Henderson man runs rings around the competition at The Bullring

By Jesse Granger

Sunday, June 5, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Just south of the parking lot at Las Vegas Motor Speedway sits a paved oval track stretching three-eighths of a mile. Built in 1985, the modest grandstands seat 5,400 people. The venue is known as The Bullring, and to 49-year-old Scott Gafforini, it’s like home.

“I know every little bump,” Gafforini said. “I know where every little stone is in the asphalt, and it’s definitely an advantage.”

Gafforini has used that advantage to rack up 62 trips to The Bullring’s victory lane in the past 16 years. He has driven there since 1993, winning the track’s inaugural race after it was remodeled and renamed in 2000. From that point on, he has seemingly owned it. In addition to holding the record for victories, his six track championships are the most ever.

Born in Pittsburgh, Gafforini moved to Las Vegas at age 2. He grew up around race cars, as his father, Roger, was a racing hobbyist. “The first time I put Scott on a go-kart, I knew he could drive,” Roger Gafforini said. “We just went out there to have fun, but it quickly turned competitive.”

The two of them built Scott’s first go-kart when he was 13, and raced it around the school parking lot. They later purchased a racing go-kart and outgrew the parking lot, so they transitioned to the old Craig Road Speedway in North Las Vegas.

“I still remember that first race, going out there and seeing a girl and her brothers,” Scott Gafforini said. “I went out there thinking I was going to beat everyone but ended up getting lapped by the girl three times, and it was only a seven-lap race.”

The taste of defeat was brief, as young Scott began collecting checkered flags in a plethora of divisions. He won back-to-back championships in the International Kart Federation’s unlimited class in 1991 and 1992. And in 1993, he got his first taste of stock-car racing on what would later become The Bullring. He started competing in the Winston Racing Series professional league in 1996, finishing fourth nationally in points.

Gafforini raced professionally for Fletcher Jones Toyota for eight years, and was sponsored by downtown casinos such as the Four Queens and Binion’s Gambling Hall. Early on, he had no problem winning individual races, but his risky style led to inconsistent results. “I was always at full tilt every single race, and that’s what hurt me in the long run,” Gafforini said. “It was either winning or sometimes crashing and not finishing the race.”

His father stressed patience for years.

“I would always tell him that you can’t win the race on the first lap, but you can lose it,” Roger Gafforini said.

After years, Scott Gafforini finally began to digest the advice. He has taken the title in five of the past nine years, including the past two. “As you get older, you get wiser, I guess, and you learn things,” Scott Gafforini said. “I know what the track and the car are going to do 50 laps into the race, 60 laps in and so on.”

So much so that his rule at The Bullring is nearly unrivaled by any pro driver on any track in the nation. NASCAR champions Kurt and Kyle Busch started their careers here, but Gafforini has cleared out every record they ever set.

“Every time you win, it is memorable, because I treat each one like I’m never going to get another one,” Gafforini said.

Today, Gafforini races for J&S Automotive & Machine and Howe Racing Chassis, while working as an assistant service manager at Toyota of Las Vegas during the week.

Gafforini won the first race of the current season, and has a 13-point lead in the standings after eight races.

“I still like to lay it all out there on the track. Even if I have a slow car that night, I will push it as far as it will go,” he said. “Every night I go out there, I drive at 120 percent.”