Carson Macedo
On June 10th at the Knoxville(IA) Raceway, Carson Macedo was involved in a very scary crash. His car flipped violently then burst into flames as he sat helpless in the wreckage. Fortunately, safety crew members and other drivers were able to come to his aid, for all intents and purposes, saving his life. It was a racer’s worst nightmare.
Prior to that event, things had been looking up for Macedo and his team after he had experienced success by winning the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series feature at Minnesota’s Ogilvie Raceway. But the Knoxville crash and its resulting physical and mental toll were proving difficult to deal with until this past Saturday night when the No. 41 Jason Johnson Racing machine made its way to victory lane in the Federated Auto Parts Larry Hillerud Badger 40 at the Wilmot(WI) Raceway.
Macedo had a great night by scoring a heat race victory then winning the Toyota Dash and ultimately going on to claim the trophy by crossing the finish line first in the main event. To demonstrate his struggles, in the eight races held between the time of his crash and Wilmot, Macedo had not earned a single podium finish.
In his victory lane interview with DirtVision.com on Saturday, Macedo addressed his recent circumstances.
“I’m just thankful more than anything,” he declared. “It’s been a tough few weeks. I’ve had a lot of really good people reach out and be supporters. When you’re young, you think you’re invincible. The other day kind of knocked me back a little bit, that wreck, but I feel like my guys have never given up on me. Phillip Dietz, Clyde Knipp, Nate Repetz were trying to give me the best car that they possibly can, but I haven’t been 100% right.”
Macedo knew he was turning a corner coming into last weekend.
“I felt like I was coming into this week, I had worked out all week, just in a much better mind and place in my head,” he explained. “I felt pretty good about our chances. We were fast early in the night, we had a really good heat race, we were outstanding in the Dash. They delivered again in the feature, these guys, they did an incredible job. I want to say a huge thank you to my girlfriend at home, all that time I was burned and had those issues she was wrapping me up all the time and going through all the stuff with me. I’m thankful for her and for this race team.”
The 27-year-old driver from Lemoore, California hopes the events of this past weekend can serve as a turning point for his team. And that turnaround could not be coming at a better time with two massive events on the docket.
“I’m thankful to be standing up here. When things are going good, you kind of take for granted just how tough this is out here on the World of Outlaws tour. It felt really good to be back in performance tonight. Hopefully we can build on it and it’s good to have a little momentum rolling into this week, it’s definitely a big one.”
The Sprint Car world will be heading to Eldora Speedway this weekend for the Eldora Million on Thursday night and the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series-sanctioned King’s Royal on Saturday.
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