Giovanni Scelzi Fast During Debut at Knoxville Raceway

Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 26, 2018) – Giovanni Scelzi made his Knoxville Raceway debut last Saturday after wet weather hampered the final few races of Ohio Sprint Speedweek.

The Bernie Stuebgen owned No. 71 ventured west to the famed half-mile oval on Saturday, where Scelzi competed at ‘The Sprint Car Capital of the World’ for the first time.

“It’s really valuable to get laps there,” he said. “We didn’t qualify very good, but we were behind a lot of good guys. We had a good heat race though. We drove from fourth to the lead and then Terry McCarl got us on the last lap. We stuck the bottom the whole race. We ran two laps and got to second. On a restart I passed a guy for the lead and stayed down there. The top was probably better and experience got me in the end.”

Scelzi, who placed second in the heat race, ranked eighth in overall points and he lined up on the outside of the fourth row for the 25-lap A Main.

“I got to sixth on the first lap and there was a caution,” he said. “On the restart someone slid me going into turn one. I saw him coming and I hit the brakes. I got over the curb and the right sides dug in and we flipped a couple of times.”

Scelzi was unable to finish the race after the early incident, which relegated him to a 23rd-place finish.

Scelzi also was involved in a crash last Wednesday at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, where he was competing during the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Ohio Sprint Speedweek. He set quick time in his group and advanced from fourth to third place in a heat race, which was one position shy of making the dash. Scelzi lined up 14th for the A Main, but was involved in a crash on Lap 2 that ended the night with a DNF.

“I went to the bottom and someone was going to slide me,” he said. “He couldn’t stop in time. He got into the left side of me and landed on top of me. It was just a racing deal. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”

Next up for Scelzi and Stuebgen is a return to Knoxville Raceway this Friday and Saturday for a World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series doubleheader.

“I learned a lot during my debut and I’ll have a little better understanding of how to race the track since I’ve got a few laps there now,” Scelzi said. “Qualifying is everything with the Outlaws format. If we can qualify well, advance through the heat, make the feature and run the full feature each night it’ll be a successful weekend.”

Scelzi earned his first career top five with the World of Outlaws earlier this month.