BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Carson Macedo had an extra obstacle in winning the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series opener Wednesday at Volusia Speedway Park. He was mending a broken leg.
Macedo broke his left leg while wakeboarding in Australia where he underwent surgery. The injury caused him to skip the winter season Down Under.
But he was ready to roll in time to start the season aboard the familiar Jason Johnson Racing No. 41.
Macedo led all 25 laps of the half-mile track before emerging from the car with a slight limp in victory lane only 51 days after being injured.
“It’s really, really cool,” said Macedo, whose tibia was surgically repaired with 10 screws and a plate. “It’s been a humbling few weeks for me with the experience of breaking my leg and not knowing if I was going to be ready to come here or not and be 100 percent. To come here night one and win is super emotional. It was a long journey I feel like to get back here. Getting around on crutches was tough and just plays with your head a little bit.”
While Macedo overcame the obstacle, it didn’t happen without a little pain. The 28-year-old battled through some discomfort that’ll continue to have to fight through.
“During the green-flag stuff, I didn’t think about it quite as much,” Macedo said. “But when the red (flag) came out, it was beating. It had a heartbeat bigger, I felt like, than the one in my chest just from being bent like that and fatigue, I think, from pressing the brake so much.”
• Sheldon Haudenschild had a difficult start to the new season. He qualified 18th in the second group and failed to make the feature through his heat. Haudenschild finished eighth in the B main and used a provisional to start the feature, finishing 20th in the 27-car field.
Giovanni Scelzi also used a provisional to start the feature and raced to a 14th-place finish.
• Christopher Bell made his first winged sprint car start in several seasons, driving Don Kreitz Jr.’s No. 69k sprint car. Bell showed few signs of rust, qualifying second in his group, winning the fourth heat and finishing fourth in the dash before dropping out of the feature with a mechanical problem.
• Four World of Outlaws regulars finished in the top 10 on opening night with Macedo and champion David Gravel claiming the top two positions. Logan Schuchart finished fourth and Donny Schatz was eighth.
High Limit Racing competitors also claimed four spots, led by Kyle Larson, who finished third. High Limit champion Brad Sweet raced from 16th to finish fifth. Tyler Courtney was seventh and Justin Peck claimed 10th.
The remaining two spots in the top 10 were earned by Brian Brown (sixth) and Anthony Macri (ninth).
• Ten-time World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz started the season similarly to the way he ended last year, passing race cars. Schatz had been the hard charger all three nights during the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
After dropping out of his heat race on Wednesday, the Tony Stewart Racing driver, won the B main and rolled from 21st to finish eighth in the main event.
• Fifty-two cars were on hand for Wednesday night’s opener, representing racing series and tracks from coast to coast.
• Emerson Axsom was the fast qualifier on the night with a lap of 13.449 seconds during the first of two flights of qualifying at the half-mile track.
• The Pennsylvania Posse was well represented in Wednesday’s field with Danny Dietrich, Anthony Macri, Jacob Allen, Brock Zearfoss and T.J. Stutts all in action.
• Having won a DIRTcar modified feature earlier in the week, Glenn Styres was behind the wheel of his familiar No. 0 sprint car on Wednesday night.
• Three of the six Kevin Gobrech Rookie of the Year candidates made the feature on opening night with Garet Williamson, Hunter Schuerenberg and Chris Windom, finishing 18th, 21st and 22nd, respectively.
