6/9/2014
Inside Line Promotions
Scelzi Battles to Overcome Qualifying Woes With King of the West
(Photo by Paul Gould)
Inside Line Promotions – MARYSVILLE, Calif. (June 9, 2014) – Qualifying doomed Dominic Scelzi during the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series doubleheader last weekend.
“We’ve kinda been behind the eight ball all year long in qualifying,” he said. “We can race pretty good, but it was another disappointing qualifying effort.”
The competition opened with Scelzi qualifying 23rd quickest last Saturday at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif., for the 2nd annual David Tarter Memorial.
“We really struggled with our qualifying package,” he said. “We were tight in qualifying in Chico and that really hurt us there.”
Scelzi missed the inversion for the heat races, which started him on the outside of the third row in his heat.
“We tried to free the car up and we were snug on the cushion and loose when we were off of it,” he said. “It was really hard to put it in a spot where it’d go around the race track smoothly.”
Scelzi picked up a position to finish fifth – only one spot out of locking into the main event. That relegated him to the B Main, where he charged from seventh to second place to earn a transfer to the feature.
“We changed a lot of stuff because the track was going slick,” he said. “We were able to go from seventh to second running the middle.”
The changes continued prior to the main event, which Scelzi started on the outside of the ninth row.
“We didn’t go as tight as we needed to and were free,” he said. “We just picked off positions one at a time. There weren’t many yellows. Being that we had a little bit of a loose car I struggled going from the top to the bottom. I needed to commit myself to a line, which was really hard to do because there was so much traffic and so many cars racing with each other.”
Scelzi rallied to earn an 11th-place result.
The weekend concluded on Saturday at Marysville Raceway Park.
“We went early in qualifying and the track was really, really greasy,” he said. “We just couldn’t come off the corner. The track actually gained a second in qualifying.”
Scelzi timed in 23rd quickest for the second straight night and he finished seventh in his heat race. That sent him to the B Main, where he picked up the final transfer to the feature.
“It was hooked up, rough, right around the bottom,” he said. “In the main you had to wait on someone to make a mistake. We got up to 11th and there was a huge misunderstanding with the flag man and whoever was on the radio. The yellow light was on and the radio said we were going green. The leaders didn’t go because the flag man wasn’t ready to restart the race. I got hit and ended up breaking a front end.”
After charging from 22nd to 11th, the contact under caution ended Scelzi’s night with approximately five laps remaining. He was credited with a 16th-place finish.
“It wasn’t good that we got behind early in the night with qualifying, but we almost salvaged a pair of top 10s out of the weekend,” he said. “Hopefully we can put together a complete night at Kings Speedway.”
Scelzi will race this Saturday at Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif., for the 28th annual Pombo/Sargent Classic with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series.
Additionally, Scelzi is searching for a crew chief. The position will be based in Fresno, Calif., for races with the King of the West as well as select 360 events on the West Coast. Applicants must have a CDL. Salary is negotiable and includes medical and 401k. E-mail a résumé to garys@seinc.com.
QUICK RESULTS –
June 6 – Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. – Qualifying: 23; Heat race: 5 (6); B Main: 2 (7); Feature: 11 (18).
June 7 – Marysville Raceway Park in Marysville, Calif. – Qualifying: 23; Heat race: 7 (8); B Main: 7 (8); Feature: 16 (22).
SEASON STATS –
18 races, 0 wins, 2 top fives, 3 top 10s, 6 top 15s, 10 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif., for the 28th annual Pombo/Sargent Classic with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.GaryScelziMotorsports.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DominicScelzi41
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Scelzi-Motorsports/225890834113599
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Fowler Packing
Fowler Packing Company was established in 1950 by Sam Parnagian and through the years has grown and expanded under the active management of Sam’s four sons and other family members. Today, Fowler Packing is one of the largest shippers in the fresh produce business, handling more than seven million boxes of stone fruit and table grapes, and 15 million boxes of citrus per year. For more information, visit http://www.FowlerPacking.com.
“Fowler Packing is one of the biggest packing companies for fruits and stuff in the valley,” Scelzi said. “They are a very valued sponsor and without their help we couldn’t have done as much this year.”
Scelzi would also like to thank Whipple Superchargers, Fuel Delivery Services, Inc., Panella Trucking, Carlucci Transport, Red Rose Transportation, AXA Equitable Insurance with Bob & Gina Estrada, Roth Motorsports, Scelzi Enterprises, Blast Tech, Tim Jones, G&J Truck Sales, Red Line Oil, K&N Filters, Sparco, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems and Schoenfeld Headers for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
Article Credit: Inside Line Promotions
Submitted By: Shawn Miller
