Four-time NHRA world champion Gary Scelzi announced today that he will step down from NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series competition at the end of the 2008 season.
Scelzi, a one-third partner with his brothers Jim and Mike in Scelzi Enterprises, a custom truck body manufacturing company based in his hometown of Fresno, Calif., said he will concentrate on maintaining and growing the family business during these tough economic times.
The California native joined Don Schumacher Racing in the Funny Car class in 2003 after capturing three Top Fuel championships (1997, 1998, 2000). In 2005, driving the Mopar/Oakley Dodge for DSR, he also claimed his first Funny Car crown.
“After the season finale in Pomona, Calif., I’ll be leaving Don Schumacher Racing to go back to work at Scelzi Enterprises,” said Scelzi. “With the economy in the state that it is, business being off in these tough economic times, and with all the travel that competing on the pro NHRA circuit entails, I feel it is in my best interest to leave Don Schumacher Racing a year before the contract is up and go back to work at Scelzi Enterprises and get myself more involved with what’s going on there.
“When (crew chief) Alan Johnson called me back in 1996 to replace Blaine Johnson in the Top Fuel dragster, I really didn’t do it to make a living,” Scelzi added. “It turned into a very good living. I did it to race the absolute best of the best, to see how I would stack up. And obviously I did pretty well. I’ve had some great people as my crew chiefs: Alan Johnson, Mike Neff, Todd Okuhara.
“I’ve only had a few crew chiefs up until lately, but that’s beyond our control,” Scelzi added, referring to the team’s struggles this year, and bringing in other tuners to help during Okuhara’s recuperation from an inner-ear infection.
“I never really thought this was all I wanted to do, to feed my family. I never thought it was stable, I never felt comfortable doing it in the event I got hurt or lost a sponsor, or any of these things. There were too many variables in this business for me to be doing it for a living
“That being said, the real living I need to make is at Scelzi Enterprises and that’s where I need to stake my claim.
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