Four-time NHRA world champion Gary Scelzi, driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger Funny Car, took his first stint behind the wheel of his Scelzi Enterprises/Jeg's/K&N Filters USAC car in a practice session for
the Dodge Chili Bowl Nationals this past Tuesday night.

For Scezli, those laps were the culmination of several years of planning and going to school to learn how to drive a sprint car. For some the sight of a drag racer climbing into a car that has to make four left turns might be a jaw dropper. However, for Scelzi it's just another experience in the world of motorsports.

“It is absolutely true,” Scelzi replied when initially asked over the winter if he was going to compete in the Chili Bowl. “ I own a USAC pavement car and a USAC dirt car that (17-year-old) Michael Faccinto drives. And one of the things I've wanted to do since I drove the Ford Focus celebrity race in 2003 (at the Chili Bowl) was to race the Chili Bowl itself. And now that I own my own USAC team I told everybody on my team that, OK I'm going to run the Chili Bowl this year. Four-time NHRA world champion Gary Scelzi, driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger Funny Car, took his first stint behind the wheel of his Scelzi Enterprises/Jeg's/K&N Filters USAC car in a practice session for
the Dodge Chili Bowl Nationals this past Tuesday night.

For Scezli, those laps were the culmination of several years of planning and going to school to learn how to drive a sprint car. For some the sight of a drag racer climbing into a car that has to make four left turns might be a jaw dropper. However, for Scelzi it's just another experience in the world of motorsports.

“It is absolutely true,” Scelzi replied when initially asked over the winter if he was going to compete in the Chili Bowl. “ I own a USAC pavement car and a USAC dirt car that (17-year-old) Michael Faccinto drives. And one of the things I've wanted to do since I drove the Ford Focus celebrity race in 2003 (at the Chili Bowl) was to race the Chili Bowl itself. And now that I own my own USAC team I told everybody on my team that, OK I'm going to run the Chili Bowl this year.

I've been to Cory Kruseman's (Sprint Car and Midget Driving) school a couple of times, and I've raced in the Super 600cc Mini Sprint class in a couple of races at Plaza Park in Visalia, Calif. When I test at Plaza Park, I test with my son Dominic (10 years old), who drives the 600cc Restricted Mini Sprint at events there. In fact, we just had the track rented a couple of weekends in a row. We took the wings off both cars and he and I went at it. We absolutely had a ball.

I'm trying to get some experience because the last time I was at the Chili Bowl I had 30 minutes of experience, so now I probably have three hours of experience. I just want to go out there and have a good time. I don't want to get upside down. I just want to see if I can hold my own against a bunch of these guys.

How did he hold up in his first night in the dirt, fuel and smoke filled arena in Tulsa?

"The car was so tight it would push the front end,” Scelzi said of his first laps. “There was a lot of yellow flags in my five-lap practice. In fact, I was one of them. But, other cars spun a couple of times. There were a lot of big name drivers who spun. When I came in, Cory Kruseman (who runs a Sprint Car and Midget Driving School in Ventura, Calif., and has been helping Scelzi) said we need to loosen the car up for you to make it a little bit easier to drive. But I only got one practice session.

"Wednesday is my night to race. I get one practice session and then I go right to the heat races and the main event. I'd better be good, so I watched as much as I could of the other sessions Tuesday night to try to
absorb as much as I could and hopefully Wednesday I'll have a decent showing and then I'll find out where I am for Saturday's night's event.

"If I have a good night on Wednesday and I finish in the top four or six, I believe, I'll get an automatic spot in Saturday's A-main. I have to do well to do that. Personally, I'm not setting my goals that high. I'm going to try to finish as high as I can, but I'm not going to drive over my head and take the chance of crashing the thing and being an idiot. I'd like to earn these guys' respect so they'd say, 'Hey that drag racer did a hell of a job out there. He paid attention, he kept his nose out of trouble and we'd like to see him come back next year.' That's my plan. If I don't have a good night Wednesday and Saturday night, then my normal driver Michael Faccinto will be here next year, for sure. If I have a good night I'll bring him and a second car back."