Gary Scelzi fell victim not only to an unexpected loss of traction today in the opening round of the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals, but to Kenny Bernstein’s resurgence in performance after qualifying for his first Funny Car event since returning to the class this season.
Driving the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car, Scelzi struck the tires early in the run, recovering enough to complete the quarter-mile in 5.246 seconds at 301.07 mph, while round-winner Bernstein posted his career-best Funny Car pass of 4.788/317.42.
“We weren’t trying to set the world on fire, ” said Scelzi, who still has not won at Gainesville Raceway in his career as a four-time world champion. “We were going to try to run a 4.75 (-second elapsed time). We took steps to slow it down again, like we did in Phoenix, and it didn’t want any part of it. It just went out there and smoked the tires.
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