Giovanni Scelzi doesn’t consider himself a real Outlaw. And he says maybe he never will be.
But when one considers the achievements of the young racer’s blossoming career in parallel with the qualities Scelzi believes make a driver a true Outlaw, it’s difficult to imagine that day won’t come.
According to Scelzi, three factors equate to being an Outlaw.
First, it involves winning a crown jewel event. This could be the Knoxville Nationals, Kings Royal, National Open or Gold Cup Race of Champions. Secondly, it requires being consistently competitive with the other full-timers on the roster. Third, it’s about reputation.
“Once other people start grouping you into that category of World of Outlaw drivers, that’s kind of when you become one,” Scelzi commented.
The 21-year-old is remarkably humble as he makes his way through his first season of racing full-time with the series.
Scelzi made an unforgettable impression when he became the youngest winner in series history by winning at Williams Grove Speedway when he was 16 years old in 2018. He added four more victories as a part-time Outlaw racer, but he’s yet to win through 13 WoO events this season.
Scelzi’s circumstances changed considerably during the offseason.
The Fresno, Calif., native moved to Iowa to be closer to the headquarters of his team, KCP Racing. He signed up for his first, full-time season with the Outlaws. And rather than race for one-off wins, he’s more focused on breaking into the top-five in points by season’s end.
The year got off to a less-than-ideal start for Scelzi, as the rookie rolled on track at the DIRTcar Nationals in February and struggled to reach the top 10. But instead of throwing in the towel, the 21-year-old’s long-term strategy came into play.
“We watched the film, went over our race car, built another race car and went back at it with a better attitude,” Scelzi said. “It’s been a bit of a slow start, but you can’t beat yourself up. This is a very long year with a lot of racing.”
Though the first five races of the season didn’t go according to plan, the KCP Racing driver has since buckled down and started to move in the right direction to reach his lofty goals. In the last eight races, Scelzi has earned six top-10 finishes and one top-five effort.
Scelzi’s improvement showed when he won the April 11 Heartland of America Showdown at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., outrunning a field of 56 of the best winged sprint car racers in the country. The event, sanctioned by the High Limit Racing Series, paid $50,000 to win.
But the cool Californian isn’t content.
“The eighth, seventh places don’t look good. But I don’t think we’re that far off from consistently being within the top five,” Scelzi said. “The Outlaw tour is halfway just minimizing your bad nights. Trying not to run 15th, 20th or DNF — those bad nights have to be eighth, ninth, 10th at worst.”
His renewed focus has been placed on both qualifying better and cleaning up mid-race mistakes. Scelzi is quick to recollect a few split-second decisions he made that ended up costing him several positions, and he isn’t keen to repeat them anytime soon.
With this weekend’s doubleheader at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway canceled, the next time Scelzi will have a chance to sharpen his skillset against the Outlaws will be on April 28 at Illinois’ Tri-City Speedway. There, Scelzi will continue to state his case as a WoO rookie.
As the series moves closer to the heart of the season, he remains content with his decision to become a full-timer — even if he doesn’t define himself as a real Outlaw yet. In comparison to running the “true Outlaw” schedule he has in years past, chasing the World of Outlaws campaign has given Scelzi more to race for.
“When you’re running a true Outlaw schedule, if you don’t win, there’s nothing else to really look forward to. Yeah, you could run fifth or second, but at the end of the year, you always look at how many wins you have,” Scelzi explained.
“With the Outlaws, it’s a whole goal over the season. If you run fifth in the points, it was a good year. If you run 10th, you suck. There’s something to look forward to and build on throughout the year, more so than just trying to win every single night.”