Scelzi Captures Top Five During First Race Back from Injury

Inside Line Promotions – CHICO, Calif. (Sept. 15, 2015) – Dominic Scelzi’s return to sprint car racing was a success last weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway.

Scelzi recorded a top-five finish last Wednesday at the quarter-mile oval during his first race back from a back injury, which had sidelined him for nearly two months, before wrapping up the weekend with a pair of solid performances during World Of Outlaws Sprint Car Series competition.

“It was great to be able to finally get behind the wheel again,” he said. “It seemed like a strong week back. We came back with a different way of doing the car. We changed some things that would suit my style of driving and it showed. I’m very, very satisfied with how everything went.”

The action began on Wednesday with Scelzi qualifying third quickest overall in his Roth Motorsports backed entry out of 50 competitors. He then rebounded from a slow start in his heat race to rally back to fourth place, which earned him a spot in the dash.

“Wednesday was the highlight of the week,” he said. “It was critical to make the dash. I started on the outside of the front row and the bottom lane had a little moisture. By the time we got to the flagstand I was already in fourth. I lost one spot during racing and had to settle for fifth, which put me on the inside of the third row for the main event. By then the track had laid rubber throughout the middle. The top had the advantage and we fell to eighth right away.”

Scelzi overcame the disadvantage as he methodically worked his way back into the top five before the checkered flag was waved. His fifth-place result was the 13th top five of the season.

“As the rubber worked its way down the race track we were able to get back to finish fifth,” he said. “We saved our tires and equipment and bided our time. It worked out to get a good result.”

The World of Outlaws Gold Cup kicked off on Friday with Scelzi qualifying 15th quickest in his group. That lined him up on the outside of the fourth row for a heat race.

“We had an issue with qualifying and were only able to get one lap, which wasn’t much of a lap,” he said. “That definitely put us behind the eight ball, but we actually drove up to fourth with three laps to go. I was in a transfer position when I got hit off the race track by another driver.”

Scelzi was unable to finish the heat after driving into the lock-in position. That relegated him to the C Main, which he won by putting together the fastest laps of the night to pick up a transfer into the back of the Last Chance Showdown. Scelzi then maneuvered from 13th to a seventh-place result – only three spots out of a transfer into the feature.

“We were really happy with the way it went,” he said. “Nobody was really doing any passing in the Last Chance Showdown. We just ran out of laps.”

The weekend concluded on Saturday at the quarter-mile oval, where Scelzi timed in eighth quickest during his group. That put him on the pole of a heat race.

“We qualified really well and then we led most of the heat race,” he said. “On a late restart Joey Saldana got around us, which knocked us out of the dash.”

That lined Scelzi up on the outside of the seventh row for the 40-lap feature.

“I was running around 12th the first 10 to 12 laps,” he said. “The car kept getting tighter and tighter. Eventually the right rear tire went flat on me and I drove off the end of the track.”

Scelzi’s team replaced the tire in the work area and he rebounded to place 18th after restarting at the back of the field.

He returns to competition this Friday and Saturday at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, Calif., with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series.