NHRA News: Scelzi stars in latest Dodge commercial (2/23/2004)

Scelzi stars in latest Dodge commercial

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
2/23/2004

"I jump in the cockpit, the boys fire it up, and the whole damn set went to hell."
– Gary Scelzi

Funny Car driver Gary Scelzi and his 6,000-horsepower Hemi Oakley Dodge Stratus R/T star in the newest version of the popular "That Thing Got A Hemi?" advertising campaign touting the Dodge Ram pick-up truck. Scelzi crew chief Mike Neff even gets a little airtime in the new commercial as he performed some stunt driving when the regular TV crewmembers balked at racing through an intersection opposite Scelzi's fire-breathing machine.

Filmed in the California desert just outside Palmdale, the drag racing version of the long-running series of commercials shows a Dodge Ram pick-up waiting at a traffic light when Scelzi pulls up in his Funny Car and guns his engine. The two drivers exchange lines before racing side-by-side through the intersection.

"I can't wait to see the finished version," Scelzi said. "This is going to be so cool and it should be a real boost for NHRA drag racing across the country because average viewers sitting at home will be seeing my Hemi Oakley Funny Car over and over again. I don't see how this can do anything but spike the awareness of the sport big-time.

The tedious process of filming a
commercial made for a 12-hour day.

"We had a blast filming this thing. There must have been 60 people out there working, plus our guys, and we filmed every scene from 50 different angles, including inside my car. We were out there from 5:30 in the morning until dark and I couldn't tell you what half those people were doing, but it was a totally professional deal and I was so impressed with the entire staff."

With a stunt double playing the part of the regular Dodge Ram Truck owner used in all the other commercials, the script called for the scene to start with a shot of the truck sitting at the light. The camera angle then shifts to inside the truck's cab with a view across the driver and out the driver's side window. At that point, Scelzi's Funny Car rolls up in the next lane.

"These guys are out there running around setting up all this stuff," Scelzi said. "It's real organized. The guy's yelling, 'Roll 'em' and 'Cut' and all that, just like a movie set. Then we get to the point where the need the car to roll up there so I jump in the cockpit and the boys fire it up and the whole damn set went to hell.

"I guarantee you those people had no idea what to expect. They certainly had no clue what it was like to stand next to a nitro car when it's lit and what a big cloud of nitro can do to your sinuses and your eyes. We tried to warn them ahead of time of time but it took the cackle to convince them. We all got a good laugh about that."

With no substitute for the real thing, Scelzi filmed several takes where his car rolled alongside the Dodge truck and signaled its arrival with a full whack of the throttle.

"Just when they thought it couldn't get any louder, I rap the throttle," Scelzi said. "I'm pretty sure a few of those guys had to go relieve themselves the first time I did it."

With the engine still running, a miked-up Scelzi then went through a laundry list of catchphrases that may or may not make the final version of the commercial.

The irrepressible Scelzi clowns around with a local sheriff who was providing security and traffic control.

"They had me do them all because they weren't sure which one they'd end up using," Scelzi said. "I started with, 'Nice wheels.' Then we did the obligatory, 'That thing got a Hemi?' I even got to say, 'Sweet,' like those two knuckleheads in the commercial do. I guess they figured I'm a knucklehead too."

The final scene calls for Scelzi's Funny Car and the Dodge pick-up to take the green light and race through the intersection. Once again, the producers of the commercial wanted the real thing so they asked the Schumacher Racing crew to fire up the car so Scelzi could perform a real launch.

"We explained that we couldn't do it 100 times because of the need to service the engine if it ran for too long so they had every camera rolling," Scelzi said. "We ended up doing it twice. I promise you, there's a little stretch of road in Palmdale that has some hellacious tire tracks across the intersection. People will look at those and wonder what the hell was going on out there.

"We even got Zippy [Neff] involved. The stunt guy wanted no part of taking off in a pick-up with my car two feet away so when it came down to filming that part Zippy would start my car and then jump in the truck real quick and we'd race through the intersection. He even put on the guy's plaid shirt and hat."

Despite the fact that filming the action sequences of such a complex commercial took the entire day, Scelzi wasn't bored as several NHRA fans descended on the scene to meet the three-time world champion in person.

"A lot of people stopped by," Scelzi said. "Once they saw and heard the Funny Car it drew them in from everywhere. You'd talk to some people and then 10 minutes later all of their friends were there because they had called each other on their cell phones. It was pretty cool.

"I think we won over a bunch of fans that day and I know the ad will impress some people out there in America. It's supposed to start in April so hopefully it brings in a whole new group of race fans and sells a bunch of Dodge Ram trucks for our sponsor."

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