying runs, no hint of tire smoke, and it wasn't smoking the tire in
this run. But the motor rpm dropped off and the fuel pressure dropped off
drastically. When it did, it shook the tire. Obviously, I pedaled it, and it
smoked the tire from tire shake. It was out there far enough (on the
quarter-mile) where that shouldn't have happened.

"So we took the coils off the motor and MSD is checking those right now. I
don't know if it was a slide valve or something stuck. The jury is still out
right now. But they're on it, they'll find it. We're going to take the fuel
system off and put it on the flow bench to find out if something happened. I
don't have any answers right now.

"I know it wasn't in the clutch, so that's a plus. And we had a good
consistent race car. As we've known for a long time, we can swing the bat as
hard as anybody. Unleash the HEMI, we said, and we did it. There was more
left. We were just going at it slowly. I think we could have bumped the ET
record and the mph record even quicker and faster than it is right now.

"We'll go to Topeka and we'll be quick and fast again, I'm sure."

Contact: Judy Stropus
DON SCHUMACHER RACING