Q&A With Gary Scelzi
Jul 08, 2008
NHRA
Scelzi is a three-time NHRA Top Fuel Champion, as well the 2005 NHRA Funny Car Champion. He has claimed two Funny Car wins at Infineon Raceway, and he was inducted into the Infineon Raceway Wall of Fame last year.
What are your thoughts about the NHRA’s recent decision to shorten the drag strips to 1,000 feet for Top Fuel and Funny Car?
GS: First of all, on the 1,000-foot thing, that was a bold and great move by NHRA. They took a big stance to do this. I haven’t heard much from the fans yet, but the drivers are for it. It’s not something we want to stay with, but it’s something we’ll stay with until the end of the year. What I realized is that until this last accident, we’ve had a track record that’s impeccable to all other motor sports, but here over the last couple of years we’ve lost two drivers and NHRA is not going to stand for that. They’re bringing experts from engineering, NASCAR, F1 and crash experts to analyze the things that are happening – the heavier Funny Cars we introduced this year, the parachutes, the downforce. I’m proud to be part of NHRA and see what they’re doing to try to make things safer. I know 320 feet doesn’t sound like a lot, but we’re covering so much ground so quickly. I mean, we’re going 0-60 feet at over 100 mph in less than a second and the last half of the track in less than a second. I went off the end of Pomona at the Winternationals two years ago, and if I’d had an extra 50 feet, I would’ve made it. That extra 320 feet will be a big plus for us right now until we can come up with a solution in terms of the parachutes, the braking and the what to do in terms of a catch net. They’ve done some research already and I’ve heard the old-fashioned tire barriers might be coming back to slow us down. I’m proud of NHRA for doing this, and I think the fans, one they get there, are going to realize that 320 feet doesn’t make that much of a difference. You’re still going to have side-by-side drag racing, the eight-foot flames are still coming out of the headers, you can still get an autograph and all the things that make this sport great are the same. They just need to bear with us and get through this time right now. Keep the drivers safe, that’s the most important. The racing will still be excellent.
At Norwalk earlier this year, you and Melanie Troxel were disqualified for loose ballast, and you both had the same reaction which is that the scales are so inconsistent that you’re putting in extra ballast to compensate for that. Has the NHRA done anything to address that?
GS: No. The problem being, it’s a difficult situation, and I didn’t really know what was going on until after it happened. We weigh the cars before a run and our car should’ve been 20 pounds over weight, but we’ve also seen a 30-pound variance in the scales, so we always try to be well and above what the cars are supposed to be. But, for years this has been going on, and there’s a five-pound weight that gets tossed in the car, it’s an illegal thing. Our car was still heavy, but instead of being 20 pounds heavy, it was only 10 pounds heavy. I was extremely upset in the interview because number one, I didn’t know it was done. I mean, I know we’ve done it in the past, but I thought we were fine. Five pounds or 10 pounds is not going to make the difference in a run, but the problem I had was I felt the runs should’ve been thrown out, our hands slapped and if this happens to anyone else, you’ll be thrown out, that’s how serious it is. We just need to go and run 40-50 pounds heavy, which means the cars are 140-150 pounds heavier than last year, which changes the ballast, but we’re going to have to learn how to deal with it. We shouldn’t have done what we did, and we’ll take the blame for it, but I just didn’t feel the punishment fit the crime. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like NHRA is doing anything, but to me the 1,000-foot thing and the safety for the drivers is more important than that. We’ll just deal with the weight thing. I was pretty upset about this when it happened, but to me in the big picture, no one’s going to go to the hospital over five pounds. If we were light, throw me out because that’s realistically cheating, but to me, and I’m accepting responsibility, that’s what it said in the rule book and we have been aware of it.
How safe is Sonoma compared to some of the other tracks?
GS: I’m kind of partial because I love this place, and any racetrack, and I’ve said it time and time again, that any track that Bruton Smith owns, they set the benchmark for the rest of the places we go to. Other than Chicago, most other tracks don’t hold a candle to Las Vegas, Infineon, Bristol, and I’m sure Charlotte is going to make everybody look sick. They’ve always done something to make the tracks better since Bruton’s owned them. In Sonoma, they don’t have the Cup cars crossing the track like they used to. I feel it’s probably one of the safest tracks we go to. My job as a race car driver is that I have to know and accept the dangers. If I feel a certain track is not acceptable, all I can do is complain about it and hope that it doesn’t fall on deaf ears. And, it looks like it’s not falling on deaf ears, so that makes me very happy.
