Fri, Oct 16, 01:33 AM Team Winston Top Fuel Dragster Gary Scelzi

Courtesy of Rob Goodman, Sports Marketing Enterprises Parts America Nationals

* Gary Scelzi enters the Parts America Nationals in first place in the NHRA Winston Top Fuel standings. With four races remaining in the battle for the 1998 Winston championship, Scelzi leads second-place Cory McClenathan by 44 points and third-place Joe Amato by 48 points.

* Scelzi is the No. 1 qualifier at the rain-delayed Parts America Nationals. In qualifying, he covered the quarter-mile in 4.561 seconds at 321.77 mph. Team Winston has been the No. 1 qualifier five times this season including the Winston Invitational, NHRA's all-star race.

* Scelzi will face Eddie Hill in the first round of eliminations at Topeka, Kan. Amato faces Kenny Bernstein while McClenathan races Bruce Sarver. Should Scelzi and McClenathan both advance, they will meet in the second round.

* Scelzi has advanced to at least the semifinals in 10 of the last 13 national events. He has competed in five final rounds which resulted in four wins, St. Louis, Brainerd, Minn., Indianapolis and Reading, Pa.

* One year ago at Topeka, Kan., Scelzi was the No. 2 qualifier and advanced to the semifinals, where he was defeated by race winner Kenny Bernstein.

* Scelzi was the No. 5 qualifier at the Pennzoil Nationals in Memphis, Tenn. In eliminations, he defeated Bob Vandergriff and Cory McClenathan before losing to Kenny Bernstein in the semifinals. When Scelzi was defeated in the semifinals, his 14-round win streak was snapped, ending the NHRA's longest Top Fuel win streak of the season.

Scelzi prior to the Topeka rain-out:

"We picked up 20 points at Memphis, and 20 points is 20 points. Team Winston is looking for whatever we can get at each race. The battle for the Winston championship is a marathon, not a sprint, but the finish line is in sight. We left Memphis with a bigger lead than we had when we arrived, but it's still a very tight race for the Winston championship.

"At Topeka, we need to go rounds. There's a lot of major matchups in the first round. Joe is racing Kenny, and if we both win in the first round, Team Winston faces Cory in the second round. When we have matchups like those, we've reached the do-or-die part of the season. So Team Winston has to be cautious, but not conservative, as we try to repeat as Winston champions."



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