(Photo by Bailey Marie Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – WATSONVILLE, Calif. (July 20, 2021) – The last couple of weeks have been fruitful for Dominic Scelzi both at the track and away from it.
Scelzi welcomed his first child – a daughter – last weekend, which helped erase the sour taste from a frustrating outing during the 11th annual Howard Kaeding Classic at Ocean Speedway. on Saturday.
“I think at the end of the day it’s more of the big picture,” he said. “We’re still not going to be happy with anything but a win, but it’s one of those things you have the big picture. At the end of the day you get to go home to an amazing family and beautiful baby girl.”
Scelzi qualified 13th quickest and finished third in a heat race, which lined him up on the inside of the eighth row for the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series main event. He was then caught up in an early crash that resulted in his car getting upside down. However, his team repaired enough damage to send Scelzi back onto the track and he hustled from the rear of the field to salvage the night with an 11th-place result.
“We went out late in qualifying and didn’t qualify very good,” he said. “In the heat we were third by the flagstand. In the feature we were up to 10th or 11th a few laps in. There was a big crash in turns one and two. We had nowhere to go and got into it. We blew the front end out of it and I sat on my side for 20 minutes and watched the oil drain out of it. My guys worked their butts off in the work area and we were able to get back out there. That was huge because every guy involved in the points battle was involved in a crash.”
The rally helped Scelzi close to within one point of the leader in the championship standings.
Scelzi posted his 13th win of the season during a weekly 360ci winged sprint car show at Ocean Speedway on July 9. He charged from eighth to garner the victory, which was his first of the season at the track.
“We qualified fifth and were really, really good,” he said. “We started third and ran third in the heat race, but were right with first and second. I felt extremely confident going into the feature. The race car was perfect and we got a little better as the race went on. The track slicked off and slowed down. I was the only guy who could make the bottom in turns one and two work. When we got into traffic and started sliding guys I started rolling the bottom and got Justin Sanders coming to the white flag. It was awesome that we were as fast as we were and could pass Justin, who is the guy to beat at Ocean.”
The next night Scelzi timed in seventh quickest, won a heat race, placed second in the dash and finished fourth in the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series A Main at Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif., during the Salute to Baylands Raceway Park.
“We qualified seventh and won a heat race to make the dash,” he said. “We were leading the dash and had a caution with one lap to go. The NARC officials made a mistake and went double file instead of single file for the restart. It went lights out as half the field was waving off the start. I was stuck on the outside and not able to get lane choice. We lost the restart and ran second so we had to start second in the main event. The officials acknowledged the mistake after, but we were locked into the outside front row for the feature. We went green in the feature and went with the leader, but the officials decided I jumped the start. I had to restart fourth and kind of just ran there. We ended up gaining two positions and lost two positions to guys who could maneuver better.”
Scelzi enters a pair of series shows this weekend – Friday at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., for the Chris and Brian Faria Memorial and Saturday at Santa Maria Raceway in Santa Maria, Calif. – hungry to reclaim the points lead.
“We’ve won the last NARC races at both tracks,” he said. “We’re extremely confident. Tulare is one of my best tracks and we’ve been really good there. I feel we have a really good package there. We’re running the 360 and the 410 that night. And I think we’ve run at Santa Maria three or four times over the years. You never know what to expect. I’m excited to get there for the first time with Jimmy (Carr).”
QUICK RESULTS –
July 9 – Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif. – Qualifying: 5; Heat race: 3 (3); Feature: 1 (8).
July 10 – Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif. – Qualifying: 7; Heat race: 1 (2); Dash: 2 (2); Feature: 4 (2).
July 17 – Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif. – Qualifying: 13; Heat race: 3 (1); Feature: 11 (15).
SEASON STATS –
36 races, 13 wins, 26 top fives, 30 top 10s, 32 top 15s, 32 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., for the Chris and Brian Faria Memorial and Saturday at Santa Maria Raceway in Santa Maria, Calif., with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.GaryScelziMotorsports.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DominicScelzi41
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Scelzi41
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“Schoenfeld produces the best headers in the business,” Scelzi said. “We have been very happy with their craftsmanship as well as the customer service we receive.”
Scelzi would like to thank Red Rose Transportation, Inc., Scelzi Enterprises, Whipple Superchargers, Fuel Delivery Services, Inc., Red Line Oil, Roth Motorsports, NAPA Auto Parts, Todd Jorgensen, FK Rod Ends, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Auto Meter, K&N Filters, Sparco, Allstar Performance, Meridian Steel, Kenny’s Components and Worldwide Bearings for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
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- Shawn Miller on Jul 20, 2021
- Article Date: 7/20/2021 by Inside Line Promotions