FORT WAYNE, Ind. and SYLVANIA, Ohio — Audio, photo and story by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman —

Young open wheel shoe Anthony McCune has come from a racing lineage into his own over the course of the 2014 season.

McCune, the nephew of Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Series (MSRXSS) driver Jimmy McCune, has raced a variety of tracks in 2014 while acclimating to the seat of a sprint car, competing at Spartan (Mich.) Speedway and on the MSRXSS tour as well.

“We started out the year at Spartan, and we weren’t really that great to start but we got better as the season went on,” McCune said of his 2014 campaign. “I got more experience, things just started getting better and coming together.”

The younger McCune closed his season strong, picking up a heat race victory and 12th-place result at the Short Track National Championships at Rockford (Ill.) Speedway in Sept. and backing that performance up with a fifth place finish at the season-ending Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial sprint car classic at the legendary Salem Speedway in October – his best finish of 2014.

“I look back and smile about Salem,” McCune said. “That was a really fast track and it was a lot of fun to drive, plus it was our best finish all year – which was big for us.”

Looking to carry that momentum, McCune made his debut Rumble in Fort Wayne appearance on Friday night, and while he was unable to advance out of his consolation event into the A-main, he says he is enjoying his first experience behind the wheel of the Mel Kenyon-owned No. 45 National Midget.

“It’s been fun so far, we just had some bad luck last night,” McCune said on Saturday. “Got shoved into the tires in our consi and it messed the car up. Now we’re just trying to make it better for tonight.”

McCune says he has struggled all weekend with just how grippy the Coke syrup and concrete surface is at the War Memorial Coliseum.

“The hardest part about the track has been the grip because it’s been so sticky and it makes you (bicycle) a lot,” McCune said. “Hopefully, we’ve got that settled down a little bit now though.”

The young pilot is excited about 2015 as well – citing his experience this weekend and the rest of the year as something he can learn from to better himself going into 2015.

“I think for me, running the bigger tracks and getting used to the speed, that’s helped – and some of the smaller tracks we’ve run I feel like got me ready to come here.”

“This has been fun, we’re going to run the No. 44 car at Spartan and the No. 14 car on the Must See circuit next year, so we’ll see what happens going forward.”

Listen in to a cut of Race Chaser Online’s interview with Anthony McCune during Day Two of this year’s Rumble in Fort Wayne: