Giovanni Scelzi (born November 28, 2001) is an American racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the

World of Outlaws World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, originally known as the World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American national touring dirt track racing series. It is owned and operated by World Racing Group, and was rebranded when the World of O ...

Nos Energy Drink

Sprint Car Sprint cars are open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval, circular dirt or paved tracks. Historically known simply as "big cars," distinguishing them from "midget cars," sprint car racing is popular primar ...

, series driving the #18 sprint car for KCP Racing.

Racing career

Scelzi began his career in the micro-sprint ranks, driving at Plaza Park Raceway. Racing at Lemoore Speedway as a nine-year-old, Scelzi posted 24 wins during that season. At age sixteen, Scelzi moved from his hometown of

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

to be closer to sprint car competition. In September of that year, he became the youngest winner in

history, winning a preliminary event at the National Open at

Williams Grove Speedway Williams Grove Speedway is a half-mile dirt racing track located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, United States. The speedway opened on May 21, 1939, it has been owned by the Hughes family for over 50 years and has hosted many of the most notabl ...

in Pennsylvania. In 2019, Scelzi became the youngest driver to win a feature at

Knoxville Raceway Knoxville Raceway is a semi-banked half-mile dirt oval raceway (zook clay) located at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville, Iowa. Races at the "Sprint Car Capital of the World" are held on Saturday nights from April through September eac ...

, using the highest groove on the racetrack to take the lead. He also won his first career

United States Auto Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the List of USAC Championship Car seasons, United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the ...

midget race, taking the checkered flag at

Placerville Speedway Placerville Speedway is a 1/4 mile dirt track located in Placerville at the El Dorado County fairgrounds in the Sierra Nevada foothills of eastern California. History The track began in 1965 as "Hangtown Speedway". On November 20, 2019, the spe ...

. Scelzi started his 2020 season by racing at the Chili Bowl in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

. On January 13, Scelzi announced a partnership with Guy Forbrook to run a limited number of sprint car races in the Midwest United States, saying that he wanted to scale back his sprint car efforts for the year. On January 14, Scelzi was confirmed for a full

ARCA Menards Series West The ARCA Menards Series West, formerly the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, NASCAR AutoZone West Series, NASCAR Winston West Series, NASCAR Winston Transcontinental Series and NASCAR Camping World West Series, is a regional stock car racing series ow ...

schedule for Bill McAnally Racing, driving the organization's No. 16 entry. A midwinter trip to Australia to race sprint cars was cancelled when Scelzi left Indy Race Cars, the team he drove for in 2018 and 2019, to join Forbrook. He won his first Pro Late Model race at

New Smyrna Speedway New Smyrna Speedway is a 1/2-mile asphalt Oval track racing, oval racetrack located near New Smyrna Beach, Florida, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, that races the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series every Saturday night. It also has a smaller trac ...

on February 9, capitalizing on a last lap crash/penalty combination that took the top two cars out of contention. In June, Scelzi returned to his family sprint car team for some

All Star Circuit of Champions The All Star Circuit of Champions (abbreviated ASCoC) is an American motorsports sanctioning body of winged sprint car racing. It was founded in 1970 and purchased by Tony Stewart in the winter of 2015. High Limit Racing acquired the series from ...

races and also joined Tucker Boat Motorsports for some sprint car races during Indiana Midget Week. Scelzi scored a career-best ARCA West finish of second at the

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...

Bullring in September. In the following race, Scelzi executed a bump-and-run maneuver on Taylor Gray during the penultimate lap to claim his first ARCA win. He would finish the season 5th in points. In 2023, Scelzi joined the World of Outlaws full time, pursuing Rookie of the Year honors.

Personal life

Gio is the son of former

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...

driver

Gary Scelzi Gary Eugene Scelzi (born August 11, 1960) is an American dragster racer and midget car owner who has won the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Fuel championship on three occasions and the Funny Car title once. In 1997 he won the title ...

, and is the younger brother of sprint car driver Dominic Scelzi. He attended Clovis Online High School in a blended learning model with in-person and online instruction.

Motorsports career results

ARCA Menards Series

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Menards Series East

ARCA Menards Series West

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scelzi, Gio Living people 2001 births Racing drivers from Fresno, California ARCA Menards Series drivers World of Outlaws drivers 21st-century American sportsmen