Giovanni Scelzi Prepares for the Chili Bowl with Tulsa Shootout 2nd Place Finish

Giovanni Scelzi finished a close second in his K&N equipped Micro Sprint for the winged "A" class main event among the top 24 drivers out of approximately 200 who entered the Tulsa Shootout (Joe Orth Photo)

Giovanni Scelzi started traveling around the nation at just 3 months old. He lived on the road, hitting the Drag Race tracks along the way, as he tagged along with his dad for the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) races. Giovanni is the son of three-time NHRA Top Fuel champion, and NHRA Funny Car champion, Gary Scelzi. Gary Scelzi is one of only two racers to have won a championship in both NHRA Top Fuel, and Funny Car, giving young Giovanni quite the racing pedigree.

Giovanni began racing in 2008, at 6 years old, in the Jr. Sprint class at Lemoore Raceway in Lemoore, California and Plaza Park Raceway in Visalia, California. Seven years later Giovanni is now racing Micro Sprints, including the winged and non-winged A classes, as well as the Outlaw divisions. Giovanni recently competed in the 2016 Tulsa Shootout, the largest event for micro sprint racing in the country, with every intention of backing up his 2015 win.

In early 2015 young Scelzi led all 25 laps of the "A" class winged feature to garner the biggest win of his budding career. With it came Giovanni's first Golden Driller Award, a trophy that takes its likeness from a 76 foot tall statue of an oil worker leaning on an oil derrick in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hoping for a repeat, Giovanni Scelzi said, "The only thing you come here to do is win. That's all I'm thinking about doing."

Giovanni Scelzi put himself in contention for a repeat in the Winged A Class Micro Sprints thanks to a drive from fourth to win a heat race and from third to win a qualifier. That lined Scelzi up on the outside of the front row for the main event. Unfortunately for Scelzi, he finished a close second in his K&N air filters equipped Micro Sprint during the winged "A" class main event which consisted of the top 24 drivers out of approximately 200 who entered.

From the Tulsa Shootout, Giovanni and his K&N sponsored team went to Somerton, Arizona for the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown Finale where he earned a top-10 finish at Cocopah Speedway (Joe Orth Photo)

Afterward Giovanni said, "I thought we had a good chance of winning, but the track never widened out in the feature. I got under the leader once and it wasn't enough. There was a restart with two laps to go. It came down to whether he made a mistake and he didn't make a mistake." Scelzi continued, "At first we were so mad we didn't win, but for the first time with this combination I was pretty happy with it. Second place out of so many of the best micro sprint drivers in the country is a great feat."

From the Tulsa Shootout, the Gary Scelzi Motorsports team headed to Somerton, Arizona for the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown Finale. After Giovanni's brother Dominic earned a top-ten finish at Cocopah Speedway, Giovanni and the Gary Scelzi Motorsports team hit the road for the 30th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals. The Midget Nationals at the Tulsa Expo Raceway received its name from the Chili Bowl Food Company who sponsored the first event thirty years ago. In a part of the U.S. typically covered in snow The Chili Bowl is considered racing's winter answer to the NFL's Super Bowl.

Giovanni and the Gary Scelzi Motorsports team rely on K&N Filters in their racing efforts. Use the K&N Search By Vehicle tool to find K&N performance filters for almost anything whether it's a Micro Sprint or a Heavy Duty Commercial Diesel. Then take advantage of the K&N Dealer Search tool to find a local authorized K&N dealer.