Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Marnell confident despite losing partner, crew chief

Thursday, Feb. 7, 2002 | 10:47 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

George Marnell's NHRA Pro Stock operation finally turned the corner last year as the 51-year-old Las Vegas businessman earned his first national-event victory after nine full seasons on the circuit.

Less than two months after his milestone victory in Memphis, Tenn., Marnell's partner of five years, Ken Black, announced he was forming his own team and taking Marnell's crew chief, Greg Anderson, with him.

Despite losing his partner and crew chief, Marnell said he is confident his team is on solid footing as the 2002 NHRA season opens this weekend in Pomona, Calif.

"We've been running the wheels off this thing the past couple of weeks," Marnell said as he wrapped up his preseason testing last weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "I feel very confident that we can get the car down the racetrack and that's what's most important.

"We're getting the car down the racetrack real good and I'm happy about that. I feel real comfortable in the car and I feel very confident in the car and I think we're going to go out there and do real well."

Marnell has promoted Marcus Svenson, who worked with Anderson tuning the Pontiac Grand Am last year, to crew chief and said the team has not missed a beat.

"Kenny was a great partner and I was happy to have him, but I'm going to do it on my own this year," Marnell said. "We had a real solid program and we're basically just continuing our program. Actually, we have done some stuff this year already, with the clutch, that we were having trouble accomplishing last year so I feel real good about that."

In addition to earning his first win, Marnell posted his career-best elapsed time (6.817 seconds) and speed (202.06 mph) last season. Despite the changes to his team, Marnell said he believes he has the ingredients to advance to the finals and win races on a more consistent basis.

"There's no reason we can't do that -- no reason at all," Marnell said. "We've got a real good program. We're still looking for some (financial) help, but other than that we're in real good shape."

Scelzi, who piloted the Team Winston Top Fuel Dragster for the past five seasons, said he was looking forward to making the move to Funny Car competition this season.

"I've crashed enough dragsters in my day," Scelzi replied when asked why he made the switch to Funny Cars. "Seriously, it was a good business decision to get involved with Toyota and all their resources.

"I've wanted to do it for a long time ... and I figured now was a good a time as any."

With Winston pulling its sponsorship out of the NHRA at the end of last season due to the tobacco settlement, Scelzi said the timing was right. Team owner Johnson signed White Cap, a construction supplier, as the primary sponsor and Toyota Racing Development will offer the team its full technical support.

Scelzi, who also tested last weekend in Las Vegas, said there was a noticeable difference between driving a Top Fuel dragster and a Funny Car.

"I think my new nickname is going to be 'Wild Thing,'" Scelzi said. "I have to drive the hell out of this car ... this thing is just an animal. You have to be a lot more subtle when you drive a Top Fuel dragster. You run out of air when you get down to the end in this thing -- it's a man-handling, get-it-on-Jose ride."

Scelzi, who drove Top Alcohol Funny Cars earlier in his career, said he doesn't expect the adjustment period to take too long and has lofty goals for this season.

"I'd like to win several national events and give the guys at the top a run for their money," he said. "We didn't come here to finish just in the top ten. That might sound like a bold statement but we didn't come here to knit."