TIPTOEING SUCCESSFULLY AT I-55: THE JASON JOHNSON RACING (JJR) TEAM HEATS UP AT THE NIGHT BEFORE THE IRONMAN IN MISSOURI WITH SOME FIRE AND THE VICTORY IN THE ALBAUGH – YOUR ALTERNATIVE #41 ON FRIDAY NIGHT

PEVELY, MISSOURI (August 1, 2025) – After the checkered flag flew at Weedsport Speedway in New York last Sunday night, Philip (Dietz), Carson (Macedo), Adam (Zimmerman), and Robby (McQuinn) loaded up their Albaugh – Your Alternative #41 hotrod and trucked westward Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT) style as they headed back to the shop in Rocky Mount, Missouri to prepare for Ironman weekend at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park on Friday and Saturday before heading 5.5 hours up the road to Knoxville Raceway for a very busy week of racing starting with the non-sanctioned 13th Annual Avanti Windows & Doors Capitani Classic presented by Great Southern Bank on Sunday. Whenever the World of Outlaws traveling tour of stars come to Pevely, Missouri the fans come out in droves to see them put on show at this bullring. It was the first of two exciting nights of racing entertainment starting with the Night Before the Ironman at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park. There were 38 impressive, winged sprint car teams signed in at the pit shack for the preliminary night of competitive action on Friday for Ironman weekend. It was a perfect day with idyllic blue skies and puffy white clouds overhead as the time neared to go racing as only the best do regularly – World of Outlaws style!

As is usual and customary, the evening of speed would start with Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying. Each driver would have two laps on the throttle it up around I-55 looking to turn the quickest lap possible in time trials. The order the drivers would go out for their laps was determined by the numbered pill they drew at the Eloy Gutierrez Pill Draw. That meant Carson would be the first speed athlete to hit the track in Flight 2 aboard the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41. After having some issues when they were getting heat in the engine causing a fire, the JJR team went to work to fix the issues and replace the necessary parts to get refired. After the first qualifying session ended, a push truck assisted getting the Kistler Engines powered fired in the forty-one for the California driver as he pedaled down to build up his speed. He blew by the waving green flag as the red numbers on the stopwatch began to roll. Carson hit his marks as he maneuvered through the first set of turns before hustling down the back straightaway and into the last set. He stopped the numbers after his first lap in 10.791 seconds. Hammer down, Carson continued to carry his speed forward as he began his second circuit around I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park. With his right foot dancing on the accelerator, he was looking for something to save him time. He would find out how he performed when he exited turn four and raced under the black and white cloth at the flagstand. This time the stopwatch recorded his performance in 10.760 seconds. The better of his two laps positioned him fourth quick overall in Flight 2 qualifying when all was said and done with Hunter Schuerenberg #55 sitting on top of the speed charts in that session with a lap of 10.707 seconds. For the 13th time this season, David Gravel piloted the Big Game Motorsports #2 and was the quickest driver of the night out of Flight 1 with a lap of 10.456 seconds to earn the Simpson Quick Time Award.

The four 10-lap Heat races were next up on the entertainment agenda at the three-eighths mile, high-banked bullring. When the officials posted the starting lineups, they revealed that Carson would start from the second position on the front row of the The Greatest Store on Dirt Heat Race #4 behind the wheel of the Border International/RaceDiecast.com/Xtreme Body and Paint #41 Maxim. He would pull the forty-one to the outside of Ashton Torgerson in the Shark Racing #1a as they paced in front of Tanner Thorsen #88 and Ayrton Gennetten #3 in row two. Christopher Thram #24T and Brandon Hanks #84 were in row three with Josh Schneiderman #49J and Will Armitage #7A following them. Korbin Keith #28 was the lone racer in row five to start the race.

It was time to gas them up and go when the Toyota TRD pace truck ducked into the infield down the backstretch as the yellow lights turned off. When they arrived at the chalk stripe laid down across the track in turn four, Carson arched high as polesitter Ashton Torgerson mashed the gas low and the race was on . . . or so everyone in the stands thought. The yellow flag came out quickly as race officials deemed that Carson jumped too early penalizing him two spots relegating him back to the fourth starting position. Tanner Thorson now joined Ashton Torgerson on the front row and when the green flag came back out Thorson powered into the lead with a determined driver who was just penalized racing into the runner-up position. Torgerson was right behind the driver of the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41 and retook the position the next time by. Carson was running in third when the red flag came out for Ayrton Gennetten who contacted the outside frontstretch wall and flipped in turn one.

