California Driver, Local Team A Winning ComboROCHESTER – Speed is obviously important in the sport of auto racing.
Knowledge, said 22-year-old sprint car driver Carson Macedo, is also vital.
Macedo, a Lemoore, Calif., native, is blessed to have plenty of both when it comes to the winged sprint car team he drives for, an outfit operated by Rochester native Joe Gaerte and Warsaw’s Tim Norman.
Macedo, who moved to Indiana when he was 19 to further his motorsports career, is the points leader in the Arctic Cat All-Stars Circuit of Champions, a touring series owned by three-time NASCAR champion and open wheel racing icon Tony Stewart.
Macedo began racing junior sprints when he was five years old.
He is blessed with plenty of talent. He’s what those in the racing world call a “wheel man.”
Macedo also has an immeasurable amount of knowledge in his pit night in and night out with Gaerte and Norman, both of whom have won races and championships of their own.
“The biggest thing in sprint car racing that I think people lose sight of is knowledge,” said Macedo, who takes a 22-point lead over Texas driver Aaron Reutzel into Friday night’s race at Plymouth Speedway.
“In sprint car racing, there’s a lot of knowledge that goes into it. I have some personal sponsors that came on board with this team, and it was easy to get them to come on board because of the knowledge that’s on this team.
“One of the things we have on this team that a lot of team’s don’t is that I have so much knowledge in my pit every race. Tim and Joe both raced, and they were both successful drivers. Joe won All-Stars championships, he ran with the World of Outlaws. Tim has won championships, too, and they’re both just so knowledgeable.
“They know how to set my car up ... they kind of tag-team the crew chief role. They make my racecar good. A lot of the tracks get slick and are really technical to race on. Because of their knowledge and personal experience they know what to do, and that’s helped make me successful.”
Gaerte is the son of the late Earl Gaerte, who was arguably the most well-known name in terms of sprint car motors.
The younger Gaerte won back-to-back All-Stars championships in 1987 and 1988 when he was 21 and 22 years old.
In 1989, he was the World of Outlaws rookie of the year. In each of his first three seasons with the World of Outlaws, he finished in the top five in points.
When Macedo says Gaerte has been there and done that when it comes to sprint car racing he’s not lying.
“We hope we can prepare him from what we’ve learned,” Gaerte said when asked what it’s like to be in more of a mechanic’s role after a successful career as a driver.
“Our job is to prepare him. Carson doesn’t need a lot of motivation ... he’s pretty self-motivated. The main thing is for him to just keep his head cool and not worry about points, that’s been our thing from the beginning. We’d love to win the championship, if it happens it happens, but we’re just gonna take one race at a time.”
Norman, who along with his wife Cindy own XYZ Machining – a company that produces CNC manufactured torsion stops, torsion arms, pitman arms and a number of other bolt-on components for sprint cars – was the 1984 rookie of the year in the Sprints on Dirt series.
Norman won SOD championships in 1985, 2005 and 2007.
He was inducted into the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Though they’re a small team in terms of employees – the crew consists of Gaerte and Tim and Cindy Norman – and budget, Macedo has proven his ability in the driver’s seat against highly-funded teams. And the equipment Gaerte and the Normans give him night in and night out has stood strong, too.
Macedo won back-to-back All-Stars races in New York earlier this month, winning at Stateline Speedway on June 9 and at Weedsport Speedway the next night.
Macedo finished second last week in the point standings of Ohio Sprint Speedweek, which basically amounts to a season within a season as the teams travel the state and race at a different track each night.
On night No. 2 of Speedweek, Macedo finished second at Eldora Speedway to NASCAR star Kyle Larson, who still drives in about 25 sprint car races per year.
In the most recent All-Stars race, Macedo finished third at Atomic Speedway on Saturday.
“I don’t know that they’ve got any more equipment than we’ve got,” Tim Norman said of going wheel-to-wheel with the big-money teams.
“We’ve got as good of stuff as there is out there, and it shows on the race track. We’ve got speed, that’s something that’s real hard to find these days. If you’re slow, it might take a guy half a year to get back to where he’s a car that can compete every night.
“Last year we won 10 races with Carson, so we knew we had speed, and we haven’t changed our program. It’s still showing this year.”
Macedo first drove for Gaerte and the Normans in the final race of the 2016 season, the World Finals in Charlotte.
The matchmaker in this situation was mutual friend Jason Meyers, who won World of Outlaws championships in 2010 and 2011.
Macedo’s career goal is to not only run full-time with the World of Outlaws but compete for wins everywhere on the circuit.
“My ultimate goal is to race with the World of Outlaws,” said Macedo. “I love sprint car racing, it’s definitely my passion, and I really can’t see myself doing anything else. It’s always been my goal since I was a little kid ... I’ve always wanted to race with the World of Outlaws, and not just race with them, but race full-time and race well with them. I want to compete for wins each night, win championships and be successful.
“The World of Outlaws is, in our division of racing, is the most talented, well-funded, in just every aspect the best teams and drivers out there. To be able to compete with them, that’s the peak of our sport. That’s my ultimate goal, and I hope to be there next year.”
Until then, he’s focused on winning the All-Stars Circuit of Champions season title.
And the next stop on the tour is Friday’s race at Plymouth Speedway.
The grandstands and pits open at 4 p.m., with hot laps starting at 6 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m.
