(Photo by Malcolm White Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – TULARE, Calif. (Oct. 21, 2014) – Dominic Scelzi put together another standout performance at the Trophy Cup last weekend despite facing adversity during the 21st edition of the premier event at Thunderbowl Raceway.
“I won all three heat races I ran, which was pretty cool,” he said. “Out of the 90 cars there we were pretty happy with our run. We passed cars every time we went on the race track and we raced every bit as good as the best cars out there. I want to thank the Finley family for loaning us an engine so we could compete and Peter Murphy and Brian Sundby for their help with the car.”
Scelzi opened the weekend last Thursday by qualifying 25th quickest, which lined him up on the outside of the front row for his heat race. He led the distance of the 10-lap race to lock his Roth Motorsports backed entry into the main event.
“I started 21st in the feature and I drove up to seventh,” he said. “At one point I squeezed myself between a car and the wall and I ended up breaking the right rear shock.”
The right rear tire rubbed against the broken shock for several laps before going flat, which forced Scelzi to the pits with a handful of laps remaining and gave him a 22nd-place result.
His team returned to Thunderbowl Raceway on Friday, when the track was extremely tricky during qualifying. Scelzi hit a rut during his qualifying attempt, but was able to save the car en route to timing in 30th quickest.
That started him on the pole of a heat race, which he won. However, only the top two drivers in points from each heat locked into the main event so he was relegated to the C Main.
Scelzi found a rhythm running the cushion in that race as he charged from sixth to win and transfer to the back of the B Main. He then rallied from 22nd to 13th before the track took rubber midway through the consolation race, which didn’t showcase much passing in the closing laps.
“I felt like the motor just didn’t have as much power as the night before,” he said. “The car was extremely fast, just qualifying was the biggest thing. We did everything with the racing. We just didn’t qualify very well.”
Scelzi won his heat race to kick off Saturday’s action, but it didn’t give him many points and lined him up on the outside of the sixth row of the B Main. He quickly began picking up positions before another car spun in front of him. After making contact with the sliding car, Scelzi was able to keep rolling.
“There were tons and tons of really good race cars in the B Main,” he said. “I was fortunate to survive that early incident and get up to the fourth spot with five laps to go. Then I got a bad restart and went to the bottom of turns one and two. I fell back to sixth and then I drove back up to fifth. The red came out with one to go. We went green and I was just able to squeak around another driver. He went low on the last corner, we banged wheels and I was able to get by him.”
Scelzi made the last-corner, last-lap pass for the fourth-and-final transfer position by less than 15 hundredths of a second.
The team scrambled to fix the front end damage during a short break before the 50-lap main event, which was fully inverted. That lined Scelzi up on the outside of the front row.
“We got a really good start and I took the lead,” he said. “I put down the fastest lap of the main event. We were getting faster and faster as the track slicked off. The car was getting better and better every lap. Unfortunately we had a motor let go.”
Despite the damaged front end Scelzi led the first eight laps of the race before he pulled into the infield because of the mechanical issue.
He will be off this weekend before wrapping up his season on Nov. 1 at Stockton Dirt Track in Stockton, Calif., for the 31st annual Tribute to Gary Patterson with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series. He ranks eighth in the championship standings.
QUICK RESULTS –
Oct. 16 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Qualifying: 25; Heat race: 1 (2); Feature: 22 (21).
Oct. 17 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Qualifying: 30; Heat race: 1 (1); C Main: 1 (6); B Main: 13 (22).
Oct. 18 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Heat race: 1 (2); B Main: 4 (12); Feature: 23 (2).
SEASON STATS –
38 races, 0 wins, 5 top fives, 10 top 10s, 16 top 15s, 23 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Nov. 1 at Stockton Dirt Track in Stockton, Calif., for the 31st annual Tribute to Gary Patterson with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.GaryScelziMotorsports.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DominicScelzi41
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Scelzi-Motorsports/225890834113599
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – AXA Equitable Insurance with Bob & Gina Estrada
Robert M. Estrada Insurance Services was established 39 years ago in Fresno, Calif., after Bob Estrada graduated from Fresno State. He has focused his practice on business owners, farming families and medical professionals. With more than 2,800 clients it has grown to handle the volume of business. His primary focus in later years has been Estate Planning and helping people retire successfully. His wife, Gina, joined the business in 2008 and added the technology aspect that was needed to stay relevant in a fast-changing industry. The business offers insurance and investment products to its clients through many different carriers.
“Robert has insured our family for more than 20 years and many of our sponsors as well,” Scelzi said. “Not only is he a friend, but a big supporter of our racing program.”
Scelzi would also like to thank Whipple Superchargers, Fowler Packing, Fuel Delivery Services, Inc., Carlucci Transport, Panella Trucking, Roth Motorsports, Red Rose Transportation, Scelzi Enterprises, FK Rod Ends, Kaeding Performance, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Sweet Manufacturing, Weld Wheels, Simpson Race Products, Blast Tech, Tim Jones, G&J Truck Sales, Red Line Oil, K&N Filters, Schoenfeld Headers, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Sparco and ARP for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Oct 21, 2014
- Article Date: 10/21/2014 by Inside Line Promotions