CONCORD, N.C. — There were two instances during the World of Outlaws season when Carson Macedo found himself lying in a hospital bed, wondering when he’d be back in a race car.
The first time was in mid-June.
Macedo was hospitalized after a traumatizing crash at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway, where his No. 41 sprint car crashed head-on into the wall in turn three, flipped violently and burst into flames once coming to rest.
The 26-year-old, who was left unconscious in the wreck, was pulled from the cockpit by the Knoxville safety crew and several of his competitors.
The second time was in September.
Macedo wrecked at Washington’s Skagit Speedway, which resulted in another trip to the hospital that revealed several fractured vertebrae in his back.
“That kind of set me back again,” Macedo said. “It’s just been a weird year.”
In both cases, Macedo remembers the thoughts that troubled him in the hospital bed.
“I was thinking to myself, how am I going to get back in the race car right away? Am I gonna be able to?” Macedo recalled. “I was gonna be super disappointed if I couldn’t. But you know, I just tried to battle through it.”
The fight to get back into championship-form following the Knoxville wreck was the hardest for Macedo, who feels he wasn’t in “the right state of mind” when he returned at Wisconsin’s Beaver Dam Raceway the next weekend.
“I was in a really bad place there at Beaver Dam, that first weekend back, struggling just to even get through the features,” Macedo said. “I felt like I knew if I could get through that weekend, I could get through anything.”
It was three weeks before Macedo felt close to 100 percent, and it came just in time for the World of Outlaws’ visit to Wilmot (Wis.) Raceway on July 8.
From lap 16 to the checkered flag, the No. 41 led the way at the three-eighths-mile to claim his first victory since his Knoxville tumble and his fourth Outlaw win of the season.
“I felt like that was kind of my comeback deal,” Macedo said. “I was able to be on offense in the race car a little bit more and not just kind of take whatever I got with what my body was kind of willing to do.”
He picked up three more wins at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, Knoxville Raceway and at Minnesota’s Jackson Motorplex before his wreck at Skagit, which threw another wrench in his season.
“Battling through adversity was sort of the theme of the year this year. I think I definitely am resilient,” Macedo said. “Hopefully in the future, I don’t have to go through those situations anymore. But, unfortunately, that is part of the World of Outlaws tour. There’s no nights off, so it’s either, forego that shot at winning the championship or bolt back in the seat and make it happen.”
The 26-year-old has visited victory lane only once since Skagit, which was at Devil’s Bowl Speedway two weeks ago. He has eight wins on the Outlaw tour this year, as well as 43 top-five finishes and 60 top 10s in 72 races.
But despite his impeccable consistency, the Jason Johnson Racing driver is set to finish third in the World of Outlaws standings for a third straight year, taking the backseat to the rivalry between Brad Sweet and David Gravel.
“The Outlaw tour’s crazy right now,” Macedo said. “I went through a stretch where I ran fifth, fourth, second and fourth, and I lost points on David and Brad. So it’s like, if you’re not running in the top five every night, then you’re basically not going to win the championship.”
The driver of the No. 41 only has one more shot to add a win to his column this year, as the season-ending World Finals come to a conclusion on Saturday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
So far, Macedo has run third and 11th in the first two nights of action at the four-tenths-mile.
“I think that we have enough speed to win the Outlaw championship. I think that we’re prepared enough to do it,” Macedo said. “We just have to put the whole season together, and that’s not easy to do. You know, championships take time, unfortunately. I wish they happened overnight, but they just don’t. We’ll keep building and hopefully come back stronger.”