Giovanni Scelzi Earns Championship During First Year Racing Sprint Cars

Inside Line Promotions – HANFORD, Calif. (Oct. 17, 2016) – Giovanni Scelzi is a champion in only his first season racing a sprint car.

Scelzi captured the King of Kings title, which served as the track championship at Keller Auto Speedway, following his 10th-place result last Friday.

“It was a goal we set and it feels great to accomplish it,” he said. “We started out the year way stronger than I was thinking and we carried momentum through the year. I felt like we were strong every night and I drove better every single night.”

The event began with Scelzi, who was driving for Roth Motorsports, qualifying 11th quickest.

“There were 36 cars on Friday,” he said. “We went out really late and still qualified well. The track was really, really slick and rough, too. It was our goal to get on the front row of a heat.”

Scelzi did just that as his qualifying effort lined him up on the outside of the front row for a heat race. He then won the heat race to lock into the dash, where he finished seventh to start the main event on the inside of the fourth row.

“The track was so slick and slow it was pretty much one lane on the cushion,” he said. “The only way you could pass is with slide jobs. We were up to fourth for a little bit, but Cory Eliason got back by us. On a restart with about six laps to go I got balled up on the right front. I fell off the end of the track in turn two and four or five guys got by me so that hurt our run.”

Scelzi rebounded from the miscue to garner a 10th-place result, which was his 22nd top 10 of the season.

Scelzi also served as crew chief for his older brother, Dominic, on Saturday during the Penny Newman Grain Cotton Classic at Keller Auto Speedway.

“I want to not only get better as a driver, but I want to learn more about the mechanics of the sport and how to set up a race car,” Giovanni Scelzi said. “We have a family team so it’s important that we all pitch in to help one another.”