TULARE, Calif. – Walk into any northern California pit area on race day, and you’re likely to see the two winningest sprint car drivers of the season, Dominic Scelzi and Justin Sanders, discussing their craft.
On top of trading dozens of checkered flags this year, the two Golden State gassers are friends who trade plenty of racing conversation.
“Everybody thinks he’s (Dominic) a jokester who doesn’t know much about his race cars, but he’s pretty in tune with what’s going on,” Sanders said with a smile. “So, we’ll talk setup during the week and bounce ideas off and do little things here and there.”
As race season nears an end, Scelzi leads the nation with 22 feature victories split between 410 and 360 sprint car competition. Sanders trails him by one in what has been a year-long back and forth battle for sprint car supremacy between friends who have squared off much of their careers.
Their 2021 dominance combined with a continually growing relationship through the years has brewed a bit of a friendly rivalry, but one rooted in mutual respect.
“Justin has been fast in several different cars,” Scelzi said. “He’s won 20 races in a year before, and I hadn’t been anywhere near close… To have that rivalry and the camaraderie we have, we’ve got a good friendship. I feel like we bring the best out in each other. We’ve battled for first and second quite a bit this year.”
“I don’t think it’s a bragging rights thing,” Sanders said of their duel. “I think it’s a thing where we both have respect for each other even though we’ll be messing around.”
While they’re nearly tied in the win column, they’ve taken different routes to their current marks.
All 22 of Scelzi’s victories have come aboard his family’s No. 41 machine, a program that Scelzi and company have been steadily improving for nearly a decade leading to a rewarding breakout year.
“It’s just a lot of fun being fast,” Scelzi said of his season. “I’d won 27 races in nine years, and now we’re at 22 in one year. I’d love to get a nice, round 25 on the season and get past that 50 mark. I’m just thankful. You don’t have years like this very often, and it was a long, long trip to get where we’re at, and I think we’re competitive every night.”
Sanders’ 21 triumphs have come in a handful of different seats. The Aromas, Calif., native began his winning in Bob Ream’s No. 8 in Arizona. Since then, he’s wheeled four other machines to victory lane – Dale Miller’s No. 4sa, Sanders’ own No. 17, Larry Antaya’s No. 16a, and most recently the Kevin Kozlowski-owned, Paul Silva-prepared No. 57.
“We’ve had a good season,” Sanders said. “We’ve tried to keep all the teams together, same cars, kind of the same shock package and everything, so when we would go race with one car it was familiar. With our package in the 410 stuff, it took us a little while to get going. We got a win there and ran decent, were running up front a couple races, but we weren’t great.
“Then when I got back from Dirt Cup Paul (Silva) texted me and asked if I wanted to run some races,” Sanders continued. “He’s got, obviously, a really sound 410 operation, so I got in that and was successful pretty soon. We won a couple of the Speedweek races, the Louie (Vermeil Classic) and ran up front at a couple of other ones. Then I was able to get that Kern (County) win. It kind of opened my eyes a little bit for the 410 stuff.”
After Sanders climbed aboard the No. 57, the battle for the country’s most wins intensified as both drivers upped their game by dominating the West Coast’s premier series, the NARC-King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series. The duo claimed seven of the final 12 NARC-KWS events of 2021.
Scelzi and Sanders raced out the second half of the NARC campaign like a tennis match. Two nights after Sanders won at Merced Speedway in his debut in the No. 57, Scelzi answered with a win in Stockton, Calif. Sanders returned the favor with a Petaluma Speedway victory the following day. The next weekend Scelzi claimed the opening night of the Louie Vermeil Classic, so naturally Sanders grabbed night two.
The war on track between the No. 41 and No. 57 also created an interesting chess match in the pit area between two of the sport’s top mechanical minds.
Jimmy Carr calls the shots on Scelzi’s machine while Sanders has had Silva in his corner. Carr is known for a wildly successful tenure at Tony Stewart Racing, among other accomplishments. Silva has been winning races with multiple drivers for nearly two decades, most notably piling up trophies in recent years with Kyle Larson.
“Paul and Jimmy Carr are definitely the two best crew chiefs in California if not the United States,” Sanders said. “It makes our jobs a lot easier driving those cars when we have such good, prepared race cars and guys that are in tune and really put in the work.”
The two West Coast wheelman each have just four more opportunities to add to their current totals and claim the honor of 2021’s winningest sprint car driver.
Sanders intends to visit Arizona this weekend and next with plans to compete at Cocopah Speedway this Friday and Saturday and then cap his season at Arizona Speedway’s Copper Classic.
Scelzi will have a rare weekend off, but then he has two nights of weekday racing at Merced Speedway next Tuesday and Wednesday followed by a trip south to face off with Sanders in the Copper Classic.
No matter which driver comes out on top, the Californians have delivered a year that won’t soon be forgotten and helped elevate each other’s performance every night they’ve competed.
While their friendship has only strengthened throughout the year, what fun is a rivalry between two of the best without a little banter?
“Yeah, of course I want to get more wins than him,” said a smirking Sanders this past weekend.
After Carson Macedo drove by Sanders Friday night at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., to take a win, Scelzi offered his gratitude.
“Thanks to Carson and the 21 (Tarlton Motorsports) guys for keeping me ahead tonight,” Scelzi said with a laugh.