Scelzi, Schumacher, Line and Smith Claim No. 1 Qualifying Positions
Written by Josh Katinger · November 5, 2005
Scelzi, Capps and Force to decide POWERade Funny Car championship Sunday
POMONA, Calif. — Funny Car points leader Gary Scelzi raced to the No. 1 qualifying position Saturday at Pomona Raceway and has the edge going into Sunday’s three-way chase for the $400,000 NHRA POWERade world championship.
NHRA.com: Saturday Recap
Scelzi clocked a performance of 4.696 seconds at 330.23 mph in his Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus to earn his sixth No. 1 award of the season and move into position to join Kenny Bernstein as the only drivers in NHRA history to win season titles in both nitro categories.
By virtue of his qualifying effort at the Auto Club NHRA Finals, Scelzi increased his series lead to eight over second-place driver Ron Capps, and 32 over third-place John Force, a 13-time world champion.
Force qualified sixth in his Castrol GTX Start Up Ford Mustang and will face Scelzi-teammate Whit Bazemore in the first round, while Capps qualified 10th in his Brut Stratus and will meet Del Worsham in the opening round. Scelzi will race Tim Wilkerson, who anchors the quickest 16-car Funny Car lineup in history. Each round of Sunday’s eliminations (11 a.m. start) is worth 20 points. The earliest Scelzi could face either Force or Capps would be in the final round. Force and Capps could meet in the semifinals.
“Right now we have to worry about us,” said Scelzi, who claimed Top Fuel world championship titles in 1997, ‘98 and 2000. “I can’t worry about what Bazemore is going to do or what Capps is going to do. If we win this race, we’ll be the champions and that’s what we’re going to try to do, just like we went into Vegas and tried to do, and we came up a little bit short, and hopefully tomorrow we won’t come up short. It’s do or die now. I’m going to go up there and race Tim just like I raced everybody in qualifying. Do my best and if the car runs well and we all do our jobs, don’t have any stupid breakage, hopefully we’ll get some win lights.”
Tony Schumacher, Jason Line and Matt Smith also were No. 1 qualifiers at the $1.7 million race, the final of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
Schumacher powered his U.S. Army dragster to a performance of 4.466 at 328.78 to take his 11th No. 1 position of the year in Top Fuel, a single-season record. The record was previously held by Gary Beck (1983) and Blaine Johnson (1996).
“You look at the names on the list of guys that have earned that many poles in a year and it’s a pretty stout group,” Schumacher said. “I know (my team) gets a kick out of being No. 1 and they deserve all the credit because they’re the ones who gave me an awesome race car over and over again.”
Ladders
Top Fuel
Funny Car
Pro Stock
Pro Stock Motorcycle
First Round Pairings
Top Fuel
1. Tony Schumacher, 4.466 seconds, 328.78 mph
vs. 16. John Smith, 4.621, 321.81
2. Melanie Troxel, 4.473, 329.83
vs. 15. Doug Foley, 4.607, 315.64
3. David Baca, 4.485, 324.28
vs. 14. Jack Beckman, 4.590, 319.67
4. Brandon Bernstein, 4.491, 328.14
vs. 13. Doug Kalitta, 4.555, 326.24
5. Rod Fuller, 4.501, 327.35
vs. 12. David Grubnic, 4.543, 330.96
6. Clay Millican, 4.503, 326.08
vs. 11. Scott Kalitta, 4.542, 328.86
7. Morgan Lucas, 4.503, 327.03
vs. 10. Doug Herbert, 4.537, 321.19
8. Larry Dixon, 4.522, 326.79
vs. 9. Cory McClenathan, 4.534, 324.20
Funny Car
1. Gary Scelzi, Dodge Stratus, 4.696, 330.23
vs. 16. Tim Wilkerson, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.828, 315.12
2. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.708, 328.94
vs. 15. Jim Head, Stratus, 4.822, 323.89
3. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.710, 329.99
vs. 14. Frank Pedregon, Stratus, 4.816, 278.23
4. Eric Medlen, Ford Mustang, 4.715, 328.06
vs. 13. Tony Bartone, Monte Carlo, 4.815, 321.88
5. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.716, 330.80
vs. 12. Bob Gilbertson, Monte Carlo, 4.803, 320.13
6. John Force, Mustang, 4.716, 325.53
vs. 11. Whit Bazemore, Stratus, 4.800, 323.27
7. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.730, 331.36
vs. 10. Ron Capps, Stratus, 4.768, 326.63
8. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo, 4.735, 324.20
vs. 9. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.751, 329.26
Pro Stock
1. Jason Line, Pontiac GTO, 6.677, 206.83
vs. 16. Bob Panella, Chevy Cobalt, 6.721, 205.57
2. Erica Enders, Cobalt, 6.681, 206.70
vs. 15. Tom Martino, Dodge Stratus, 6.718, 206.13
3. Kurt Johnson, Cobalt, 6.683, 207.62
vs. 14. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.717, 205.63
4. Greg Anderson, GTO, 6.685, 207.08
vs. 13. Warren Johnson, GTO, 6.717, 207.15
5. Jeg Coughlin, Stratus, 6.704, 206.16
vs. 12. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.716, 204.48
6. Rickie Smith, Cobalt, 6.705, 205.85
vs. 11. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.715, 205.51
7. Richie Stevens, Stratus, 6.707, 205.60
vs. 10. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.715, 206.26
8. Mike Thomas, Stratus, 6.708, 205.41
vs. 9. Mark Pawuk, GTO, 6.712, 205.79
Pro Stock Motorcycle
1. Matt Smith, Buell, 7.000, 189.82
vs. 16. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 7.218, 188.02
2. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.039, 191.57
vs. 15. Chris Rivas, Buell, 7.198, 185.89
3. Chip Ellis, Buell, 7.047, 190.30
vs. 14. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 7.190, 187.44
4. Ryan Schnitz, Buell, 7.063, 187.91
vs. 13. Tom Bradford, Buell, 7.168, 191.38
5. Antron Brown, Suzuki, 7.074, 190.11
vs. 12. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.152, 186.90
6. Angelle Sampey, Suzuki, 7.089, 188.31
vs. 11. Matt Guidera, Buell, 7.146, 183.99
7. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson, 7.129, 189.39
vs. 10. Mike Berry, Kawasaki, 7.145, 186.10
8. Wesley Wells, Suzuki, 7.135, 188.67
vs. 9. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.139, 188.10
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I have become a fan of NHRA & IHRA since 2001,and I really enjoy going to Maple Grove,PA to see you all in Sept.but this yr I missed out on going.due to money & personal reasons.So hope to see you all next yr.
Good Luck & God Bless
Fan 4-ever
Patty