Gary Scelzi Motorsports' Dominic and Giovanni Nearly Unstoppable at Lemoore Raceway
- Apr 30, 2010
Dominic "The Dominator" and Giovanni "Hot Sauce" Scelzi were born to be racecar drivers. It's in their blood and in the air they breathe each day. Their father is four-time NHRA Drag Racing Champion Gary Scelzi, from Fresno, California. Although his exploits and accomplishments in both Top Fuel and Funny Cars are the stuff of legends, he would rather not talk about that just now, preferring rather to keep the spotlight where it currently and rightly belongs – on his two remarkable sons. Gary is having far too much fun witnessing racing from Dominic and Gios' perspective, as though viewing Disneyland all over again through a child's eyes. Dominic is the older brother and drives in the Super 600 Class now. He was told guys in their 20 and 30's are never going to move over when a 12 year-old kid tries to pass them. Yet, it only took Dominic four races to win his first Super 600 race in Lemoore, California earlier this year. Giovanni, unlike Dominic, never raced go-carts or anything else until he got into a Jr. Sprint car. He won his first race at age six. Gio won't turn nine until November and even though everyone considers him mentally ready to race Restricted 600's, the official age limit is ten. Last weekend Scelzi Motorsports returned to Lemoore Raceway and Gio was ready to add to his winning streak of five consecutive wins going into the event. In his first heat race he crossed the finish line with more than half a lap lead on the second place car. He won his second heat race as well. "The Main event was like no other main we have ever experienced," commented Gio's crew chief Frank Potter after the race. The track had become very rough and turned into a huge challenge for the Jr. Sprints. There were an unusual number of mishaps and cars flipping during the race. Gio got wrapped into one crash while attempting to take the lead. This put him at the back of the pack for the restart. Even with a badly damaged right front wheel, Gio was steadily working his way back to the front when track officials cut the race short to only 11 of the scheduled 20 laps. Giovanni finished fifth and was upset that he didn't have all the laps to work himself back into winning his sixth straight race. Dominic was on a mission going into the race as well. He had a couple mishaps at the last two main events at Lemoore and was determined to rectify that. He won his first heat race with a dramatic lap seven pass on the leader. In the second heat race, working hard to stay away from the roughest parts of the racetrack, Dominic played it smart and did a great job finishing fourth. With the win and fourth place heat finishes, Dominic started the 30 lap Main Event in second. At the green flag Dominic jumped out into the lead and held it for 16 laps, at times several car lengths in front of the second place car. The leaders got into lapped traffic though and Dominic did a great job working his way through the traffic, swapping places with the pole setter for most of the race. They continued working through lapped traffic until the yellow flag came out with eight laps to go. On the restart Dominic was in second, ultimately staying with the lead car for a second place finish. "Considering the rough track conditions and the great competition, Dominic did an outstanding job, we are all very proud of him," remarked his proud father. Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
