Scelzi Stays Above Force in Drag Racing

As mood swings go, this had to rate as one of the fastest, which perhaps is fitting considering that it occurred in the world’s fastest sport.

For a moment, and a brief moment is all it seemed to be, Gary Scelzi was deeply dismayed, having suffered a second-round upset loss Sunday in the Auto Club of Southern California National Hot Rod Assn. Finals at Pomona Raceway that put his chance of winning his first funny-car title in jeopardy.

“I was numb,” he would later recall.

An opportunity was created for the legendary John Force, attempting what would have been a momentous comeback, to overtake his rival, advance to the final and claim his 14th Powerade Drag Racing Series title.

But Force, immediately after the sprint between Scelzi and Tommy Johnson, was eliminated when he was outdueled by Tony Pedregon on the quarter-mile strip. With the rest of the field too far back in the points race, Scelzi had the title.

He was still numb, he said, but beaming over the realization that he and the Don Schumacher Racing team had just toppled the defending champion who had won the funny-car title 11 of the previous 12 seasons and 13 of the previous 15 seasons.

“My guys are all trying to make me feel better, but it is what it is,” Force said. “We just got whupped. That’s all. I know what Scelzi feels like and good for him.”

Pedregon went on to win the funny-car portion of the season finale, with a pass of 4.751 seconds in a final versus Eric Medlen. Tony Schumacher -- who like Greg Anderson in the pro-stock category already had clinched the top-fuel title -- defeated teammate Melanie Troxel in the final with a 4.496-second pass. Schumacher set season records for consecutive victories (five), consecutive finals appearances (seven) and 20 consecutive elimination-round wins.

Andrew Hines clinched his second consecutive pro-stock motorcycle title when G.T. Tonglet lost to Mike Berry in the first round. But Hines lost to Ryan Schnitz after red-lighting in the final. Jeg Coughlin won the pro-stock car final.

Scelzi’s crowning moment came 20 years to the day after he won his first NHRA event, in an alcohol dragster during the Winston Nationals at Pomona. He earned $4,000 for that triumph. On Sunday, he collected $400,000 for winning the title and joined Kenny Bernstein as the only drivers in NHRA history to win titles in top-fuel and funny-car divisions.

“I left top-fuel because they tried to kill me over there,” said Scelzi, 45, who won division titles in 1997, ’98 and 2000. “I crashed so many times I didn’t want to do that anymore. Actually, I left for three reasons: funny cars are safer, they’re more fun to drive, and for the same reason everybody has -- to try to beat John Force.”

Scelzi came into Sunday’s elimination rounds with an eight-point lead over teammate Ron Capps and a 32-point lead over Force. Force figured he would need to break the national elapsed-time record (4.665 seconds), for the 20 bonus points it would garner, to overtake his rivals. But it turned out he didn’t.

Capps was also a second-round loser, bowing to Cruz Pedregon, Tony’s brother, before Scelzi went up against Johnson. Force then needed only to reach the final to win another title. He was slightly slower off the start against Tony Pedregon and lost by 0.017 of a second.

“It’s kind of simple. We lost and Gary won,” said Force, 56, the NHRA record holder with 119 victories. “They tried to give it to us but, bottom line, I couldn’t take advantage of it.”