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Sealy's teen-age driver focused on getting better

By David Perry -- Furniture Today, May 28, 2006

Long Beach, Calif. — Alan Sciuto, a veteran racecar driver at 18, sat calmly in the close confines of his new Sealy-sponsored Champ Car. The 300 horsepower engine that would shortly propel him to speeds of up to 160 miles per hour was silent.

Sciuto, surrounded by his teammates — all wearing the Sealy butterfly logo on their uniforms — stared straight ahead, tuning out the distractions on pit row. He focused on the task at hand: the first Atlantic Series race of the year, to be run on the famed Long Beach street course here.

His ability to concentrate on racing has stamped him as a rising star of Champ Cars, short for Championship Cars. He has already compiled a glittering resume — Shifter Kart Magazine's Young Driver of the Year in 2002, the first 14-year-old to win a Pro ICC event in 2003, the No. 1 Shifter Kart Driver in North America in 2004. And last year he was the youngest driver in Toyota Atlantic history to win a pole position.

Jim Griffith Jr., president of the Polestar Racing Group for which Sciuto drives, says his young driver has "unlimited potential" in racing.

"He's so young," Griffith said. "He has incredible experience for his age. He surprises us every day. He is so calm and collected. He understands that a lot of his job as a driver is to give us information during the race. You can't do that if you are over the top."

Griffith also observed that Sciuto is "pretty mature. He's been around racing a long time." Sciuto has been racing for 10 years and has competed "all over the world," Griffith said.

His impressive credentials brought him to the attention of Sealy. Philip Dobbs, senior vice president of marketing at the company, called Sciuto "one of the most talented young drivers in the Champ Car Atlantic racing circuit."

Sciuto handled his sponsors and their guests with the same deft touch that he displayed in navigating the tough road course in Long Beach. He was friendly, open and flashed a winning smile. He seemed eager to please.

Sciuto, who turned 18 on April 28, lives with his parents in Orange, Calif. He says he enjoys go-kart racing, basketball, weightlifting, snow boarding and mountain biking.

As he sat in his No. 12 car, with the Sealy logo on the hood and sides, he looked confidently into his future. It began this season with the familiar command for drivers to start their engines.

In the next hour he would zoom around the 1.97-mile, 11-turn course, dodge wrecks, fight off the forces of four Gs in the turns, and finish 10th, 18 seconds behind the winner. (He was 17 when the race was run.)

For a driver as competitive and talented as Sciuto, that wasn't good enough. "We are going testing and get the car figured out," he said shortly after the race was over. There is work to be done and many more miles of racing ahead.

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