KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Cole Macedo, one of sprint car racing’s top rising talents, will join the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car tour in 2025.
The 24-year-old has teamed with Todd Carlile’s TwoC Racing for a rookie run with The Greatest Show on Dirt. The jump to the World of Outlaws tour will fulfill a childhood dream for Macedo as he follows the path of his older brother Carson.
“I’m definitely excited,” Macedo said. “The goal from when I was a little kid for me and Carson both was to race with the World of Outlaws. It’s pretty surreal. Obviously, he’s already made it, but for me to follow his footsteps I’m super excited. I’m super grateful that Wayne and Todd and everybody there at TwoC Racing is giving me a shot. I’m definitely nervous, but I think it’s going to be an awesome deal. I think me and Wayne and the crew guys will work really well together. Todd seems like an awesome car owner.”
It will also bring 2020 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year, Wayne Johnson, back on the tour as the former driver for TwoC Racing has moved to the crew chief role for the No. 2C. Johnson recently announced his retirement from being in the seat after a racing accident sidelined him earlier this year.
“Man, I’m pumped,” Johnson said. “I’ve said this over and over about going out when I did. I wish I would’ve got the chance at 24 or 25 years old with the car owner that I have now, and I just never got the opportunity basically until I was too damn old to be doing it. I have a great car owner, and he didn’t want to do it without me driving. But when I mentioned that we could get Cole, he was like, ‘Well, let’s go back full-time Outlaw racing.’”
Macedo has spent the last few years proving his potential. The Lemoore, Calif., native cut his teeth on the California bullrings before broadening his horizons in 2020 with a heavy slate of Ohio racing.
This year has been especially busy for Macedo as he racks up airline miles traveling from the west coast to the Midwest for racing. Out on the left coast he’s pursuing a Northern Auto Racing Club championship with Tarlton Motorsports. They’ve tallied a trio of wins and sit just three markers behind the point lead. In the country’s heartland he’s made plenty of starts aboard the 2nd Law Motorsports No. 16t.
“About a year and a half ago I told myself I’m going to race as much as I possibly can and never sit at home,” Macedo said. “Even if it’s a car that I don’t feel like is the best, I’m going to try to go make the best of it. Some of those nights were my best nights out there. I think racing as much as possible is a key to having success.”
One of Macedo’s 47 races in a 410 sprint car this year came with the TwoC Racing crew at Knoxville Raceway. Macedo jumped in for a local show on June 8 and drove from 16th to fifth.
“We just sat down and talked about next year and this that and the other, and I asked him if he’d like to run a couple races for us this year to just kind of see if we could work together,” Johnson said. “And we came to Knoxville for a weekly show and ran fifth. Then, we just talked ever since then about wanting to do it and kind of put it all together from that.”
While Macedo and the TwoC team are ready to hit the road with the World of Outlaws, they both remained focused on their tasks at hand. Macedo has his sights on the NARC title in the Tarlton No. 21. TwoC Racing is chasing the American Sprint Car Series owner’s championship with Hank Davis in the seat.