HANFORD, Calif. — Though he had just charged from his ninth starting position to win his 19th feature of the season Friday at Keller Auto Speedway, Dominic Scelzi was focused on perhaps the only mistake he made during the 25-lap race.
“I almost dicked it away there,” Scelzi told his crew as he climbed from his 410 sprint car before hurrying to board his 360 for the next main event.
Scelzi’s remark referenced a slight hiccup he made on the final lap of last night’s Kings of Thunder 410 feature that nearly cost him the victory.
Even amid a season that’s brought more trophies than errors, the 24-year-old racer hones in on his faults, recalling them with precision.
“On the last lap I was worried because I got plugged into the cushion the lap before,” Scelzi said of the turn-two miscue. “So, I cheated it a little bit, and when I actually got to it, it threw the right rear over the cushion.
Then, the car sheared off and put me in the slick, so at that point I know someone is throwing a Hail Mary slider.
“So, I slid myself,” Scelzi continued. “The cushion had actually kind of gone over the edge off of turn four, and I sort of got over it off of [turn] four and felt like I had to limp it home… It was a massive mess up.”
The Fresno, Calif., native’s tendency to understand every mistake began during his earliest racing days, influenced by his drag-racing dad, Gary.
“I’m going to blame my dad on this,” Scelzi said with a smile. “On Saturday mornings after the micro races we’d sit down in the living room and watch our videos. He would pick out every single mistake we made, and he would ask, ‘Why did you do this? What were you doing here? What made you do that? What made you think that was the way to do it?’”
That habit has stuck with Scelzi over the years and helped pave the path to the success he’s had this season. In fact, it helped just moments after last night’s issue.
Using the slip-up as added knowledge and motivation, Scelzi dominated the Sprint Car Challenge Tour 360 sprint car race that followed the 410 event.
He expertly navigated heavy lapped traffic and hit his marks from the first lap to the last, eventually cruising to a comfortable win instead of having to shift to defense in the final corner.
“I felt like I did a really good job in the 360 race of not making that mistake at all throughout the race,” Scelzi reflected. “I just tried to think, ‘OK, I messed up there. Now, I need to put thirty laps together and not make that mistake.’”
The 360 victory marked his 20th of the year, tied with fellow Californian, Justin Sanders, for the most in the nation. Prior to 2021, Scelzi had never reached 10 victories in one season.
Sweeping the night also marked the fourth time he’d done so in a 410 and 360 this year.
While he’s enjoying every checkered flag, his father’s early lessons always loom as he searches for ways to be even better next time on track.
“I think it’s important that if you want to be the best driver you can be, you have to pinpoint your mistakes and really focus on them,” he said. “It’s really easy to say, ‘Well, we won.’ But there are nights like tonight where we shouldn’t have won because we made a mistake on the last lap that could’ve cost us.”
The dedication to perfection also stems from the standard Scelzi holds himself to. While much of his current racing is on the West Coast, Scelzi spent the past five years on the road, battling some of the country’s toughest competition at some of the sport’s toughest tracks.
The half-decade of experience reinforced what his dad taught him and helped mold his current mindset.
“To win the big races,” Scelzi said. “And to win All Star and World of Outlaws races, the high-caliber races, you can’t make any mistakes.”
Scelzi will have a chance to add some more big races to his resumé in the coming weeks beginning tonight.
The NARC-King of the West Fujitsu 410 Sprint Cars take center stage at Keller Auto Speedway for the Morrie Williams Memorial showcasing a pair of 20-lap features to end the evening. The Trophy Cup is also only two weeks away.
And even if Scelzi claims a few more major events before the year ends, he plans to continue striving to understand why he missed that bottom on this lap or jumped the cushion on that lap in his perpetual journey toward perfection.
“Twenty wins is amazing,” Scelzi said. “But I’m more upset with our twelve second places that I felt like I could’ve turned into wins.”