DILLSBURG, Pa. – Maiden moments have become regular for Anthony Macri as of late.
Last week, the 22-year-old fulfilled his lifelong dream of qualifying for the Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway. He carried that confidence into Williams Grove Speedway on Friday, a place that’s always evaded Macri. On that night, Macri finally won at the demanding half-mile dirt track.
On Saturday at Port Royal Speedway, the well-oiled machine kept churning. Macri ran down Curt Stroup following a mid-race restart to sweep his first weekend in Central Pennsylvania.
One year after rattling off 11 sprint car wins, the win count is up to nine and Macri is thriving at the best time.
This weekend starts the most intense and vital stretch in Central Pennsylvania, as the All Star Circuit of Champions kicks off the fun with four straight races, starting Thursday at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa.
Macri already has one All Star Circuit of Champions win this year, an April 18 triumph at Bedford Fairgrounds Speedway. He’s now won three of his last eight races too.
Before that, Macri labored through a 23-race period with only one win.
“Everything is starting to click again,” Macri said. “We’re starting to run up front. Not that we ever really fell off where we were running in the back. It kind of felt like we were in a rut for a while where we couldn’t win. Then Pennsylvania Speedweek had us down.”
Macri couldn’t sleep after the second race of Pennsylvania Speedweek.
The 22-year-old held the de facto points lead through round one of the series at Williams Grove Speedway, then rolled into Lincoln Speedway the following night and confronted one of the most humbling evenings in motorsports.
Macri failed to qualify for the event, and the disgust attached to that boiled inside one of the fiercest Pennsylvania Posse competitors, probably longer than he’d like. That disgust awoke him at 6 a.m. the next morning, beginning an intense line of work from which he is now reaping reward.
Four finishes outside the top-20 ensued in the aftermath of that humbling moment at Lincoln, but he returned to Port Royal the next weekend, routed the field, and even became an uncle that night when his sister gave birth to a baby boy.
“That was the win we needed to help get back on track and get everyone’s attitudes back in check,” Macri said. “Speedweek definitely kicked us on our asses. But I kind of knew, the harder we worked, the better we would get. Eventually everything would fall into place. It’s kind of happening right now.”
Macri attempted to qualify for the two Kings Royal events at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway aboard Bernie Stuebgen’s reputable No. 71, but failed to qualify. That only added more determination.
Since then, Macri’s ledger includes a sixth-place finish in the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series Summer Nationals at Williams Grove, second to Brent Marks in the $10,000-to-win Living Legends Dream race at Port Royal, and wins at West Virginia Motor Speedway, Port Royal, and Williams Grove.
In Iowa, he finished fourth in the Front Row Challenge at Oskaloosa’s Southern Iowa Speedway to help springboard into his first Knoxville Nationals main event appearance.
He’s maintained an upward trajectory. On Saturday at Port Royal, he augmented his relentless driving style on the cushion by choosing creative lines through turns three and four.
That included figuring out the bottom, the place Macri made the race-winning pass to move one win shy of double digits yet again and his goal of winning the Tuscarora 50.
“I don’t think pounding the wall down for 50 laps is going to get us a Tuscarora 50,” Macri said, an honest self-assessment of relying too much on the top side of the track. “There’s some things I have to get better at. I think we’ll be pretty good when the Tuscarora 50 comes.”