Giovanni Scelzi Is The Youngest In A Family Of Winners
Giovanni Scelzi Is The Youngest In A Family Of Winners
Giovanni Scelzi is the youngest in a family of winners and many experts believe he just might be the best.
Giovanni Scelzi is the youngest son of three-time top fuel champion and one-time funny car champion Gary Scelzi. Like his brother, Dominic, before him, Giovanni made it onto the track early, racing micros at the local California tracks as early as 6 years old. His early experiences at the track and the mentorship of his father, even though he's pursued a different form of racing, has helped the 15-year-old driver succeed while staying grounded.
"All racing really is similar whether it's drag racing or circle track racing," Giovanni said. "You need that same mentality for all of it. So having my dad around and having him help me has been big. Really just with the fundamentals of racing and keeping your head on straight and not getting really flustered and pressured."
Last year, Giovanni started the transition out of micro sprints into 360s -- which he ran simultaneously for a while -- before transitioning to 410 sprints for the 2017 season.
"It was big, there was definitely a speed change," Giovanni said about the transition. "Last year, I ran the schedule between micros and 360s. This year, I stepped into 410s -- it was definitely a big transition. It was hard to get used to, and I never thought that I would get used to the speed. But with a team like Roth and how good they are and how good the equipment is, it's made my transition pretty easy."
Giovanni currently races for Roth Motorsports out of California but has been in the Midwest during breaks in the California-based King of the West series, in which he is currently the points leader. The King of the West's most recent race was on July 15 at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, California, and Scelzi finished sixth in the feature. While the series has been on break, Giovanni has been racing throughout the Midwest and attending the Knoxville Nationals, where his brother, Dominic, claimed Rookie of the Year honors this year.
While in the Midwest, Giovanni has been racing with BDS Motorsports. With BDS, the young driver has brought home three top fives in his three American Sprint Car Series National series starts. Giovanni finished second on back-to-back nights at Gallatin Speedway in Belgrade, Montana, last month and took fourth at Missouri State Fairgrounds Speedway in Sedalia, Missouri, last Sunday night.
"It was actually really good," Giovanni said about his Sedalia debut. "It was another place I've never seen before it was a half mile, which we really don't have a lot of in California. Won the heat race from the front row, started third in the feature -- then got going there about midway through and then feel back a few spots and then drove back up to fourth. Like I said, going to new places, it's difficult to get going good, but a top five is always good with the national guys."
His top five at Missouri was not even the headline for Giovanni last week. The previous week, he won in the Sprint Invaders race at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa.
Going to unfamiliar tracks is made easier for the younger Scelzi brother through the help of a continued open dialogue between him and his brother. Dominic gives Giovanni his notes from his experience at the new track before tires ever hit the dirt.
"He's a huge help," Giovanni said. "He's been to a lot of these places before I have, and just a simple phone call that's five or 10 minutes of us just talking about a race track helps instead of just going to a race track completely blind. We have a good relationship as a family, and it helps him just seeing places before I have."
Giovanni will soon return to California to race in the four remaining King of the West championship races and hopes to be able to maintain his points lead. The next race will be this Saturday, August 26, at Petaluma (California) Speedway.
Sprint Invaders, 34 Raceway Top 10 Finishers
1. Giovanni Scelzi
2. Josh Schneiderman
3. Paul Nienhiser
4. Tanner Gebhart
5. Chris Martin
6. Harold Pohren
7. Ben Wagoner
8. John Schulz
9. Jarrod Schneiderman
10. Dustin Clark
Top-10 Finishers, ASCS Mo State Fairgrounds
1. Sam Hafertepe Jr.
2. Brian Brown
3. Kyle Bellm
4. Giovanni Scelzi
5. Seth Bergman
6. Brad Loyet
7. Miles Paulus
8. Jonathan Cornell
9. Wayne Johnson
10. Johnny Herrera
Dominic Scelzi
William Byron
Erik Jones
Colton Horner
Ahnna Parkhurst
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"All racing really is similar whether it's drag racing or circle track racing," Giovanni said. "You need that same mentality for all of it. So having my dad around and having him help me has been big. Really just with the fundamentals of racing and keeping your head on straight and not getting really flustered and pressured."
Last year, Giovanni started the transition out of micro sprints into 360s -- which he ran simultaneously for a while -- before transitioning to 410 sprints for the 2017 season.
"It was big, there was definitely a speed change," Giovanni said about the transition. "Last year, I ran the schedule between micros and 360s. This year, I stepped into 410s -- it was definitely a big transition. It was hard to get used to, and I never thought that I would get used to the speed. But with a team like Roth and how good they are and how good the equipment is, it's made my transition pretty easy."Giovanni currently races for Roth Motorsports out of California but has been in the Midwest during breaks in the California-based King of the West series, in which he is currently the points leader. The King of the West's most recent race was on July 15 at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, California, and Scelzi finished sixth in the feature. While the series has been on break, Giovanni has been racing throughout the Midwest and attending the Knoxville Nationals, where his brother, Dominic, claimed Rookie of the Year honors this year.
While in the Midwest, Giovanni has been racing with BDS Motorsports. With BDS, the young driver has brought home three top fives in his three American Sprint Car Series National series starts. Giovanni finished second on back-to-back nights at Gallatin Speedway in Belgrade, Montana, last month and took fourth at Missouri State Fairgrounds Speedway in Sedalia, Missouri, last Sunday night.
"It was actually really good," Giovanni said about his Sedalia debut. "It was another place I've never seen before it was a half mile, which we really don't have a lot of in California. Won the heat race from the front row, started third in the feature -- then got going there about midway through and then feel back a few spots and then drove back up to fourth. Like I said, going to new places, it's difficult to get going good, but a top five is always good with the national guys."
His top five at Missouri was not even the headline for Giovanni last week. The previous week, he won in the Sprint Invaders race at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa.
Going to unfamiliar tracks is made easier for the younger Scelzi brother through the help of a continued open dialogue between him and his brother. Dominic gives Giovanni his notes from his experience at the new track before tires ever hit the dirt.
"He's a huge help," Giovanni said. "He's been to a lot of these places before I have, and just a simple phone call that's five or 10 minutes of us just talking about a race track helps instead of just going to a race track completely blind. We have a good relationship as a family, and it helps him just seeing places before I have."
Giovanni will soon return to California to race in the four remaining King of the West championship races and hopes to be able to maintain his points lead. The next race will be this Saturday, August 26, at Petaluma (California) Speedway.
Sprint Invaders, 34 Raceway Top 10 Finishers
1. Giovanni Scelzi
2. Josh Schneiderman
3. Paul Nienhiser
4. Tanner Gebhart
5. Chris Martin
6. Harold Pohren
7. Ben Wagoner
8. John Schulz
9. Jarrod Schneiderman
10. Dustin Clark
Top-10 Finishers, ASCS Mo State Fairgrounds
1. Sam Hafertepe Jr.
2. Brian Brown
3. Kyle Bellm
4. Giovanni Scelzi
5. Seth Bergman
6. Brad Loyet
7. Miles Paulus
8. Jonathan Cornell
9. Wayne Johnson
10. Johnny Herrera
Young Guns In Racing
Tyler MillwoodDominic Scelzi
William Byron
Erik Jones
Colton Horner
Ahnna Parkhurst
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