It was September 5th, 2014, and the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Cars, now called the NOS Energy Sprint Cars, were at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California, for the opening night of the Gold Cup Race of Champions. A young sprint car driver by the name of Carson Macedo, in his black 21x, would go to battle with defending series champion Daryn Pittman in the 25-lap feature. He won that battle and captured his first World of Outlaws Sprint Car win. Ten years and some months later, that same Macedo found himself in the role of series veteran, and it was he who would battle it out with Cole Duncan, a talented Ohio sprint car racer looking for his first win in the series. For Macedo, a win would be the 50th of his WOO career, something only achieved by seventeen drivers before him.
Duncan, a Lockbourne, Ohio native and one of the best at Atomic Speedway, tested the veteran early and often. On the first lap, he pulled a slide job into Turn 2, but Macedo countered with a crossover to the bottom and recaptured the lead. The assault continued with passing attempts on laps 8 and 9, both of which were thwarted by Macedo’s high-side momentum. Duncan stayed within striking distance down the stretch, which allowed him to make a last lap move to Macedo’s outside after he was pinched low by a lapped car into turn 3, but slight contact with the outside wall ultimately cost him the opportunity as well as his 2nd place running position to Chris Windom. Duncan would bring it home third, and when asked about the move after the race, he replied, “I guess people say P2 would have been better, but I had no real interest in running second”.
For Macedo, it was a milestone, one he described as surreal: “I remember winning my first Outlaws race and seeing TK – Tim Kaeding, at the time, was really a person I looked up to a lot – and he had I think somewhere in the 20s, maybe 27 or something like that” he said in reflection. “Being able to climb the Outlaws list has been pretty surreal. I thought, ‘Man, 27 wins, I don’t know that I could ever get to that’. And to stand here and have 50 of them is pretty incredible”.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars will head to North Dakota and will be in action on May 30th at River Cities Speedway and again on May 31st at Red River Valley Speedway. You can watch every World of Outlaws event live on DirtVision.
Image Credit; World of Outlaws Media Kit