VENTURA, Calif. – Carson Macedo may have his eyes set on the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series next season, but it doesn’t mean he’s not looking forward to some home cooking this week as well.
Macedo, a native of Lemoore, Calif., is back in his home state for a double helping of dirt-track racing this week as he chases the $50,000 ARP Double Dip Challenge at Ventura Raceway as part of the 78th annual Turkey Night Grand Prix.
The 22-year-old will drive both the familiar Tarlton Racing No. 21 sprint car and a Josh Ford Motorsports midget during the Thanksgiving classic as he looks to win both features and collect a $50,000 payday for doing so.
“It’s a huge incentive,” Macedo said. “But man, I’m just here to race and excited to get two great opportunities to do so this week. Everyone knows that the Tarlton family has been such a huge part of my career, and it obviously means a lot any time I get to come back and drive for them, but the midget portion of Turkey Night is always very prestigious and I’m thankful to the Ford family for giving me another shot to come back in this JFM No. 73 and try to have some success here this week at Ventura.”
While Macedo may be more well-known for his sprint car exploits, particularly over the last two seasons, he’s participated in the Turkey Night Grand Prix festivities each of the past two years and has a podium finish to his name from the 2016 edition of the crown jewel event.
“It’s funny, people don’t think of me as having a lot of time in a midget, but the Tarltons paid for me to go run a midget for a year in 2016 with Keith Kunz,” noted Macedo. “I actually still have some people who have come up to me when I would go run a winged sprint car one-off for someone who go, ‘I didn’t know you ran winged sprint cars,’ so it seems like I’ve gotten it no matter what discipline I’ve driven in.
“I ran Turkey Night in 2016 and ran third behind Kyle (Larson) and Brady (Bacon), and then last year I came back and actually ran the race for the same car owners – Josh and Keith Ford – that I’m running for this year,” he added. “We started 17th and came all the way up to sixth, so hopefully we can qualify a little bit better and be able to get closer to the front this time around.”
Macedo has been able to gain perspective over the last two years from switching back and forth between sprint cars and midgets, offering a look inside the differences between the two that he’ll have to tackle this week as he chases a five-figure payday.
“It may sound simple, but winged sprint cars are so driven by the wing,” explained Macedo. “You have to keep it really straight to keep your momentum up; there’s a lot of positioning that goes into it. The whole wing makes a big difference and, in my opinion, it’s one of the hardest race cars to learn to drive.
“A midget’s just a little bit different. You don’t have to deal with the wing and you have to be a little bit more sideways on (corner) entry to get the car set for the exit,” Macedo added. “You don’t want to trip over the right front and get tight. For me, it takes me about a hot lap session to get back into the feel of the midget and using more throttle to steer the car, but the more you get it figured out, the easier it is.”
Just because he’ll be busy over the two days that make up the Turkey Night program, it doesn’t mean Macedo doesn’t also recognize the significance and history of the event every year.
In fact, he called it one of his “favorite events” to take part in among the many races he’s run so far.
“I get excited every year for Turkey Night in general. I’ve run both a sprint car and a midget every time I’ve been there, and I feel like the extra track time always helps because it’s a track that we don’t get to run very often,” said Macedo. “I’m looking forward to Thursday night and hope to earn a couple wins.”
