Dominic Scelzi Passes 21 Cars During Main Events at Silver Dollar Speedway
Inside Line Promotions – CHICO, Calif. (Sept. 9, 2019) – Dominic Scelzi made progress throughout each of four straight nights of sprint car competition at Silver Dollar Speedway last week.
Scelzi guided his family owned team to a top five on Wednesday and he was in contention to duplicate the performance the ensuing night before a flat tire resulted in a DNF. The team then maneuvered from 17th to 12 th on Friday and from 20th to 13th on Saturday during World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series events.
“That’s a positive to move forward like we did, but if you want to win World of Outlaws races and compete to win you have to qualify near the front,” he said. “When you don’t do that you take yourself out of contention. I know we can race and I feel confident in our program. We just needed to qualify better to be in the best position.”
The action began on Wednesday with Scelzi qualifying fifth quickest in his group.
“We were the second-to-last car out in our group and we ended up fifth, which wasn’t terrible,” he said. “It started us on the inside row in the heat race and it was completely greasy down on the bottom so we fell to fifth right away. I was lucky to get back to fourth and that started us 13 th in the main event. The track slicked off and I felt really racy. We drove up to fourth. I wish it was a 40-lap race because I think we were racing pretty well.”
The fourth-place finish locked Scelzi into the dash on Thursday. Unfortunately, he drew the second-highest number to start seventh. Scelzi was credited with an eighth-place result that lined him up on the outside of the fourth row for the main event.
“We went eighth to fourth in six or seven laps,” he said. “The track became full rubber by Lap 15. We ended up slicing a tire. There was about six laps to go when it cut so that night ended in a DNF.”
Scelzi returned to the quarter-mile oval on Friday.
“There were massive, foot-tall craters on the track,” he said. “It was like we were qualifying on the moon. I didn’t qualify very good, but I ran from ninth to sixth in the heat to lock into the main event. In the feature we were really good, but the track was so locked down it was extremely hard to pass.”
Scelzi gained five positions to finish 12th. He wrapped up the weekend on Saturday with similar circumstances of rebounding from qualifying to transfer through the B Main and rally from 20th to 13th in the A Main.
“We were ok and passed some race cars, but it was just really hard to pass,” he said. “We battled a throttle issue the second half of the race. I was in 16th on the final restart and was able to get up to 13 th by running the bottom.”
Scelzi has a trio of World of Outlaws races on tap this week with events on Wednesday at Placerville Speedway in Placerville, Calif., during the 49er Gold Rush Classic presented by Riebes NAPA Auto Parts; on Friday at Stockton Dirt Track in Stockton, Calif., during the NOS Energy Drink Showdown at Stockton; and on Saturday at Calistoga Speedway in Calistoga, Calif., during the Wine Country Outlaw Showdown.
“Placerville isn’t my best track in California based on results, but I have had good runs there so I’m excited to see how it goes,” he said. “I’m hoping things can fall our way and we can run strong. I’m very excited for Stockton and Calistoga, where we’ve won races.”