Zipadelli Visiting Berlin for Summer Knights
Berlin native Scott Zipadelli will be in attendance for the Summer Knights Car Show and Swap Meet in Berlin on April 27.
“There should be about 400 to 600 hot rods there,” Zipadelli said. “They are raising money for an 18- month-old girl (Daniela Ciriello), who has a rare blood disease (that) lives in the area. So it’s really cool to be able to go home and help the Summer Knights with this wonderful event. Anytime you can go back home and help a needy family is a good thing. It should be a lot of fun for a great cause.”
Zipadelli has been a Nationwide Series crew chief since 2007 for JTG Racing, Braun Racing and RAB Racing. He has worked with a variety of drivers including Kelly Bires, Jason Leffler and Kenny Wallace.
“The business is always moving and changing so it seems like every few years things change,” Zipadelli said. “I was stuck in a rut so it was time for me to leave the team I was with in 2012 and start over so when TSM (Turner Scott Motorsports) approached and we talked for some time and then finally worked out a deal.”
Zipadelli guided Justin Allgaier to a fifth place finish in points last season.
“I feel like the season was a solid improvement from their past seasons,” Zipadelli said. “We had better finishes and (were) definitely more consistent throughout the year. We had a few bad spots in the year, but found a way to recover from them. The team needed a lot of work and it took some time to get it where we are today.”
Since Allgaier’s departure for the Sprint Cup Series, Zipadelli has been working with Kyle Larson. The pair have not finished outside the top 10 all season. With one win, one pole, and five top fives, Zipadelli has nearly surpassed last season’s 33 events: zero wins, one pole, six top fives and 16 top 10s.
Zipadelli’s goals are “to win as many races as we can and run for the Nationwide owner’s championship for Target and Cartwheel,” Zipadelli said. “We seem to have good chemistry and communicate well. When you look at his 2013 stats against Justin’s, I felt very confident we could run better then we both had last year. Our cars are better due to a lot of hard work and me having a full year here learning where our weak spots were.”
Turner Scott Motorsports fields teams across the NASCAR Nationwide, Camping World Truck and East Series. Often their competition comes from teams affiliated with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series like Childress, Gibbs, Penske and Roush.
“It is very difficult to compete against JGR, Penske, (and) RCR, but we have closed the gap on them in the past few seasons,” Zipadelli said. “They have more resources and technology to pull from on a daily basis. From testing more and having more people working on new parts and projects they can stay on the cutting edge of the sport. We have to work twice and hard and smarter to stay alongside them.”
Zipadelli grew up in a racing family, where his father built race cars and his uncles raced. “It was normal going to the track on weekends,” Zipadelli said. “As far back as I can remember, my brother and I were hanging around the race shop looking for things to do.”
“I started in Quarter Midgets then, Go Carts, Snowmobiles, Legend Cars, Late Models and ran a few Midget races till 1999,” Zipadelli said. “My goal was to be a driver, but I never had enough laps and money to get there, so I quit driving and kept working as a metal fabricator on various teams and worked my way to (North Carolina).”
Scott’s brother Greg is the Competition Director at Stewart Haas Racing and won two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships as a crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing.
“Greg has been a resource for me to use when (I) needed someone to bounce an idea off of or felt like I was going down the wrong road,” Zipadelli said. “But we are both so busy when we get a chance to hang out, we try to focus on our family’s, hunting and stuff other than racing,” Zipadelli said. “I did work at Joe Gibbs Racing from 2002 to 2006. In 2006 I wanted to become a crew chief and had to leave there to get the opportunity.”
The Summer Knights Car Club will hold its 23rd annual Car Show, Shine and Swap Meet at the Berlin Fairgrounds (410 Beckley Rd., Berlin, CT) on Sunday April 27 from 7AM to 3PM. The event benefits local charities like Easter Seals, Autism Speaks and the Connecticut chapter of the American Red Cross.
Admission for participants is $10, while spectators are $5. A 10×20 vendor space for the swap meet is $30. Awards will be distributed at 3:00 PM, including Dash Plaques, Top 30 Awards and special awards. Visit http://summerknights.net/ for more information, or contact John at (860) 670-8532 for the car show or Gene at (860) 331-1258 for the swap meet.
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com