Bill McAnally Racing on Tuesday announced its 2020 roster of drivers in the ARCA Menards West Series.
The roster includes two male and two female drivers: Giovanni “Gio” Scelzi, Jesse Love, Gracie Trotter and Holley Hollan.
Plans call for all four drivers, who are also part of Toyota’s driver development program, to run the full schedule in the ARCA Series West, along with other additional select ARCA races. In addition to each driver running for the West championship, they will all also contend for the West Rookie of the Year award.
There will also be bragging rights on the line, as the next race winner for BMR will give the organization its 100th career win between the ARCA Menards Series West and East divisions (formerly NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and East).
“We’re very enthusiastic about our lineup of drivers for the 2020 season,” McAnally said in a media release. “We anticipate plenty of excitement from this talented roster of newcomers to the series. We see great potential in each of them.”
Here’s a breakdown of each of McAnally’s four newest drivers:
* Gio Scelzi, 18, of Fresno, California, will drive the No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts/Curb Records Toyota Camry. Son of four-time NHRA drag racing champion Gary Scelzi, the younger Scelzi is competing this week in his second Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma. … Scelzi has been a rising star in sprint and midget cars on dirt the last three years. He shifts to pavement racing with BMR this season, but also expects to continue racing sprints and midgets as well. Began racing Junior Micro Sprints at the age of 6. Made transition to full-sized sprint cars in 2016. Became the youngest race winner in World of Outlaws history in 2018, and also the youngest winner at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway in the All Star Circuit of Champions race. Also won his first-ever start on pavement in a late model race at Irwindale Speedway outside Los Angeles last year.
* Jesse Love, 15, from Menlo Park, Calif. Will drive the No. 19 NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota Camry for BMR. Started racing quarter midgets at 5 years old. Has won multiple track, regional, state and national championships. In 2019, split time between dirt and asphalt racing, including finishing in the top 10 in the SRL Southwest Tour Series and finished runner-up in rookie points.
* Gracie Trotter, 18, of Denver, North Carolina, will drive the No. 99 ENEOS Toyota Camry. The third-generation racer began competing in go-karts at 8 years old. She eventually moved to Legends cars and in 2017 became the first female to win the Young Lions division at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and finished second in points in the 2018 Summer Shootout at CMS. She went on to win the 2019 Winter Heat Series championship and reached Round 5 of the Summer Shootout in the Semi-Pro Division. Began racing super late models in 2017 and in 2019 joined the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Driver Development Program, which she continues to be a part of as a late model driver for Rev Racing.
* Holley Hollan, 18, a fourth-generation racer from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, will drive the No. 50 JBL/NAPA Filters/NAPA Belts & Hoses Toyota Camry. Began racing at the age of 5 in Junior Sprints and up to 600 cc micros at the age of 12. Has been competing in midget cars the last two seasons and finished fifth in the points in the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League in 2019.
Bill McAnally Racing has become one of the top feeder organizations to NASCAR. Past drivers who’ve raced for McAnally include Hailie Deegan (who has moved up to ARCA this season), Cole Custer, Clint Bowyer, Todd Gilliland, Brendan Gaughan and Derek Kraus (who it was announced Monday will drive full-time in the NASCAR Truck Series in a partnership between Bill McAnally and Wisconsin businessman Bill Hilgemann).
McAnally is also the only owner in the NASCAR touring series to have nine championships with a variety of drivers, including four of the last five seasons (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019). He also enters the 30th consecutive seasons with NAPA sponsorship, one of the longest running sponsorships in motorsports history.
