Giovanni Scelzi Flashes Speed During Sprint Car and Midget Starts

Inside Line Promotions – GAS CITY, Ind. (June 24, 2020) – Giovanni Scelzi showcased speed in both a winged sprint car and a midget throughout four races in a six-day span.

Scelzi made his debut behind the wheel of Guy Forbrook’s sprint car on June 12 at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, which hosted the two-day Brownells Big Guns Bash featuring the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

Scelzi qualified fifth quickest out of 26 drivers in his group, placed sixth in a heat race and won the Last Chance Showdown to lock into the main event. He then charged from 21st to 14thin the feature to be tied for the third-most cars passed.

“Knoxville was about getting comfortable in the race car,” he said. “I think it takes time. It’s a new car so everything is different. We’ll get more comfortable the more we race. We had awesome speed though.”

Scelzi continued to be fast the following day as he timed in third quickest out of 26 drivers in his group. He was running second in a heat race when an incident ended the night early.

“I was in a spot to make the dash when I got into the infield and spun,” he said. “I tried to run the bottom lane and clipped the infield drain. It just bounced and backed me up into the fence.”

Scelzi was off for two days before joining Tucker Boat Motorsports for a pair of Indiana Midget Week races with the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets beginning a week ago Tuesday at Paragon Speedway in Paragon, Ind.

Scelzi qualified eighth quickest out of 46 drivers before he maneuvered from fifth to third place in a heat race. That locked him into the main event and the feature inversion placed him on the pole for the 30-lap feature. Scelzi led the first 10 laps before losing a pair of positions in traffic. He was maintaining third place until he caught the cushion wrong with nine laps to go.

“We were really fast at Paragon,” he said. “I was pushing too hard and hit the cushion and flipped. It’s easy to do in those cars. I think we could have had a third-place run. We regrouped for a good finish on Tuesday.”

Scelzi also drove for the team the following night at Gas City I-69 Speedway, where he timed in 17th quickest and won a heat race to garner the eighth starting position for the A Main. He continued to progress throughout the feature and posted a fifth-place finish, which was his sixth top five of the season.

“I’m glad we were able to have a good run,” he said. “I struggled to get off turn two. That’s where I think I got beat. I felt better in turns three and four. It was a lot of fun racing the midget again.

“I want to thank Toyota and Tucker Boat Motorsports as well as Guy Forbrook for the opportunities.”

Scelzi returns to pavement competition the next two weekends. He will race this Saturday at Utah Motorsports Campus in Erda, Utah, during the ENEOS/Sunrise Ford Twins presented by West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame with the ARCA Menards Series West.