Scelzi Remains in Hunt for King of the West Title Despite Thunderbowl Trouble

Inside Line Promotions – TULARE, Calif. (May 18, 2015) – Dominic Scelzi considers himself fortunate following a sour outing last Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway.

Scelzi struggled throughout the night and even got upside down in the Chris and Brian Faria Memorial feature, but his Roth Motorsports backed team never gave up during the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series event.

“We weren’t really on all night,” he said. “We just really struggled with it all night and never got comfortable with it. We struggled trying to read the race track as well, but my guys worked really hard all night. I can’t thank them enough for the support and help.”

Scelzi opened the event by qualifying 13th quickest, which missed the heat race inversion by only one position. That lined him up on the inside of the third row for a heat race.

“We were running sixth with two laps to go and due to circumstances on a restart not going our way we cut a tire down,” he said.

Scelzi was unable to finish the heat race, which started him 13th in the main event.

“We were running around 13th for the first few laps and I hit a hole and got upside down,” he said. “It knocked the front end out of it and bent the frame. We had to piece it together.”

Scelzi’s team fixed the damage enough to get him onto the track following a caution two laps after the race restarted.

“We just putted around and tried to pick up points,” he said. “All in all it wasn’t a night we had hoped for, but it could have been worse.”

Scelzi was credited with a 17th-place result. However, the silver lining is that several other championship contenders struggled and Scelzi now ranks second in the standings – only six points out of the lead.

“To still be sitting second in points by only six points, we’re big time into this championship fight,” he said. “It’s still early, but if we can keep hanging around I think we have a shot.”

Scelzi is scheduled to drive for Dan Monhoff this Saturday at Marysville Raceway in Marysville, Calif., and Sunday at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif., with the Civil War Sprint Car Series.