Inside Line Promotions
TULARE, Calif. (March 17, 2014) – A mechanical gremlin hampered Dominic Scelzi last weekend at one of his favorite tracks.
“We kinda fought the car and the motor all weekend long,” he said.
The issues put his team, which is aligned with Roth Motorsports, behind the eight ball from the start as it competed with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series at Thunderbowl Raceway on Friday and Saturday.
“The motor seemed really sluggish on Friday night and at the beginning of the Last Chance Showdown it started popping and sputtering,” Scelzi said.
After qualifying 29th quickest and placing ninth in his heat race, Scelzi was relegated to the Last Chance Showdown. The team continuously tweaked on the car all night, but Scelzi ended with a 10th-place result in the Last Chance Showdown on the opening night.
“We thought we found the problem,” he said. “On Saturday we changed ignition boxes and checked the mag. Still we had the same problem in warm-ups. We changed a couple of more things and got it running better, but it was still sluggish. I never felt super comfortable with the car and the track was more hooked up than I’ve ever seen Tulare.”
The car began to improve after hot laps on Saturday and Scelzi timed in 18th quickest during qualifying.
“We were able to put down a decent lap for qualifying,” he said. “I feel like we could have got a little more, but that’s something that I’m getting better at every weekend and is going to take time.”
Scelzi then advanced to a fifth-place finish in his heat race, which locked him into the 35-lap feature – his first of the season with the premier sprint car series. Scelzi started on the outside of the ninth row.
“Every car was running around the bottom because the track was hooked up,” he said. “There wasn’t much passing going on. I ran the bottom and on a restart we started racing with three or four guys.”
Scelzi, who was up to 15th place, was on the outside of a three-wide battle when both cars to the inside of him moved up. That forced Scelzi into the wall exiting turn two, which broke the Jacobs Ladder and cut down his right rear tire.
Scelzi stopped on the frontstretch to bring out a caution and the team was able to get his tire changed before he restarted at the rear of the field. Scelzi then rode around the final laps with the broken Jacobs Ladder and was credited with a 22nd-place result.
“We learned a lot and we think we have an idea of what to do with the car because we progressively got better,” he said.
Scelzi will return to action this Saturday at Stockton 99 Dirt Track in Stockton, Calif., for the FVP Western Spring Shootout with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series.
QUICK RESULTS –
March 14 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Qualifying: 29; Heat race: 9 (10); B Main: 10 (11).
March 15 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Qualifying: 18; Heat race: 5 (6); Feature: 22 (18).
SEASON STATS –
6 races, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s, 1 top 15, 1 top 20
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Stockton 99 Dirt Track in Stockton, Calif., for the FVP Western Spring Shootout with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Fuel Delivery Services, Inc.
Based in Stockton, Calif., Fuel Delivery Services, Inc., is a premier bulk transporter of refined petroleum products. For more information, visit http://www.
“We’ve grown really close as friends,” Scelzi said. “We really enjoy their support and hope to build bigger and better things in the future.”
Scelzi would also like to thank Whipple Superchargers, Fowler Packing, Roth Motorsports, Carlucci Transport, AXA Equitable Insurance – Bob & Gina Estrada, Tim Jones, G&J Truck Sales, Red Rose Transportation, K&N Filters, Sparco, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems and Schoenfeld Headers for their continued support.