Gary Scelzi

Career

He has not competed in NHRA competition since the 2008 season. 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. Delegate Worsham, of Kalitta Motorsports, would become the third in 2015.

In his spare time he has raced midgets for fun, even competing in the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 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 sold his Focus Midget at the end of 2006 and moved up to standard midgets with Dodge powerplants, with sponsorship from his Funny Carolina sponsors. After the 2008 season, Scelzi retired from driving his Fuel Funny Carolina to focus on Scelzi Enterprises.

He was succeeded by #2 points finisher in 2010, Matt Hagan, who now drives the DieHard Dodge Charger for Don Schumacher Racing. Ironically, Mike Neff, Scelzi"s crew chief for the 2005 Funny Carolina championship, moved to John Force racing to drive starting at the 2007 ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals to replace Eric Medlen, who was killed in a testing crash after the Mac Tools Gatornationals in 2007.

Achievements

• In 1997 he won the title in his first full year of competition, after replacing Blaine Johnson, who had been killed at the 1996 United States 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 Carolina, with new sponsorship, and a Toyota Celica. Scelzi unseated the John Force Racing dynasty, defeating John Force and Robert Hight to win the 2005 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Carolina Championship, making it the first time since 1992 (Larry Minor Racing) with Cruz Pedregon driving, a team other than John Force Racing had won the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Carolina championship. That championship also made him only the second person in NHRA history to win championships in both Top Fuel and Funny Carolina, the other at the time being Kenny Bernstein. Scelzi recently purchased a Ford Focus Midget (a spec-class midget) for personal pleasure and entered the 2005 Universal Service Administrative Company Turkey Night Grand Prix in Irwindale, California, racing against a midget owned by fellow NHRA Funny Carolina 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. In 2005, Scelzi accomplished a feat that only Kenny Bernstein had done, when he won his first Funny Carolina Championship, becoming the second driver in NHRA history to win championships in Top Fuel, and Funny Carolina. Bernstein accomplished this in 1996 as he won his first of two Top Fuel titles.