Matt Sielsky (born 1 May 1978) is an American former racing driver. Sielsky competed in

USF2000 The USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires is an American racing series using the American variation of the Formula Ford formula, "F2000", that resumed operation for the 2010 season. As of 2022, it is sanctioned by the United States Auto ...

Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

among other series.

Career

The

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

based driver started his racing career in

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

. In 1993 Sielsky won his first

World Karting Association The World Karting Association, or WKA, is the largest sanctioning body for kart racing in North America. The WKA was founded in 1971 and is located directly behind Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The WKA is believed to current ...

national championship. Sielsky won the Restricted JR and US820 Junior class championships beating other drivers such as

Sam Hornish Jr. Samuel Jon Hornish Jr. (born July 2, 1979) is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske in 2017. He began his top-tier raci ...

After a year without national championships in 1994, Sielsky won two out of four classes he competed in 1995. Sielsky won the Piston Port and 100cc Pro Street classes. For 1996 Sielsky and fellow competitor Jeff Shafer landed

Kool Kool may refer to: People * Kool (surname), surname of Dutch origin * Robert "Kool" Bell (born 1950), American bassist and founder of Kool and the Gang * Roger Kool (1954–2005), Singaporean DJ (Roger Kiew) * Kool DJ Herc (born 1955), Jamaican� ...

sponsorship after a talent competition. With the sponsorship deal Sielsky joined Team Green in the

for 1996 and 1997. In his debut season the young driver finished third at

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the hom ...

and scored enough points to secure tenth in the championship. For 1997 Sielsky scored four pole positions, in the

streets of St. Petersburg The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is an IndyCar Series race held in St. Petersburg, Florida. In most years since 2009, the race has served as the season opener (or at minimum, the first race held on U.S. soil). The race is held annually ...

, at

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...

Pikes Peak International Raceway Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR) is a racetrack in the Colorado Springs area within the city limits of Fountain, Colorado, that by October 12, 1997, was "the fastest 1-mile paved oval anywhere". The speedway hosted races in several series ...

and

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central regio ...

. Unfortunately, he failed to finish better than second during the season. The total of four podium finishes resulted in a second place in the very closely contested championship. Sielsky remained kept the Kool sponsorship as he graduated into the

for 1998 racing with D&L Racing. In the second race of the season, at

Nazareth Speedway Nazareth Speedway was an auto racing facility near Nazareth in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania which operated from 1910 to 2004 in two distinct course configurations. In its early years, it was a dirt twin oval layout. In 1987 it was reo ...

, he scored his first podium finish. Two additional podium finishes came at the

Molson Indy Vancouver Molson Indy Vancouver was an annual Champ Car race held in a street circuit near BC Place and running past Science World in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada held in July, August or September from 1990 to 2004. On September 2, 1990, the f ...

and Mid-Ohio. The young driver finished sixth in the series standings. With severe limitations to cigarette sponsorship in sports, Sielsky lost his primary sponsor. Forced to look for other opportunities. In 1999 he made a single appearance in the Atlantic Championship. With BBGP Racing Sielsky substituted for John Brooks at Mid-Ohio. Sielsky finished the race in fourteenth place. Sielsky also joined Emerald Performance Group testing the teams

NASCAR Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

car. He got the chance to race in the Busch Series with Hillin Racing. At

Lucas Oil Raceway Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil Raceway) is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, United States, about northwest of downtown Indianapolis. It ...

Sielsky qualified 39th for the Kroger 200. Sielsky finished the race 31st, six laps down. Sielsky had a partial racing season in 2000 racing in the ASA National Tour. The season was a preparation for his first full-time stock car campaign in the 2001 ASA National Tour. Fielding his own team Sielsky finished nineteenth in the season standings. His best result was a ninth-place finish at

Concord Speedway Concord Speedway was a motorsports facility located in the town of Midland, North Carolina, southeast of Concord, North Carolina. The complex featured a -mile asphalt tri-oval and a -mile asphalt oval. The complex was built in 1982 by Henry Fu ...

, after starting 34th. After his racing career Sielsky, with support of his mother, started a

Chicago-style hot dog A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, bright green sweet pick ...

restaurant in the

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

area. Sielsky sold the restaurant, Matt's Chicago Dog, in 2010 before rejoining the restaurant as its Chief operating officer in 2016.

Motorsports results

American Open-Wheel racing results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest race lap)

USF2000 National Championship

Atlantic Championship

NASCAR

(

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sielsky, Matt 1978 births Living people Racing drivers from Illinois U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Atlantic Championship drivers NASCAR drivers World Karting Association drivers