Giovanni Scelzi Scores First Career Podium Finish at Knoxville Raceway

Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (July 31, 2018) – Giovanni Scelzi earned his career-best result at Knoxville Raceway last Saturday when he posted a podium finish.

Scelzi did double duty in the Bernie Stuebgen ride by competing in both the 410ci and 360ci winged sprint car divisions for the first time in his career.

Scelzi qualified fifth quickest in his Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions group before placing fifth in a heat race. That relegated him to the B Main, which he won to transfer into the back of the main event. That was a feat in itself as more than 50 drivers vied for one of the 24 feature positions.

“On the initial start I got in the back of someone and it knocked the nose wing off,” he said. “We had a caution shortly after so I pulled into the infield. The wing posts were blocked and we couldn’t get it changed in time to get back out there.”

Scelzi was unable to restart the race. Fortunately, his night in the 360 division went much smoother as he qualified third quickest out of more than 40 drivers. Scelzi then advanced from sixth to third place during a heat race before he lined up third in the main event.

“The 360 is nose heavy and slower,” he said. “You have to carry momentum more. It’s very important because you don’t have as much power as the 410. You can’t make erratic moves. It was easier to hit my marks.

“In the feature I got a bad first start. We fell to sixth on the opening lap. Then I got rolling and I was able to carry momentum around the top. We were really good toward the end. I think if it was 25 laps we could have moved forward even more and contended for the win.”

Scelzi’s rally for a third-place run was his ninth top five of the season. Here is a link to watch the race: https://youtu.be/QobBUf91Pbs.

Scelzi and Stuebgen will return to Knoxville Raceway this weekend for the 28th annual 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank Thursday through Saturday and the Capitani Classic on Sunday.

“There will be a lot more cars and good cars at the 360 Knoxville Nationals,” Scelzi said. “To make the show and run in the top 10 would be a success. I feel like we have the speed to accomplish that.”

This weekend will mark Scelzi’s first time tackling both events.