The Eldora Million kicks off tonight and it did not come without shocking news. Anthony Macri will not be in attendance for the race and will likely miss the Kings Royal as well.
Since 2021, Anthony Macri has run a total of 227 winged 410 sprint car races. He has won 42 of those races. He has finished in the top ten in 164 of those races! Those are some of the most consistent numbers you will find from a driver across the country. He is doing it on his home turf and with the major touring series.
His success has not come without a little bit of drama, none bigger than the news coming out today that he has stepped away from his family-owned no. 39M team just hours before the biggest sprint car race in history. If my numbers are correct, Macri is currently on his third crew chief in three years. Despite being the winningest 410 driver in the country in 2022, the team hired Joe Mooney to be the man in charge in 2023.
The team quickly found success, winning early on in March at BAPS. Mooney and Macri have continued their success all year and are coming off a dominating PA Speedweek championship where Macri won three races.
I don’t want to speculate about what happened or what the future holds but what I do know is that Anthony Macri should not be absent from marquee sprint car races. Like him or not, he is incredibly talented. I come from a racing family. A family that owned cars. I know how hard it can be for a father/son race team combination to work.
It was reported that the Indy Race Parts team offered Macri a ride for the million, but he declined the offer out of respect to Shane Stewart. While I support this move, I can’t help but be disappointed that we wont be seeing Macri race this week at Eldora. I hope everything can be worked out and that we can see Macri back in the 39M sooner than later.
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