Growing up in the shadow of drag racing superstar, Dominic Scelzi decided to make his mark by turning left.

For the next two weeks, the 19-year-old phenom and son of NHRA legend Gary Scelzi will compete in the Knoxville 360 and 410 Nationals. The 360s will hit Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway on August 3-5 followed by the 410s on August 9-12.

For the summer, Scelzi has relocated to Des Moines, Iowa, from Fresno, CA, to be closer to the sprint car racing hub, and this has given him some opportunities to race at Knoxville with greater frequency.

"I've raced [at Knoxville] about eight or nine times in my career," Scelzi said. "I think I ran about three or four times last year and five times this year. I haven't had a lot of laps around there, but I've had a couple of really good runs and a couple of not so good ones."

Last week when the American Sprint Car Series came to the track for a warm-up in 360s before the Nationals, Scelzi failed to make the A-Main. In a field of more than 60 cars, finishing seventh in the B-Main was still a solid showing since it meant he outran more than half the field.

"We struggled on Saturday getting the motor to take off and we were off a bit," Scelzi said. "It was a work in progress throughout the night."

However, recording laps in that race increased his familiarity with the course, which will pay dividends in both classes during the coming weeks.

"Knoxville is unique in nearly every way," Scelzi said. "It's a beautiful race track and facility. The race track straightaways are some of the longest that you go to as a sprint car driver and the corners are the widest I've ever seen on a sprint car track.

"I think the biggest thing that kind of throws you off is the size and the width of the race track. A lot of times you go in and you have to set the car into the corner in these small places or even an average half mile, but here you have to be as straight as possible. If you move your hands or the wing dips at all, you're going to lose two- or three-tenths [of a second] in your qualifying lap which is everything."



First up for Scelzi is the three-night 360 sprint show. He hopes that a brand new power plant and some recent success help him run well enough to get into the A-Mains.

"We just got this motor back from speedway motors it's a brand new 360 that they built," he said. "It runs really good nearly every place we've been. I think we've had a hard time dialing in the race car and the motor for Knoxville just because it is so different. We were able to win on Tuesday night last week, a 360 race in Dubuque, Iowa. I have a lot of confidence driver wise going in there, and I think we've worked all the bugs out of our program. I think we're going to be able to go in there and have a lot of speed."

The victory at Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway in a Sprint Invaders race was his first win outside of his home state.

In June during the Budweiser Night with the World of Outlaws at Knoxville, Scelzi performed much better by finishing ninth in the more powerful 410s.

"Honestly, I think that I have more confidence with the 410," Scelzi said. "I've run the 410 around Knoxville a lot more than the 360. I've probably raced seven times in the 410 compared to twice in the 360. I have more confidence in the 410 because it's what I usually race even though it's a quicker car if you get in trouble or make a mistake you can dig yourself out of that hole quicker."

Next week, we will highlight Scelzi's campaign in the 410 Nationals.

Knoxville Nationals Coverage

Fearless Harli White Tackles Both The 360 And 410 Knoxville Nationals
Danny Lasoski Aims For A Knoxville Victory When It Matters Most
Seth Bergman Tunes Up For Knoxville Nationals By Passing 18 Cars In 2 Races
Tony Stewart And Christopher Bell Highlight Knoxville 360 Nationals Entry List