Gary Scelzi understands the reality that he could be walking away from his final opportunity to drive a championship contending nitro car, once the Pomona weekend ends.

Scelzi’s not retiring, just stepping away while the time is right, to tend to other business. He’ll come back if the perfect opportunity presents itself, but with the current state of the drag racing economy he knows those chances are getting slimmer with each lost drag racing sponsorship.

“My wife and I talked the other day and there are basically, probably only two people that I could drive for,” Scelzi said. “That would be Connie Kalitta or Jim Head. Of all the people out here these are the ones that I could drive for and have a good time. If I do make a return, you might see me in Jim Head’s car at the Winternationals if he decides not to run it. I doubt that but it is a possibility.” Gary Scelzi understands the reality that he could be walking away from his final opportunity to drive a championship contending nitro car, once the Pomona weekend ends.

Scelzi’s not retiring, just stepping away while the time is right, to tend to other business. He’ll come back if the perfect opportunity presents itself, but with the current state of the drag racing economy he knows those chances are getting slimmer with each lost drag racing sponsorship.

“My wife and I talked the other day and there are basically, probably only two people that I could drive for,” Scelzi said. “That would be Connie Kalitta or Jim Head. Of all the people out here these are the ones that I could drive for and have a good time. If I do make a return, you might see me in Jim Head’s car at the Winternationals if he decides not to run it. I doubt that but it is a possibility.”

Scelzi is adamant he won’t race 24 races next season, or any season for that matter.

He won’t walk away empty handed considering he’s earned four world championships (3 Top Fuel, 1 Funny Car) and 37 national event titles in 58 final rounds. Since 1997, he’s competed in 258 races.

“It would have to be something major to make me change my mind,” Scelzi admitted.

Bear in mind that Scelzi once said he’d never drive for Don Schumacher and has done so since 2003, winning a championship in 2004. Scelzi made the statement during the years he drove a Top Fuel dragster for Alan Johnson, then bitter rivals with DSR.

Clearly he’s learned to never say never.

Scelzi knows that replacing the adrenaline of driving a fuel car is going to be tough.

“There’s nothing on this planet that can replace the g-forces you feel and the adrenaline you feel with these fuel cars,” Scelzi said. “There’s nothing on this planet. I’ll have fun with my little midget car on occasions. But I’m 48 years old; I’m not going to learn a new trick. It’s time for me to let my kids have some fun, go to their baseball games and let them have some fun. There’s only so much of that that you are able to do but there is a lot of that. I mean there is baseball, football, racing, the business; here in the future I either want to build or buy a new house. There are a lot of things I want to do, I’m going to keep in touch with the racers.

“It’s not like someone has given me two weeks to live and I have to get my affairs in order, at least no one has given me that message yet. I have a lot of things to look forward to; it’s a new chapter in my life.”

Closing this chapter is proving tough for Scelzi, who began cleaning out his locker on Friday.

“It’s a different feeling, I do this every year but I always leave some stuff in there because obviously I’m going to start testing in January and then we’re back rolling again but that’s not going to be the case,” Scelzi said. “It’s a little bit of an empty feeling, which I knew that there would be something like that but I guess I don’t know what it’s really going to be like on Sunday night.”

Scelzi can’t fully walk away; the experience has been a part of his life for too long.

“This has been a part of my life for a while, on the NHRA side since 1984,” Scelzi said. “I know when testing comes around that I’m going to be itching. Kenny Bernstein gave me words of advice he said, ‘Don’t come back, don’t get National DRAGSTER, and don’t do anything to watch because you’re going to miss it.’ I don’t think I’m going to take his advice.”