NHRA News: Force vs. Scelzi rivalry taking shape (9/10/2004)

Force vs. Scelzi rivalry taking shape

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
9/10/2004

"If people bitch about Scelzi getting mad, then they don't know [anything] about winning and losing."
– John Force

The beer battle between the Miller and Bud camps has waned for the moment, but a newfound rivalry between two of the best drivers on the POWERade circuit has quickly taken its place. When 12-time Funny Car champion John Force whizzed through the pits on his scooter during the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona he took in more than a chase pack of autograph seekers – he spied something that made him a little anxious.

"It takes three things to win a championship," Force said, "money, talent, and camaraderie. I looked at Gary Scelzi and that Oakley group and I saw all three. I went right back to my pit and told [crew chief Austin] Coil that Scelzi was the one we needed to worry about and he just said, 'Yup, you're right.'

"You need money because you have to keep up with the technology. They have plenty of money. You have to have the talent and they have a bunch. Scelzi knows how to win, that's clear. That Zippy guy [crew chief Mike Neff] is good. He scares me. Then they have Lee Beard, Alan Johnson, and Dan Olson over there. That braintrust adds up to a lot of wins.

"The final ingredient is camaraderie. If you can't all get along with each other you won't win anything. Scelzi and Zippy, along with [Oakley founder Jim] Jannard, they're all real good friends with each other. They hang out together and I guarantee you all they do is talk about beating me. I know what they're up to."

Collision course
Force and Scelzi's standoff is three years in the making. After not seeing each other at all on the racetrack in Scelzi's partial first year in Funny Car in 2002, they met just five times in 2003, with mostly meaningless meetings scattered throughout the schedule. Scelzi took the early edge by winning four of those head-to-head races.

Scelzi trails Force, near lane, by 206 points.
Racers Edge Photography

For several events this year, the two managed to avoid one another once again, but suddenly, in the span of eight races, they've squared off seven times, including five consecutive meetings at the last five events, with the last three decided on holeshots.

Force has won four of the seven races this season, but Scelzi has risen from sixth to second place in the POWERade points over that time frame. He has been second to Force in the points for three races now.

"The moral of the story is be careful what you wish for," said Scelzi, who collected three championships and 25 national events wins in a Top Fuel dragster before a series of three high-speed accidents convinced him to make the switch to Funny Car. "I've always watched Force, and admired Force, and deep down I always had a dream to come over here and race him to see how I'd stack up. But the only way I wanted to do it was if I had a great hot rod with a great team that could match up with him. Now I have it and I hope we're seeing the first indications of how much fun this is going to be between us.

"I've watched Force intimidate drivers into giving him wins for years. They either get scared of his tune-up or scared of his driving ability and they make mistakes. We don't want to make it that easy on him. We feel like we have a comparable deal over here and we want to line up and race.

"He's the class of the field and the best in our business. I don't put myself at his level by any means. I'll never be there. He'll probably be racing long after I retire. But it will be neat to say I raced him and raced him hard when I'm telling stories to my grandkids one day."

Great minds think alike
Without knowing what Force had said about building a championship team, Scelzi quickly zeroed on the same things in his assessment, adding that despite his group's slow start, they still feel like they have a chance to steal the title from the champ this year.

Scelzi is on fire of late, racing up to
second place in the POWERade points.
Racers Edge Photography

"I've been in his shoes before and trust me, a lot can happen in five races," Scelzi said. "It looks good for them but we're not dreaming about next year just yet. Until they come over and tell me I'm done, then we're gonna kept fighting. He might be a 12-time champion but his stomach is churning just like the rest of us.

"We have a group here that is unified, that's key. We all want what he's got so we're going to bite, scratch, and claw away until we get [the title] from him or die trying. There is no quit over here."

The fight for championship points reached a boiling point in Indy when Scelzi lost his cool at the top end after a semifinal loss to Cruz Pedregon. Scelzi knew he had squandered a great chance to make up ground on Force, who had lost in the quarterfinals. Compounding the problem was a mix-up at the top end that resulted in both drivers trying to exit the track at about the same time. Scelzi's car became entangled in Pedregon's parachute and was damaged, which pushed Scelzi into a tirade aimed first at Pedregon and then at the top-end track workers.

"I said some stupid things, which I knew were stupid the minute the words came out of my mouth," Scelzi said. "I apologized to everyone involved and I hope people see it was a heat-of-the-moment deal."

The fight in the dog
Force immediately recognized the symptoms, which only made him more concerned.

Force has four national event wins this year. Scelzi has just one.
Racers Edge Photography

"Scelzi knows what it takes to win a championship because he's done it three times," Force said. "He also knows what it takes to lose it. Some guys lose and don't know why. Not Scelzi; he's too smart for that.

"When I saw him get pissed at the top end it scared me because that told me he's in tune to what needs to be done for him to beat me. That wasn't about Cruz or the track guy; that was about losing a chance to earn more points on me. If people bitch about Scelzi getting mad, then they don't know [anything]. They don't know how your heart is going when you just got done going 325 mph and you lost by an inch in a race you felt like you had to have. They don't know about winning and losing.

"There are a lot of teams that can win. Tony [Pedregon] will be right there in another year because he knows what it takes and all he needs now is for that team to gel. [Tim] Wilkerson and [Del] Worsham, they know, all they need is a little more budget. [Whit] Bazemore's been so close now, he knows. But the one to watch is Scelzi because they have it all together right now and that fit he threw, just like the eight million fits I've thrown down there over the years, tells me he's hungry enough to do it."

Scelzi is suspicious of Force's comments.

"It's flattering he's said that but he's a psychological genius so it's probably a trap I'm too stupid to figure out," Scelzi said. "Hey, we know what we're up against. You don't win championships by mistake. But I agree with what he's saying because I do think we have a great group over here. People are saying they can't wait to see us go after him next year; well, that's cool, but don't write us off just yet."

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