NEW OXFORD, Pa. – Newly crowned NARC King of the West Sprint Car Series champion Dominic Scelzi has agreed to run select races in the Premier Racing Team No. 21 sprint car next year in Central Pennsylvania.
The deal between Scelzi, the popular Northern Californian with many responsibilities around home, and Premier Racing Team owner Jerry Parrish will hinge on a sparse and working schedule, envisioned to round out at a handful of races, and tailor to the busy lives of both.
“It’s a to-be-announced type deal, and we’re going to hit some of the high-profile races when he’s available,” Parrish said. “If he’s available for the Tuscarora 50, we’ll do that. If he’s available for the National Open, we’ll do that. If he’s available for Selinsgrove’s $20,000-to-win race, we’ll do that.
“Nothing set in stone. We’ll see how it goes”
Scelzi’s on-track priority next year is once again the NARC King of the West Sprint Car Series and roughly 60 total races with his family-operated No. 41 team.
Off the track, Scelzi runs his family business and is a father to one-year-old daughter Stella.
This past season Scelzi ran special Midwest shows with car owner Mark Dobmeier. That offers enough reason he can squeeze in a few cross-country trips to intermingle with the Pennsylvania Posse.
Driving the car nine-time Lincoln Speedway track champion Brian Montieth drove for 17 years is a nice perk too.
“I’m very excited to be able to go out there. I’m just looking to be able to mark some stuff off my bucket list,” Scelzi said. “Being able to race some races in Pennsylvania is very neat for me. It’s something I’m looking forward to, something I’ve never done before.
“Brian Montieth was my favorite guy from PA forever. His style and everything was like Tim Kaeding to me. I’ve always enjoyed that. It’s pretty neat to jump in a car that’s had so much history and so much success. I’m looking forward to learning some more as a driver and being able to experience some more stuff.
“I am of course going to have fun with it. We’ve already had some banter on Twitter and stuff, PA Posse, all that.
“Outside of that, we really don’t know. We don’t really have a schedule. It’s going to be when we can make it happen. It’s going to be about a handful of races. Obviously, life for me has been pretty crazy … I’ve got a lot of stuff going on out here.”
Three weeks ago, Parrish announced a change of course for his race program, parting with young driver Matt Campbell while vocalizing the team would reduce to part-time next year.
Parrish just completed year three on the managerial staff at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa., and year 33 as owner of Premier Auto Works, the business a short drive from the three-eighths-mile dirt-track that’s conventionally housed his sprint cars for nearly three decades.
Campbell won two races this past season and was set for a return in September. But by season’s end, Parrish, who also built a house this past year, quickly learned he had simply spread himself too thin.
“Matt did a good job. The problem was, part of the time he didn’t have a crew,” Parrish said. “Then once he got a crew it was a lot better. I just don’t have the desire to run full schedules. I just don’t have the time for that.
“Being involved at Lincoln, I just don’t have the time I had before because I’m not available while I’m working at the speedway to even be involved with the race team at the race track. Then, when we run the big races Saturday at Lincoln, I’m not available then either.”
There are various pros and cons to the reconstruction of Premier Racing Team, notably the team losing roughly three-quarters of its sponsors.
“Even if we have a high-profile driver, [sponsors] want the weekly exposure,” Parrish said. “That definitely hurt that. It is a big deal, but it’s still doable.”
Parrish knows it’s doable because Scott Zellers, Montieth’s longtime crew chief who left the team this season to help his son race quarter midgets, returns to oversee the team in his familiar role.
Most of the Premier Racing Team from Montieth’s 17-year run will return with Zellers.
“We already have the equipment to win the big races,” Parrish said. “In the back of our minds, we can realistically see this happening.”
Parrish is content with the car idling and Scelzi as its only driver at the moment, but did admit he could phone in other drivers to fill the seat on special occasions.
Montieth wouldn’t be one of those options at this juncture, but Parrish followed that with “never say never.”
“I know [Scelzi has] some conflicts at some of Lincoln’s bigger races and I need to make a decision: do I let the car sit or try and field the car with the right person?” Parrish said on filling out his team’s schedule outside Scelzi. “And [Dom] is fine with that. He’s really chill and easy to get along with.”
In all, Parrish calls the deal with Scelzi “the perfect match.”
“I told him, ‘Hey, look, I’m flexible,’” Parrish said. “‘If you call me Thursday and say I can’t make it for Friday, no big deal, we’ll do a different one.’ This is a more casual and open schedule.
“We’ll see where this goes. Maybe this turns into more races for the following year.”