CHICO, Calif. – Dominic Scelzi is no longer a bridesmaid.
After an early string of runner-up finishes had left him winless in 2022, the Fresno, Calif. native joked that he would have to start showing up to the track in a bridesmaid dress.
A dominating win in last night’s Brownell and Herseth Classic at Silver Dollar Speedway ensured he could keep the firesuit on.
The victory marked the 50th of his sprint car racing career across 410 and 360 competition. It was his fourth career triumph at the Chico bullring and his second consecutive win in the Brownell and Herseth Classic.
“We’ve been good all year,” Scelzi said. “We’ve run second, I want to say, four times. We’ve led four or five races. We’ve been right there. I don’t know, I’m not sure if maybe I’ve been off a little bit or maybe everybody has gotten a little bit bitter. I haven’t felt like we’ve been lacking much, just getting beat… I’m thankful to get 50 career wins.”
Scelzi and Willie Croft led the field to green, and the two raced side-by-side for the opening circuit with Scelzi edging ahead at the stripe. The leaders approached traffic early, and Corey Day slipped by Croft for second on lap six as they began to navigate lapped cars.
The race’s first caution flew on the next circuit for a Jeremy Wilson spin, just as Day was aiming to throw a slider on Scelzi.
Laps 7-10 were a period of yellow and red flags. Shane Golobic tumbled on the backstretch, collecting Michael Ing. Then, Tim Kaeding spun shortly after in turns three and four. On lap 10 Garen Linder slowed to bring out another caution.
On the restart following Linder’s issue, Day slid by Scelzi in turns one and two, but Scelzi countered by rolling the bottom to snatch the lead back in the next set of corners and began to pull away.
On lap 15 Day and a surging Justin Sanders began to battle for the second position. After swapping the spot a couple of times Sanders claimed it. The action was again halted on lap 18 for an Andy Forsberg flip in turn two.
The red flag immediately followed the green on the restart as Croft biked and flipped in the same spot as Forsberg.
Once racing resumed Scelzi wasted no time in pulling away. “The Dominator” appeared to be on cruise control as he paced the field unchallenged in the final laps, but even though he didn’t have to battle his competition, he did have to battle a tricky surface.
“Tonight was the most technical cushion I’ve probably ever run. It was insane,” Scelzi said. “I don’t necessarily like to get up there and pound the curb like that as much as I maybe used to, but I did it. We had to do it, and we were really good. We had an awesome racecar.”
Ultimately Scelzi led every lap and took the checkered flag with a comfortable 1.198 second advantage over Sanders with Day completing the podium and Ryan Bernal and Sean Becker rounding out the top-five.
Today the NARC Fujitsu General Sprint Car Series will visit Silver Dollar Speedway for the David Tarter Memorial, and Scelzi hopes to get started on the next 50 wins right away.
“I remember what it felt like to get the first one, and I’ll be 100 percent honest the 50th one feels the same,” Scelzi said. “Winning a sprint car race is cool no matter if there’s three cars or 300.”
The Finish:
- 4d1 Dominic Scelzi 2. 2x Justin Sanders 3. 41 Corey Day 4. 17wx Ryan Bernal 5. 16a Sean Becker 6. 21t Mitchell Faccinto 7. 2xm Max Mittry 8. 38b Blake Carrick 9. 69 Bud Kaeding 10. 12j John Clark 11. 5v Landon Brooks 12. 83t Tanner Carrick 13. 2l Logan Forler 14. 83v Joel Myers Jr. 15. 18t Tanner Holmes 16. 21 Michael Ing 17. 46 Jeremy Wilson 18. 8 William Fielding 19. 29 Willie Croft 20. 92 Andy Forsberg 21. 42x Tim Kaeding 22. 22 Garen Linder 23. 17w Shane Golobic 24. 17 Kalib Henry