Fri, 20 Dec 2002, 08:55 PM It’s Official!!

By Bob Frey

INDIANAPOLIS --

Schumacher and Scelzi

There has been such a lack of news so far this off-season that I just couldn’t wait to give you something that’s official and that should be pretty exciting. I can now tell you that the Don Schumacher Racing team cars will, indeed, run the Dodge Stratus R/T bodies on their funny cars next year. While the official (from Schumacher Racing) announcement will be released any day now, I can say for a fact that Gary Scelzi and Whit Bazemore will open the season with the Dodge bodies and that Scotty Cannon should join them shortly thereafter. There just aren’t enough of the bodies available yet to put all three of the drivers in them by Pomona, but it won’t be too many races into the season before we see all three in the new cars. After seeing the cars in the wind tunnel and after measuring the results of the drag and the down force that the bodies produce, both Lee Beard and Mike Neff were thrilled with the numbers that they saw and they expect big things from the cars in 2003. This is a multi-year partnership between Schumacher Racing and DaimlerChrysler and, if the cars perform as well on the track as they did in the tunnel, it could be a very exciting year in the Funny Car class. Look for Whit and Gary to unveil their cars at the Phoenix test session. Also, look for DaimlerChrysler to lend additional engineering support to the team during the season, a fact that is good for Schumacher Racing and very good for drag racing as a whole. Stay tuned; things may be just beginning to get exciting…..Also, look for another Division 1 car to be added to the alcohol funny car ranks next year and expect it to be a contender for the title right away….and I’m not talking about Todd Veney this time!

NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]

Apr 24- CHARLOTTE 1 - Steve Torrence Enjoying Four-Wide Success Heading to NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
Apr 24- CHARLOTTE 1 - Fact Sheet
Apr 24- Kalitta Motorsports Welcomes NASCAR Stars to the SealMaster Track Walk in Charlotte
Apr 24- zMAX Dragway Celebrates 10th Anniversary
Apr 24- CHARLOTTE 1 - NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Brings 40,000 Horsepower Thrill Show to zMAX Dragway
Apr 23- HOUSTON - Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Wrap Up The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Wrap Up
Apr 23- CHARLOTTE 1 - J.R. Todd Aiming for Two Four-Wide Racing Wins in 2018
Apr 23- Mid America Dragway Joins NHRA Member Track Network
Apr 23- HOUSTON - Special Awards
Apr 23- HOUSTON - Sunday Video