Column: KCP’s Bob Curtis’ Commitment to Sprint Car Racing Has Led To Long Career With Top Teams

Column By: ALEX NIETEN / WORLD OF OUTLAWS – JACKSON, MN – Sprint Car racing is a passion. Working in it is a commitment.

It’s more than unloading at the track, racing, and heading to the next destination. It’s early mornings at the shop or in hotel parking lots throughout the week. It’s late nights at the car wash. It’s afternoon maintenance under a relentless, hot sun in the summer.

KCP Racing’s Bob Curtis knows that lifestyle well. The car chief for the team that Giovanni Scelzi competes with full-time on the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car tour has been involved in the sport for more than 20 years.

“I’ve always said that once you get your foot in the door and you’re willing to work and have a little work ethic, you’ll be in,” Curtis said. “If you get in and you don’t want to work and you want to be lazy, you’re not going to be in very long. But if you’re willing to put the time in and have a little bit of work ethic, once you get in the Sprint Car world, you’re in. It’s a hard, hard thing for teams to find people that want to do this, that realize how much time and effort it takes. When you break it down money-wise for time and money, it’s not that great. It’s definitely a passion.”

His passion has led him to work with some of the most notorious Sprint Car teams in the sport. He worked with Jason Meyers and Elite Racing; Rudeen Racing brought him aboard when they ran with the World of Outlaws; he tried his hand in USAC with Kasey Kahne Racing; a reunion with Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing led him to a 2011 Knoxville Nationals win; and he helped Larson-Marks Racing in its early years.

Curtis, a Warrensburg, MO native, first gained an interest in racing during childhood when his father spent some years competing in Micros. He first attended a World of Outlaws race in his teenage years at Odessa, MO’s I-70 Motorsports Park, but when his first experience working on race cars came in the Late Model and Modified worlds.

The fire to make a living in racing grew for there, and Curtis decided Sprint Cars were the direction he wanted to go. He was in his 20s and had a good job but gave it up to go racing when the opportunity to work for Brian Paulus arose near the end of 2000.

“Transitioning, I was committed,” Curtis said. “I knew going in I wasn’t going to make as much money, but it wasn’t about the money. I wanted to work on race cars. That’s what I did. I lived for it on the weekends. I wanted to work on race cars.”

After ending the year with Paulus, Curtis got the opportunity for the first part of 2001 to work with Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing team as they joined the World of Outlaws trail with Danny Lasoski behind the wheel. That stint allowed Curtis to learn from legendary crew chief Jimmy Carr.

But later in the season when he moved over to Daryn Pittman’s team it signaled the start of the most impactful stretch of his journey. It led to more responsibility and as a result, more knowledge.

“It was the best two years of Sprint Car Racing for me. I learned in a hurry because I didn’t have a choice,” Curtis said. “The two years with Daryn I learned so much. I had to. There was literally a stretch where it was just me and Daryn on the road. Joe (Gaerte) would fly out on the weekends, and I kind of had to learn everything. Motor stuff. Stuff on the car.”

From there, he had a successful stretch, working for some of the best teams in the sport, but eventually got to a point where he considered stepping away. Then came the opportunity to join Matt Barbara and Bret Nehring’s KCP Racing as their car chief this year.

“I thought I wanted to be done,” Curtis admitted. “I was just kind of sitting around not sure what I wanted to do and saw where these guys (KCP) were kind of looking, and I thought, ‘Well, I don’t need to be a crew chief. I don’t have to be a crew chief there. It would be a lot less stress, a lot less pressure.’ So, I reached out to them and one thing led to another.

“They’ve got a good package. Obviously, there was a lot of learning curves for them last year. But they went through the goods and the bads and stuck with each other. And then rolling into their second year (with the World of Outlaws), everything has been rolling pretty smooth.”

Curtis’ presence has been a welcome addition to the team. His years of experience have not only made him entirely reliable, but also helpful in other elements of being on the road with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

“I think anytime you can get someone with experience, whether it’s knowledge of the race car, someone you trust tightening bolts and making a nice race car that’s serviced right and someone that knows their way around the country, whether it’s roads to take, getting in and out of a racetrack, hotels to stay at, someone with that knowledge that isn’t completely green helps a race team,” Scelzi said. “To have someone you trust fully and someone that really wants to win races and has been in the position of winning races definitely helps.”

Scelzi and the KCP team sit fourth in points with 44 races in the books. They’ve already bagged a trio of victories in 2024 and are fresh off a runner-up in the 63rd running of the Knoxville Nationals. The best season of Scelzi’s career looks to be shaping up, and it’ll be yet another successful season in Curtis’ long career powered by an unwavering love for the sport.

“It’s a passion,” Curtis said of what keeps him going. “You either love it or you hate it. There’s no in-between. The demand that you have. The hours on the road, hours in the shop, hours in the parking lots at the motels and wherever you can find a place to work. If you don’t love it, you’re not going to make it. It’s a true passion.”

Scelzi and the KCP crew continue their World of Outlaws campaign this weekend (Aug. 16-17) at Jackson Motorplex’s 46th Fendt Jackson Nationals.