Giovanni Scelzi Hustles to Top-Five Outing During Sprint Car Season Finale

Giovanni Scelzi Hustles to Top-Five Outing During Sprint Car Season Finale

Inside Line Promotions – CONCORD, N.C. (Nov. 11, 2019) – Giovanni Scelzi capped his winged sprint car season with a top-five finish last Saturday during the Can-Am World Finals for the second straight season.

Scelzi and car owner Bernie Stuebgen enjoyed a solid weekend during the marquee World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series event hosted by The Dirt Track at Charlotte. The action began for the more than 50 drivers on Thursday when everyone qualified for both the Friday and Saturday programs.

Scelzi timed in fifth quickest in his group for Friday’s action and third quickest in his group for Saturday’s race.

“We qualified good both days,” he said. “It’s everything, especially with the format. You have to qualify good. The way the track was on Saturday it was locked-down fast in the heat. You had to qualify good and put yourself in position to start up front in a heat race.”

Scelzi finished where he started in both a heat race – second – and dash – fourth – on Friday. That lined him up on the inside of the fourth row for the main event.

“We had a nozzle line come off and it caught fire,” he said. “I think I was running 10th about midway through the race. I smelled it burning and pulled into the infield. Thankfully no flames came into the cockpit.”

The incident ended the night early for Scelzi, who rebounded with a stellar run on Saturday. He placed second in a heat race and fifth in a dash to garner the 10th starting position for the main event.

“We had a lot better feature than Friday,” he said. “I made better decisions early and got going. The track came to us. I didn’t need that last yellow. I got to fourth and stuck my nose underneath Donny (Schatz) for third when the caution came out. Donny got a better restart and I couldn’t get back to him after that.

“Saturday was a long day. We blew up a motor in the dash on Friday before we had the incident in the main event. We pulled that motor out and changed it. Then we started that day’s race at 3 p.m. It was nice to end the season on a high note. We’re going into the offseason happy.”

It marked his sixth top five of the season with the series.

While the sprint car season has concluded, Scelzi will pilot a midget for Tucker-Boat Motorsports during the final six USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series races of the year beginning this Friday and Saturday at Arizona Speedway in Queen Creek, Ariz., during the 52nd annual Western World Championships presented by San Tan Ford.