(Photo Courtesy of Kyle Larson Racing)
Years of effort and growth, a bit of financial support and a chance encounter with Kyle Larson and Paul Silva have led Carson Macedo to the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series with Kyle Larson Racing.
It’s a dream come true for Macedo. But the Californian has goals beyond just making the tour.
He intends to win.
“This is exactly where I want to be,” Macedo told Motorsports Beat. “It’s been my goal for my whole life growing up, so it’s cool to get to this point.
“But at the same time, I don’t just want to participate. I want to be out here winning races and contending for championships someday. Even though I’m here, I don’t feel like I’ve made it to where I want to be. I want to be firmly impressed not the series. I want to prove that I belong and deserve to be here.”
Macedo planned to join the Outlaws in 2019. He just didn’t expect to reach the series in the manner he did.
In 2014 an 18-year-old Macedo surprised the World of Outlaws field with a win on the first night of the Gold Cup Race of Champions, sliding past Daryn Pittman early and holding on from there to give Tarlton Racing the victory. But in the years since the young prospect found himself unable to score a full-time ride with the tour.
The following year Macedo ran with the King of the West 410 series, securing the series championship. He intended to go to school to be an engineer in 2016, but the financial support of the Tarlton family led him to Keith Kunz Motorsports, where competed in a USAC Midget en-route to Rookie of the Year honors.
With a KKM ride came rumors that Macedo could test a transition to asphalt racing, as many have done with the organization. But he had his sights set elsewhere.
“I knew I really didn’t want to go that route,” he said. “I guess looking back if a door would have opened I would have walked through it. But that never was my intention. I always wanted to be a World of Outlaws sprint car driver.”
The quest to join the Outlaws led Macedo back to winged sprint cars in 2017, competing primarily for Joe Gaerte Racing. He returned for 2018 to run with the All Stars Circuit of Champions (ASCoC), finishing second in the points.
Running up front with the All Stars was a great experience, but Macedo still had his sights set on the World of Outlaws. He entered 2018 with the intention of joining the tour in 2019, and began to build toward it.
By the time Ohio Speedweeks came around in June, a plan for Macedo to reach the Outlaws was coming together. He had financial backing from various partners, most notably Tarlton and Son, Inc.’s Tommy Tarlton and Complete Parts and Equipment Solutions’ Sean and Felicity Dyson.
The plan was simple – the group would come together, make a small team to compete on the tour and try to build it up. That led Macedo and Sean Dyson – who had flown in from Australia for the week – to approach Larson and Silva for advice on acquiring a truck and trailer for the ensuing year.
Little did he know the conversation would drastically alter his 2019 plans.
“Kyle asked me why I was interested in one, so we explained to him what we were going to do,” he said. “Not long after that Kyle texted me, and we ended up having a meeting to talk about running his car for the year.
“It was best for everybody,” Macedo continued. “Sean (Dyson) and Tommy (Tarlton) really wanted to be part of a race team and part of my career. They got involved with KLR and are a sponsor on this team. It’s going to cost them a whole lot less money to do this deal.
“Kyle got a little sponsorship, and I got a really good ride with a top-notch team and great people involved with it.”
Macedo was humbled by the offer, because it stood against the normal path to a ride on the tour.
Most newcomers to the series begin on their own teams and run for one or more years with their own equipment with hopes of catching a car owner’s eye along the way. Macedo cited Sheldon Haudenschild as a recent example. The second-generation star began in his own No. 93 car en-route to Rookie of the Year honors before getting picked up by Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing at the start of 2018.
That Larson and Silva believed in him without much Outlaws experience humbled the 22-year-old.
“When we sat down for the meeting, Kyle and Paul said they’d like to build something for the future,” Macedo said. “If they could get a young guy with the same group of people for years to come, in the future they could build a team that could contend for the championship.
“That meant a lot to me. That doesn’t happen every day. Not a lot of guys would take a risk and give a younger guy a shot. That meant more to me than anything.”
Over the months since that initial conversation, a KLR program has been built around Macedo. Gaerte followed the young star over to the group, becoming his crew chief. KLR regular Heath Moyle is with the team as a car chief.
KLR and Macedo began their tenure at the end of 2018, competing in the World Finals at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. They’ve since raced in Florida as part of the traditional Speedweeks schedule, starting at Bubba Raceway Park before moving over to Volusia Speedway for four races between the ASCoC and World of Outlaws.
Macedo and the team failed to pick up any wins along the way, but they qualified well, proved to be consistent contenders for top 10s and gained experience.
“I thought we really did our job early in the night,” he said. “Late in the night we sometimes had our struggles, but we were still able to walk out of Volusia with our heads held high.”
Most important for the team were a pair of top 10s to start the 2019 World of Outlaws season.
“The end of the week at Volusia were the two nights that mattered,” Macedo said. “The World of Outlaws shows, and we were able to leave with a couple top-10 finishes. I don’t think there’s anything to hang our heads on.”
The initial race weekends complete, KLR can set their focus on meshing as a team and working toward the front of the field. Macedo is keeping his expectations reasonable as a rookie, but he has ambitions of celebrating a few race wins along the way.
“We’re going out this year to try to win as many races as we can, and we’re going to push the envelope to do that as much as possible,” he said. “At no point will I be running second and trying to maintain. If there’s a shot at the win, I’m going to take it.
“If we can win some races and put some solid results on the board, we can end the year on a good note. Night in and night out, I just want to have speed, move forward and feel like we’ve gotten better as a race team.”
That concept of growth and improvement is important to Macedo. He wants to contend consistently in the Outlaws, and be around the tour for years to come.
Some drivers on dirt run with ambitions of moving over to asphalt. They aim to run NASCAR, or compete in the Indianapolis 500. Macedo saw a glimpse of it himself in his time with KKM – an organization that’s seen many drivers transition to the pavement ranks.
But the World of Outlaws is Macedo’s end game, and he knows there are many things to accomplish before he’s done.
“I don’t really want to do anything other than race winged sprint cars,” he said. “I’d say this is it, and I don’t think it’s a short endgame, either. You see guys on the World of Outlaws tour now that are very talented race car drivers. Just to name an example Brad Sweet’s very good, and has been really close a few times at winning a championship. He’s been out there a few years now, but hasn’t been able to accomplish that.
“What I’m saying is the Outlaw deal is incredibly tough. I think you could be out there for 10-12 years and still not accomplish everything you want to do, and I think that’s what makes it cool. It’s not a sport where you wake up in the morning and think you’ve done it all. Not very many guys experience that feeling. I think only Donny (Schatz) and Steve (Kinser) probably feel like they’ve done it all.
“There’s a lot to accomplish out there, and we’re all blessed to be a part of this sport.”
