FRESNO, Calif. — Dominic Scelzi had to pinch himself to ensure he wasn’t dreaming following the finale of Peter Murphy Classic weekend on Saturday at Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway.
With a sweep of the Kings of Thunder 360 sprint car and NARC King of the West Sprint Car Series features at the third-mile dirt track, Scelzi completed the improbable feat of winning four sprint car races over two days at two different facilities.
Scelzi had previously won both the 410 and 360 sprint car features at the Murphy-promoted Keller Auto Speedway in nearby Hanford, Calif., the previous night, making him the first driver to achieve perfection during the weekend of racing honoring the longtime Australian racer-turned-promoter.
“It’s like something out of a storybook or a movie; I don’t even know how to describe it,” Scelzi told SPEED SPORT this week in the aftermath of his winning weekend. “I’m sure it happened at some point to somebody before, but to win four races in two nights at two different race tracks … it’s just unbelievable. It’s a dream come true to sweep a weekend like that, especially at such a prestigious event as the Peter Murphy Classic. And every race was a good one. None of them were easy victories.
“It was really neat to be able to make that happen and special to be the first one to do it.”
The fact that Scelzi’s career weekend came during the Peter Murphy Classic was hardly a coincidence.
After all, it was Murphy who convinced Scelzi to stay in racing during a down period in the Fresno, Calif., native’s life in 2013-’14, when he was ready to give up driving and walk away from the sport for good.
“After Peter had the accident that ended his driving career, I actually went to work with him at his company, doing decals and cleaning up his shop because he wasn’t able to race again,” Scelzi recalled. “And at that time, I was starting to really struggle with racing. I’d started off pretty well, my first two years, but really was struggling through 2013 and into 2014 … and then halfway through 2014 when Peter was getting better, he wanted to get back involved a little bit and go to some races.
“In May of 2014, he came on as my crew chief at a point in time where I was really down. I truly wasn’t really sure if I wanted to continue racing. I felt like I had zero confidence and I didn’t know if I wanted to do it anymore,” Scelzi added. “But he really got me in the right mindset again of believing I could do this and that I was supposed to be doing this. He really believed in me when I felt like I couldn’t even believe in myself.
“Our relationship has always been very, very strong and we’ve been extremely close, so to have a weekend like we did during the event that’s named after him … it just felt right in a lot of ways.”
While Scelzi had won in a 360 sprint car during the 2019 edition of the Peter Murphy Classic, he didn’t feel like that win truly meant he had conquered the event.
His win on Saturday night against a stout King of the West field, however, filled that void.
“I was really fortunate in 2019; I won the 360 portion and that was really cool and very special. Somewhere, there’s a picture floating around of me and Peter both standing on the top wing, celebrating for the crowd,” Scelzi noted. “But I always told him, ‘It’s great that I won that one, but the one I want is the 410 race.’ That’s the Peter Murphy Classic, in my eyes.
“To win the first two nights in Hanford and the next two nights in Tulare … there’s no disputing who the Peter Murphy Classic winner is this year. I mean, we won them all. You can’t do any better than that.”
In typical Scelzi fashion, there were tacos — his favorite celebratory meal — consumed in earnest as well.
“It wasn’t until Sunday, but I had six tacos after everything finally settled out,” Scelzi tipped. “It’s how I celebrate, and a few people had asked — yes, we did have tacos!”
Scelzi’s stellar weekend pushed his season victory total to nine (seven 360 and two 410), tying him with two-time defending World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion Brad Sweet for the second-most sprint car victories in the country through May 19. Only Justin Sanders, with 11 victories, has more this year.
The 24-year-old credited his recent success to legendary crew chief Jimmy Carr, who linked up with Scelzi prior to the start of the 2020 season and has guided him to 12 victories during the past 18 months.
“Last year, Jimmy and I had moments of brilliance and I felt like there were quite a few times when we were strong and then there were times where we weren’t good and we really struggled to be where we needed to be,” Scelzi said. “It came down to fine tuning what I needed as a driver and what Jimmy was used to doing as a crew chief. We just had to work together to figure out what worked best for me and what I needed.
“Now, I feel like we’re locked in and on our bad nights, we’re still at 90 percent. That’s huge.”
What’s next for the oldest son of NHRA legend Gary Scelzi now that he’s conquered Murphy’s event?
Scelzi said he has three things left on his racing bucket list: Winning a World of Outlaws feature, topping the famed Trophy Cup sprint car race and claiming a NARC King of the West Sprint Car Series championship.
“Those three things, to me, are the three big ones on my bucket list … dreams from when I was a little kid that I haven’t done,” Scelzi noted. “The Murphy was a big one, but now we’ve checked that off.”