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Matthew Rossi has tasted success early and often during his young sprint car racing career. Rossi currently sits fourth in the season standings at Manzanita Speedway.
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Fast family
Rossis share love of racing, speed
by Jason Stone

NORTH VALLEY – Phil Rossi grew up with a love for racing, so it was only natural for him to encourage his son, Matthew, to enjoy the sport as well.

But when dad built a studio apartment for Matthew in the garage where the Rossis worked each day on their sprint car, devotion to the sport became a little too much for the younger Rossi.

“Yeah, it was convenient because I had access to the car 24/7,” Matthew said about living in the studio. “But the old man had access to me 24/7.”

After a little more than a month, Matthew moved to a place off Bell Road in North Phoenix. But just about every single day, you can still find him returning to that garage in the back of his dad’s home near 7th Street and Carefree Highway to work on the sprint cars that have helped him reach No. 4 on the season charts at Manzanita Speedway.

“He’s here every single day,” said the elder Rossi, owner of the Phil Rossi racing team. “I haven’t been doing too much on his cars. He pretty much does all his own work now.”

Matthew certainly knew where to go for an education on working on his own cars. Phil, 41, was a competitive driver until multiple back injuries forced him to wear a body cast for half a year and ultimately give up driving.

The accident did not scare Matthew, then 12, from the sport. At the time, he was competing in a bike race–his first competitive speed sport–and coincidentally fractured his own elbow in a crash.

Two years later, Matthew was already on his way to sprint cars, despite his mother having reservations about the move up from the relatively safer races with bikes, go‑carts and quarter‑midgets.

“I think it was hard for her to put me in a sprint car two years after my dad’s accident,” Matthew said. “But I wasn’t scared.”

He made news in 1999 when he burst onto the local driving scene at 14, then slowly worked his way up the driver charts. The current fourth‑place standing is tied for his best season‑finish ever with a few months still left to go in the year.

The Rossis plan to travel to California late next year for a series of races along the West Coast. That’s part of the reason Matthew has been so busy working in the garage every day.

“Every day there is a job; there is always something to do,” Matthew said. “You’re never done with these things.”

The Rossis plan to run the next two weekends at Manzanita before heading to a race in Tucson Sept. 22.

Reach the reporter at jason@thedesertadvocate.com.

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