Has Scott’s death given you any pause in the direction of your career?
GS: You know, I’ve been asked that a lot lately. You’ll remember that 11 years ago the reason I got the call to go Top Fuel racing was because of Blaine Johnson’s death. When I got that call from Allen Johnson, I gathered my wife together, my mother and father, my two brothers, and I told them I could end up like Blaine or Darryl Gwynn, or nothing could happen, but I need your support and you need to accept it and I accept it. They did, and that’s how I carry on. It may hurt a little more. The older you get, and I’ve got children, it weighs on you a little bit more. I’ve known Scott since 1984 and his kids for a long time, so it makes it more difficult, but I drive the car just as hard. It’s a little more emotional, but when I get in the car, it’s all business. You have to pay attention and that’s what I do. I don’t know what’s going to happen for Gary Scelzi next year. I can’t make that decision right now. If I decide to move on or stay in the sport, it won’t be because of Scott Kalitta.
Did you typically used to walk the tracks to check the run-off before you race? Do other drivers?
GS: No, they don’t. I’ve made a habit of it since I began racing, so that if I got into trouble, I knew what my outs were. If I didn’t want to go into the net, which obstacle I had to avoid or what I had to do. One of the things that bothered me is that at Englishtown I didn’t do that. I arrived later in the evening, and I went to go get something to eat and Friday morning before qualifying I just never did it. I always go down and say hello to the Safety Safari, which is one of the best safety groups in racing, I always say hello to them and say ‘I hope I don’t see you all weekend. ’ But I didn’t do it at Englishtown. Not that it would’ve made any difference, and I don’t know that I could’ve had anything moved of not moved or changed anything, but I can promise you that as long as I’m drag racing I will always go down to the end before I race.
Are there any particular tracks that give you a concern?
GS: As long as things are good. I mean, Englishtown was fine. Plenty of room for shut off…Denver, Pomona. As long as things are right. The things we have to look at is when things aren’t right. In Scott’s incident, everything went wrong perfectly, it was the perfect storm. The way it blew up, the way the body didn’t come completely off the car and the parachutes went to the ground, how he was under fire and the car didn’t slow down. All these things that normally don’t happen. Since I’ve been a professional in Top Fuel and Funny Car, I have one lever that’s tied to both parachutes and I’ve always been a big fan of pulling the chutes a little bit early, because they don’t fully blossom until after the finish line, but I’m as guilty as anyone of missing the finish line and not pulling the chutes until 100 feet or so after the finish line. I’ve heard that at 300 mph you’re going over 450 feet per second, so it doesn’t take long to lose a lot of ground. What we do is dangerous. We’re not made to crash cars like NASCAR, so we have to try to keep engine explosions to a minimum and do what we can to keep things safe.
Have you heard anything about what caused Scott Kalitta’s explosion?
GS: I did hear that it was an intake valve or something, but we stress these engines to the max. We have 90-gallon-a-minute fuel pumps, if you can figure that. At full throttle these things can pump 90 gallons of fuel a minute. We’ve got eight-thousand horsepower and people don’t understand. When there’s an explosion, it’s catastrophic. I’ve had brand new parts break and old parts break. It’s just one of those things that happened and everything happened wrong.
How do you think the NHRA can convince general sports fans that drag racing is safe?
GS: Anytime there’s a fatality, it’s difficult to explain. It shouldn’t happen and it’s a nasty reminder of reality. I don’t try to convince anybody of anything. It’s no different than having an aneurism. A great friend of mine, 36 years old who was the picture of health, was sitting in his recliner reading his paper on a Sunday afternoon and died of an aneurism. Things happen – drunk drivers, cancer – a lot of things you can’t explain. People say we’re daredevils and we put ourselves at risk, and maybe so, but I also feel that when it’s your time, it’s your time and there’s nothing you can do about it. I’ve found that trying to get in a conversation with a fan or someone who doesn’t know what’s going on is like trying to talk to a chair, so there’s no sense in trying to convince somebody if they feel differently.
