Gary Scelzi

Gary Scelzi

Gary Scelzi, (born August 11, 1960, Fresno, California), is an American dragster racer and midget car owner who has won the NHRA Powerade Top Fuel championship on three occasions and the Funny Car title once. In 1997 he won the title in his first full year of competition, after replacing Blaine Johnson, who had been killed at the 1996 US Nationals, while leading the top fuel championship, in the Johnson family-owned car.

Scelzi went on to win three Top Fuel championships, but at the end of the 2001 season, with the Alan Johnson-owned team losing its Winston sponsorship because of the Master Settlement Agreement, and also partly due to a major accident he had that season, he jumped to Funny Car, with new sponsorship, and a Toyota Celica. The results were a disaster for Scelzi, and he resigned from his ride midway through the season, only to join Don Schumacher Racing for the 2003 season in an Oakley sponsored Dodge funny car.

Scelzi unseated the John Force racing dynasty, defeating Force and Robert Hight to win the 2005 NHRA Funny Car Championship, making it the first time since 1992 (Joe Gibbs Racing) a team other than John Force Racing had won the NHRA Funny Car championship, that championship also made him only the second person in NHRA history to win championships in both Top Fuel, and Funny Car, the other, being Kenny Bernstein.

In his spare time he has raced midgets for fun, even competing in the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, OK, competing in a 2003 "celebrity" race against fellow drag racer Ron Capps and dirt trackers Danny Lasoski, Scott Bloomquist, Dave Darland, J. J. Yeley, and Tony Stewart.

Scelzi recently purchased a Ford Focus Midget (a spec-class midget) for personal pleasure and entered the 2005 USAC Turkey Night Grand Prix in Irwindale, CA, racing against a midget owned by fellow NHRA Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon.

In 2006, his midget was driven by 16 year-old driver Michael Faccinto of Hanford, California, who won the 2006 United States Auto Club National Ford Focus Midget Championship, including wins at the Turkey Night Grand Prix in Irwindale, California. Scelzi sold his Focus Midget at the end of 2006 and moved up to standard midgets with Dodge powerplants, with sponsorship from his Funny Car sponsors.

Trivia

*In 2005, Scelzi accomplished a feat that only Kenny Bernstein had done, when he won his first Funny Car Championship, becoming the second driver in NHRA history to win championships in Top Fuel, and Funny Car.

*Scelzi was hired by Alan Johnson to replace his brother Blaine, killed in a crash at the U. S. Nationals in 1996. Ironically, Mike Neff, Scelzi's crew chief for the 2005 Funny Car championship, moved to John Force racing for the 2007 ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals to replace Eric Medlen, killed in a testing crash after the Mac Tools Gatornationals in 2007.

External links

* [http://www.nhra.com/drivers/driver.asp?driverid=16 NHRA profile]
* [http://www.seinc.com Gary Scelzi Enterprises]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series — Category Drag racing Country or region …   Wikipedia

  • NHRA — Die National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) ist die wichtigste Organisation des Drag Racing in Nordamerika. Daneben gibt es noch die IHRA und die ADRL. Gegründet wurde die NHRA 1951 von Wally Parks in Kalifornien. Meister der NHRA Jahr Top Fuel Funny …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • National Hot Rod Association — Die National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) ist die wichtigste Organisation des Drag Racing in Nordamerika. Daneben gibt es noch die IHRA und die ADRL. Gegründet wurde die NHRA 1951 von Wally Parks in Kalifornien. Meister der NHRA Jahr Top Fuel Funny …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Blaine Johnson — (May 22 1962 – August 31 1996) was a professional drag racer who showed a lot of promise from early in his career. Blaine s life long crew chief was his brother Alan. The two went on an excellent run in the NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster Series. They… …   Wikipedia

  • Eric Medlen — (August 13 1973, Oakdale, CA ndash; March 23 2007, Gainesville, Florida), son of John and Mary (Mimi) Medlen, was an NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car driver. Medlen drove for John Force Racing in 2004, 2005 and 2006, campaigning in the Castrol Syntec Ford …   Wikipedia

  • John Force — Infobox racing driver name = John Force date of birth = birth date and age|1949|5|4 place of birth = Bell Gardens, California, USAJohn Force (born May 4, 1949 in Bell Gardens, California) is an NHRA drag racer and 14 time Funny Car champion. He… …   Wikipedia

  • Macy, Indiana — Infobox Settlement official name = Macy, Indiana settlement type = Town nickname = motto = imagesize = image caption = image imagesize = image caption = image mapsize = 250px map caption = Location of Macy in the state of Indiana mapsize1 = map… …   Wikipedia

  • 2000 in sports — yearbox in?=in sports cp=20th century c=21st century cf=22nd century yp1=1997 yp2=1998 yp3=1999 year=2000 ya1=2001 ya2=2002 ya3=2003 dp3=1970s dp2=1980s dp1=1990s d=2000s da=0 dn1=2010s dn2=2020s dn3=2030s|Athletics:: For an extensive coverage… …   Wikipedia

  • 1998 in sports — yearbox in?=in sports cp=19th century c=20th century cf=21st century yp1=1995 yp2=1996 yp3=1997 year=1998 ya1=1999 ya2=2000 ya3=2001 dp3=1960s dp2=1970s dp1=1980s d=1990s da=0 dn1=2000s dn2=2010s dn3=2020s|Athletics:: For an extensive coverage… …   Wikipedia

  • 1997 in sports — yearbox in?=in sports cp=19th century c=20th century cf=21st century yp1=1994 yp2=1995 yp3=1996 year=1997 ya1=1998 ya2=1999 ya3=2000 dp3=1960s dp2=1970s dp1=1980s d=1990s da=0 dn1=2000s dn2=2010s dn3=2020s|Artistic gymnastics*World Artistic… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”