INDIANAPOLIS — After spending last year on the sidelines, National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Guy Forbrook will be turning the wrenches on a sprint car again this season.
Forbrook has teamed with Jim Goerges of Precision Tool to field a 410 sprint car in 20 to 25 events in the Midwest. The duo has tabbed rising star Giovanni Scelzi to wheel the car and the team is planning to compete in a number of major events, including the Knoxville Nationals, Jackson Nationals and the World Finals.
“I’m really not interested in traveling distances anymore. This is the perfect deal for me,” said Forbrook, who confirmed the car Scelzi will drive will carry the No. 5. “We’re looking forward to picking up some quality races and having some success and doing some Outlaw shows.
“We’re just trying to build a small team for the Midwest to run all the big Outlaw races,” Forbrook continued. “This is basically what I’d like to try to do to finish racing, just build a team that we can be very competitive with when we show up. It’s not going to be a 100-race team or anything like that.”
Scelzi, widely considered one of the hottest prospects in sprint car racing, said he’s excited to get the chance to work with Forbrook.
“Guy has been a family friend of ours for awhile. He raced with (Danny) Lasoski, who is a good friend of mine. He’s kind of how I met him,” Scelzi said. “I talked to him a bit at the (Knoxville) Nationals. I know he had a car running, just nothing really came together.
“We’re going to run Jackson, the Knoxville Nationals, some Cedar Lake World of Outlaws stuff, more of a Midwestern schedule. I’m excited for it. Obviously he has a pretty big resume for all of the races he’s won. I think it’ll be a good combo.”
The deal to drive for Forbrook means Scelzi will spend a lot less time driving for Bernie Stuebgen of Indy Race Parts, for whom Scelzi earned his first World of Outlaws win at Williams Grove Speedway in 2018.
“I owe it all to Bernie,” Scelzi said. “I think he’s the one that really took a chance on me being young and our friendship is going to last a lifetime. I’m not worried about that at all. Unfortunately all good things have got to come to an end at some point.
“I don’t think I’m out of the 71 full time. I think we’ll run a few races. Who knows what will happen, never say never.”
Forbrook, 57, most recently worked with Big Game Motorsports and driver Kerry Madsen, but parted ways with the team after undergoing a major surgery last year.
“They put 16-inch rods in my back,” Forbrook said about the surgery that kept him on the sidelines. “That put me pretty much out of commission for quite a while here. I actually just got to start working out here about a week and a half, two weeks ago.
“We shook hands and all moved on because of what was going on with me. I really couldn’t help them as far as traveling or doing things.”
Forbrook said the schedule, which he expects to include a number of World of Outlaws and open 410 sprint car events, matched up perfectly with Scelzi’s goal of running a limited sprint car schedule this year.
“He’s a good, young driver. His schedule kind of fits ours,” said Forbrook. “I don’t have to worry about running 60 to 70 races to make it where a driver has to run those kind of races to try to make a living.”
In addition to Precision Tool, which will be on the No. 5 throughout the year, Forbrook said he’ll also have product support from a number of brands, including NGK Spark Plugs, Maxim Race Cars, Top Flight Wings, Karavan Trailers, Schaeffer Racing Oils, AutoMeter and others.
Forbrook said the plan is for the team to debut at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway during practice night on April 17. From there, Forbrook said the team will join the World of Outlaws for events in the Midwest as well as other major open 410 sprint car shows.
“We’re going to test there (at Knoxville) the first week then wait for the Outlaws to get here to the Midwest,” Forbrook said. “So whatever would be close, Cedar Lake to the Knoxville Outlaw show to the Jackson Nationals to whatever is right in this area.”