Gary Scelzi raced the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to a first-round finish at the 21st annual NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway today, conceding the win to points leader Tim Wilkerson, who posted the second quickest elapsed time of the round, a 4.100-second pass at 303.37 mph to Scelzi’s 4.227/295.98.
They both launched with nearly identical reaction times, but a clutch disk problem on the Mopar/Oakley Dodge slowed Scelzi’s run to the finish line. Scelzi was unable to advance in the point standings and remained in 13th place, 77 points out of the top 10.
“It ate a clutch disk and it slowed down. It should have run 4.12 or better,” explained the four-time NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series world champion and Fresno, Calif., native. “Even at that, Wilkerson’s 4.10 was pretty stout. It’s hard to play ball when you have to run a hitter like that, but it happens. So, I guess were off to Brainerd.
“Our chances of getting into the top 10 are getting slimmer and slimmer,” he added. “We’ll see what happens.” Only three national events remain before the Countdown to the Championship for the top 10 in points kicks in following the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend in Indianapolis.
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