Almost two weeks have gone by since Dominic Scelzi was victorious in the SPEED Sport World Challenge as part of the 58^thAnnual Knoxville Nationals, but he is still on ‘Cloud Nine.’ The native of Fresno, CA, is looking to use the momentum gained from that victory as he competes with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series during their annual fall West Coast Swing.

“I’m still riding the high of being able to win the World Challenge” said Scelzi. “We had a lot of speed at the Nationals and if you are going to do it, that’s the time to win, because it gets you into the show. By getting in on Friday night, that sets you up for an easy Saturday and that’s exactly what happened.”

By winning the World Challenge, Scelzi earned the “Golden Ticket,” the 25^thstarting spot in the 50-lap finale of the Knoxville Nationals at the famed Knoxville Raceway in Iowa. The 2017 Knoxville Nationals Rookie of the Year was joined in the 25-car starting lineup by his younger brother, Giovanni, who is 16-years-old.

“Watching my brother make it in, I knew how much it meant to him and how much it meant to our family,” shared the older Scelzi, who is 21-years-old. “Then to be able to come in the hard way, I feel, in the 11th hour like that, was extremely special to have both of us in there. It was his first time and my second time there. We both ended up getting Rookie of the Year, the first time each of us went to the Knoxville Nationals. For both of us to make it in this year, was pretty darn special.”

On his qualifying night at Knoxville, D. Scelzi, won a heat race and was running among the top-10 in the preliminary when he broke a U-joint, which ended his night and thus relegated him to compete in the “Hard Knox” race program on Friday night. He ended up finishing 12^thin the feature race that night, with just the top-four locking themselves in for Saturday night. The Speed Sport World Challenge gave him one more opportunity to race earn a spot in Saturday night’s finale, without having to run the alphabet on Saturday night. Scelzi ultimately finished 16^thon Saturday night, working his way past nine cars.

“When you have an issue like that on your preliminary night, you have to put that out of your mind and focus on the job at hand,” Scelzi explained. “After the first Friday night feature, I knew that I had to win right now in the World Challenge and it was crunch time. We went out and did it. That was an amazing feeling to come through in the clutch like that.”

Scelzi has made the trek to the Midwest for three straight summers to advance his racing education. In 2016, the team operated out of Randy Hannagan’s shop in Indiana and for the last two summers they have set up shop in the Des Moines, Iowa area. Scelzi, who five overall wins this season, has been victorious in the Midwest at Jackson Motorplex in Minnesota as well as at Dubuque Fairground Speedway in Iowa and of course, at Knoxville. He also has a pair of wins in his home state of California.

“Racing in the Midwest raises your game,” he noted. “The tracks are so much different than they are back in California. They are usually a lot more slick and bigger than they are at home. The competition is very tough as well. You have to deal with five or six local guys, along with all of the Outlaws, who can pretty much win anywhere, any night. 

“It’s definitely tough, but something I enjoy. If you want to be the best, you have to race with the best. When you get your butt kicked with the Outlaws night in and night out, that raises your game. We’ve been able to show that this year, with a lot of strong runs and a couple of top-fives. When you race with the World of Outlaws, you are racing with the best in the world and that is going to make you that much better. We’ve had some runs toward the front of the field and I think we are close to winning our first Outlaws race.”

Scelzi has been close on a couple of occasions to earning that elusive first World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series. Scelzi finished a season-best fourth with the Outlaws at the always racy Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, CA. He also was in the top-five at Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin in July.

“It would mean everything to me to win a World of Outlaws races,” he said. “I have dreamed about that my whole life. If I have a shot at winning a World of Outlaws main event, it would be the biggest moment of my life.”

Scelzi, is the son of four-time NHRA champion Gary Scelzi, who won three Top Fuel titles, along with a Funny Car championship. D. Scelzi attended his first sprint car race at the historic Missouri State Fair Speedway as a kid and instantly was captivated by the cars.

“My Dad and Danny Lasoski were really good friends and I saw my first sprint car race at five years old and never wanted to do anything else,” said Scelzi. “I absolutely fell in love with the sight of them and loved the way they looked going around the race track and the excitement. There has never been a moment in my life since that I have wanted to do anything else.”