Giovanni Scelzi Impresses at Driven2SaveLives BC39 and Tuscarora 50 Events
Inside Line Promotions – PORT ROYAL, Pa. (Sept. 11, 2019) – Giovanni Scelzi earned impressive results during a pair of marquee racing events last week.
Scelzi won both a heat race and a qualifier before recording a 14 th-place result out of more than 80 drivers during the Driven2SaveLives BC39, which was only his sixth career start in a midget and first in a year. He then picked up a top five out of more than 50 sprint car drivers during the famed Tuscarora 50 weekend.
“It was a great week overall,” he said. “We did well in both cars. A big thanks to Toyota Racing Development and Jack Irving as well as Tucker-Boat Motorsports for the opportunity to race the BC39. I thought it went really well. Not running a midget for a year and then to win a heat and a qualifier and make the A Main was pretty good given how many great drivers were there.”
Scelzi’s heat race win from second on Wednesday and his qualifier victory from fourth on Thursday ranked him ninth in overall points out of the 80-plus competitors. That started him on the inside of the fifth row for the main event at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Ind.
“I rode around in ninth or 10th early before someone flipped in front of me and I slid into him,” he said. “It bent the left front shock. The nose wouldn’t drop or release after that so I ran the bottom trying to survive.”
Scelzi restarted at the back of the field and he rebounded from the crash to post a 14th-place finish.
He then ventured to Port Royal Speedway to drive for Bernie Stuebgen during the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions two-day event.
Scelzi qualified seventh quickest out of 58 drivers on Friday, ranking fourth in his group to garner the pole position for a heat race. He won the heat to lock into a dash. A sixth-place finish in the dash lined him up on the inside of the sixth row for the main event.
“I got the bottom working, but we were a little too good too early and got free at the end,” he said. “You’re always happy with moving forward and earning a top five when you’re racing that level of competition.”
Scelzi’s fourth-place finish was his 16th top five of the season.
He capped the weekend on Saturday by just missing the heat race inversion by less than two tenths of a second at the Tuscarora 50. Instead of starting on the pole of a heat race – the winner started in the top six of the main event – Scelzi lined up fifth. He rallied to a third-place effort to lock into the 18th starting spot in the feature, but the night ended early in the main event with a DNF.