THE SCELZI REVIEW
Tue, 2008-03-11 10:25
Gary Scelzi arrived at South Georgia Motorsports Park on Saturday
during the CSR Eastern Spring Test Nationals presented by Torco’s
CompetitionPlus.com to find a blast of high winds and frigid
temperatures forced the cancellation of the second day of testing. The
three-time NHRA world champion knew he and the Mopar Oakley team had a
tall order of objectives and parts to test in preparation for
Gainesville. Did we mention he was testing two cars back-to-back?
This setback didn’t set the agenda well.
Then he inspected the all concrete racing surface and while the facility impressed him greatly, he couldn’t help but notice a yellow film covering the rubber-topped concrete.
“And what is that?” Scelzi asked a crew member who then explained the substance which happened to be pollen.
Scelzi knew then he was in store for a unique experience. Scelzi gains valuable information from SGMP testing headed into Gainesville
“We were testing the Hadman car and the McKinney car,” Scelzi said. “We
were testing superchargers. We were testing clutch arms. You name it,
we tested it. We wanted to go to Gainesville with a buffet of tricks up
our sleeve. We went into this deal knowing that we might grab one good
thing that works right or none of them made it work right.”
Scelzi spent much of Sunday and Monday making a run in one car, hopping a ride back to the starting line and strapping into a second Oakley Mopar Funny Car for another hit in the same testing session round making as many as eight runs in two days.
“We learned that both of these cars are different animals,” Scelzi said. “The Murf [McKinney] car seems to react better than our old Murf car. This one is made from the larger, normalized tubing. It wants more clutch and we like that, of course. We couldn’t get to that edge and we found it. We had some really fast sixty-foot times and we are very pleased with that.
“The Hadman car is showing a lot of promise early. The car wants more clutch and is very stable. We couldn’t get it to smoke the tires at the hit. We didn’t have any trouble until we got out about 400 feet. We found out some things that it really liked. We ran the quickest 60-footers and early times we have in a while.”
Scelzi made these runs at the newly implemented mandatory 2,550 pounds weight minimum.
“We are just a little more comfortable with the Murf car right now,” Scelzi admitted. “If anything, this car has a few more similarities to the old car than we are used to than with the Hadman. Right now we will run the Murf and continue to test the Hadman some more. We just want to make sure where we are at before we bring the Hadman out.
“Both cars were impressive and both were very comfortable. We could race either one but we can’t gamble with the weather in Gainesville. If we lose a qualifying run in Gainesville, we want to be stable.”
This test session for Scelzi was invaluable and it came on a facility to his liking.
“South Georgia is an awesome facility and the staff was very accommodating,” Scelzi said. “This facility could be in the top five or six the NHRA could have if they put a national event here. They are first class and do whatever it takes to make it right for you. I’m very satisfied with what we experienced here and we will definitely come back here to test.”
SGMP definitely earned Scelzi’s seal of approval.
“I would certainly recommend this place,” Scelzi added. “There’s plenty of shut-off, plenty of concrete, well-prepared and friendly people. This place is a home run from where I come from.”
Now, about the pollen Scelzi encountered on Saturday.
“Never in my life had I ever witnessed something like that,” Scelzi said. “It's so funny because of all the pollen in the air my eyes weren't bothering me nor were my allergies. Of course it was so cold, I think I know why, the pollen was frozen.”
This setback didn’t set the agenda well.
Then he inspected the all concrete racing surface and while the facility impressed him greatly, he couldn’t help but notice a yellow film covering the rubber-topped concrete.
“And what is that?” Scelzi asked a crew member who then explained the substance which happened to be pollen.
Scelzi knew then he was in store for a unique experience. Scelzi gains valuable information from SGMP testing headed into Gainesville
Gary Scelzi was pulling double-duty in Valdosta testing two cars.
THE SCELZI REVIEW - Gary Scelzi arrived at South Georgia Motorsports Park on Saturday
during the CSR Eastern Spring Test Nationals presented by Torco’s
CompetitionPlus.com to find a blast of high winds and frigid
temperatures forced the cancellation of the second day of testing. The
three-time NHRA world champion knew he and the Mopar Oakley team had a
tall order of objectives and parts to test in preparation for
Gainesville. Did we mention he was testing two cars back-to-back?
This setback didn’t set the agenda well.
Then he inspected the all concrete racing surface and while the
facility impressed him greatly, he couldn’t help but notice a yellow
film covering the rubber-topped concrete.
“And what is that?” Scelzi asked a crew member who then explained the substance which happened to be pollen.
Scelzi knew then he was in store for a unique experience.
Scelzi has nothing but praise for the SGMP facility and staff.
Scelzi spent much of Sunday and Monday making a run in one car, hopping a ride back to the starting line and strapping into a second Oakley Mopar Funny Car for another hit in the same testing session round making as many as eight runs in two days.
“We learned that both of these cars are different animals,” Scelzi said. “The Murf [McKinney] car seems to react better than our old Murf car. This one is made from the larger, normalized tubing. It wants more clutch and we like that, of course. We couldn’t get to that edge and we found it. We had some really fast sixty-foot times and we are very pleased with that.
“The Hadman car is showing a lot of promise early. The car wants more clutch and is very stable. We couldn’t get it to smoke the tires at the hit. We didn’t have any trouble until we got out about 400 feet. We found out some things that it really liked. We ran the quickest 60-footers and early times we have in a while.”
Scelzi made these runs at the newly implemented mandatory 2,550 pounds weight minimum.
“We are just a little more comfortable with the Murf car right now,” Scelzi admitted. “If anything, this car has a few more similarities to the old car than we are used to than with the Hadman. Right now we will run the Murf and continue to test the Hadman some more. We just want to make sure where we are at before we bring the Hadman out.
“Both cars were impressive and both were very comfortable. We could race either one but we can’t gamble with the weather in Gainesville. If we lose a qualifying run in Gainesville, we want to be stable.”
This test session for Scelzi was invaluable and it came on a facility to his liking.
“South Georgia is an awesome facility and the staff was very accommodating,” Scelzi said. “This facility could be in the top five or six the NHRA could have if they put a national event here. They are first class and do whatever it takes to make it right for you. I’m very satisfied with what we experienced here and we will definitely come back here to test.”
SGMP definitely earned Scelzi’s seal of approval.
“I would certainly recommend this place,” Scelzi added. “There’s plenty of shut-off, plenty of concrete, well-prepared and friendly people. This place is a home run from where I come from.”
Now, about the pollen Scelzi encountered on Saturday.
“Never in my life had I ever witnessed something like that,” Scelzi said. “It's so funny because of all the pollen in the air my eyes weren't bothering me nor were my allergies. Of course it was so cold, I think I know why, the pollen was frozen.”
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