CONCORD, N.C. — “Racing isn’t fun, winning is fun.” That line was instilled in Giovanni Scelzi from a young age by his father and four-time NHRA champion, Gary Scelzi.
And he’s taking that mindset into the 2025 season with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series as he and KCP Racing continue their quest to reach the pinnacle of the sport – a World of Outlaws title.
“It’s one of those things where you want to have realistic goals, but at the same time if your goal is not to win a World of Outlaws championship, you really shouldn’t be racing in my opinion,” Scelzi said. “We have the resources. We have the people. We have the engines. We have the cars, really the whole package, I feel like.”
The 23-year-old linked with the Iowa-based KCP team midway through 2020, and the pairing followed a pick and choose schedule through the end of 2022. Scelzi and KCP then hit the road with the World of Outlaws in 2023, and it resulted in the Fresno, Calif. native claiming Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year honors.
In 2024, he raised his numbers in nearly every statistical category during his sophomore year.
One win elevated to three, and he also added a NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s prelim victory. Early in the year, Scelzi led the World of Outlaws points for the first time in his career.
“We started off great, obviously had a super strong DIRTcar Nationals,” Scelzi said. “Pretty much until Knoxville (Nationals) I feel like we were in the hunt to win races every single night, and that’s the thing, you’ve got to win these championships from February to November not, February to August. It was a solid year.”
While it was a strong season, Scelzi is fully focused on improvement in 2025 to put he and KCP in contention for a title by the end of the season.
“It’s just putting everything together and getting consistent on a nightly basis like the 2 car (David Gravel) was, like the 41 car (Carson Macedo) was. Buddy (Kofoid) got there at the end of the year,” Scelzi said. “It’s tough, there’s no doubt about that, but to win a championship is the ultimate goal.”