CONCORD, N.C. — When Anthony Macri arrived at the World Finals last year, he walked into The Dirt Track at Charlotte as the winningest winged sprint car driver in the country.
While piloting the No. 39m Macri Motorsports entry, the Pennsylvania native stacked up 23 wins over the course of the 2022 season, including his first World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series triumph.
This year has looked inherently different for the 24-year-old — who only has eight feature wins to his credit, with none since July.
“Obviously, last year was last year. It’s really hard to duplicate a year like that,” Macri said.
The first wild card was dealt at the beginning of the year, when the team brought on Joe Mooney as crew chief of the No. 39m. In hindsight, Macri admitted it took them about a month to find their rhythm together.
“Once that happened, I think we had eight wins together and we were up to 22 straight top fives at one point in time. But then I needed to take my break,” Macri said.
On July 12, the eve of the Eldora Million, Macri announced his departure from the No. 39m. Fellow Pennsylvania sprint car wheelman Lance Dewease and Californian Justin Sanders stepped in during Macri’s absence.
However, it didn’t take long for Macri to find his way back to the cockpit.
In mid-July, he accepted an opportunity to wheel the No. 7bc entry for Clauson Marshall Racing as a fill-in for Tyler Courtney, who had been injured at Eldora Speedway.
“Those guys called me, so I filled in for him (Courtney). We struggled a good bit, just kind of getting comfortable in a new car and new motor program,” said Macri, who ran several All Star Circuit of Champions and World of Outlaws races in the No. 7bc.
He also spent some time piloting the No. 71 sprint car for Bernie Stuebgen in the High Limit Sprint Car Series.
In-between the fill-in rides, Macri feels he got the time away from racing he needed. As he described, the constant grind can be “brutal” sometimes.
“I think some people think that we wash the thing (car) and come back the next week, but it’s more than that,” Macri explained. “The trailer needs to be cleaned, inventory needs to be taken, parts need to be ordered if we go through stuff, stuff needs to be replaced.”
He’s returned with a certain sense of rejuvenation and has been pleased with the speed he’s shown in the No. 39m since rejoining the team in late October. On Tuesday night, Macri made his third start back with his family-owned team at Cherokee Speedway, although it didn’t go quite as smoothly as he’d hoped.
After fighting for the lead early, Macri blew his engine on lap 12 and finished last. The crew swapped engines on Wednesday morning to prepare for time trials with the World of Outlaws on Wednesday night.
Macri placed ninth out of 24 cars in Flight B of qualifying.
“Ever since I’ve been back, we’ve honestly been really fast. It’s just circumstantial stuff that has kind of taken us out of contention in some races,” Macri said. “But I still view this year as a success, even compared to last year.”
He won $23,023 at a High Limit Sprint Car Series event at Iowa’s 34 Raceway in April and earned a third World of Outlaws victory on May 10 at Pennsylvania’s Lincoln Speedway.