It would be Thorson, Torgerson, Macedo, Thram, and Hanks hustling back up to speed when the green flag came out again. Carson used the inside lane on the restart to drive off the bottom challenging Thorson for the lead with Torgerson right there. Torgerson got up on the wheel in the three car battle for the lead and led the next lap with Carson following close behind in second with Thorson now in third.

Carson and Torgerson would exchange clean slide jobs just before the halfway point of the race with the driver of the Shark Racing #1a still holding the top spot after the exchanges. The leader moved up to the top and set sail as he was unchallenged the remainder of the race to take the win. Carson Macedo crossed the finish line in second as he and Torgerson would move onto the Toyota Dash. Tanner Thorson raced home third with Christopher Thram and Brandon Hanks completing the top five and earning the final two transfer positions to the feature out of this Heat race.

The eight drivers who earned spots in the 8-lap Toyota Dash headed to the frontstretch to meet with Conner Wade and draw for their starting positions. Carson would be the last driver to draw, so he had to be content with whatever number was left. When he climbed the steps after Donny Schatz drew the ‘4’ pill he was happy to find out the only pill left in the oversized NOS Energy Drink can was the one with the lowest number on it – the number one to earn the SPA Technique #1 Redraw Award. Carson would start from the pole position with Hunter Schuerenberg #55 to his outside with Ashton Torgerson #1a and Donny Schatz #15 pacing behind in row two. Logan Schuchart #1s and Zach Hampton #6 were together in row three with David Gravel #2 and Michael “Buddy” Kofoid #83 in row four. The track was slick and narrow with the low line being the preferred line. When the green flag waved, Carson drove the Scott Boyd Family/C&R Racing/Mr. Jim’s Racing #41 Maxim into the top spot with Torgerson and Schatz trying to keep pace early. Those two drivers would trade positions on the scoreboard the next time by with Carson still out front. But seventh starting David Gravel was already on the move with two laps in the books running around the bottom masterfully in fifth place. By the halfway point of the race, Gravel was already up to third place racing behind Macedo and Torgerson. Carson maintained the lead, but Gravel passed Torgerson for runner-up position on the last lap with Schatz finishing fourth and Schuerenberg coming home fifth. Logan Schuchart, Zach Hampton, and Buddy Kofoid completed the finishing order for the Dash.

With all the sprint car qualifying action in the rearview mirror now, and after a controversial ending of the Extreme Outlaw Midget feature where Cannon McIntosh unfortunately spun race leader Chase McDermand on the last lap coming out of turn four, the only thing remaining during the night of action was the 30-lap Night Before the Ironman preliminary feature. The track surface was tricky with the bottom lane clearly becoming the preferred lane, and possibly the only way around, for racing so the drivers would need to figure out their strategy for the race to get by other racers.

The finishing order of the Dash set the starting lineup for the first four rows of the feature. That put Carson Macedo #41 and David Gravel #2 on the front row with Ashton Torgerson #1a and Donny Schatz #15 in row two. Hunter Schuerenberg #55 and Logan Schuchart were ready to go in row three with Zach Hampton #6 and Buddy Kofoid #83 rolling in row four.

Carson sat there and reviewed his race strategy in his mind as he visioned his winning purse pursuit pathway from the cockpit of the Albaugh – Your Alternative/KSE Racing Products/Engler Machine & Tool, Inc. #41 Maxim. Without further ado, it was now time to get down to business at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park as the Outlaws do night in and night out throughout the season from February through early November. The green flag was waving high in the air as the drivers in the front row peaked out of turn four. Carson won the drag race down to turn one beating David Gravel through the first set of turns as he hugged the inside wall like the love of his life. He would lead lap one with others racing for position from the front of the pack to the back of the pack.

Carson was being very patient as he gripped his JOES Racing Products Matador Steering Wheel racing out in front of the pack to navigate around the I-55 bullring. The California born racer led the opening six laps and was approaching the cars at the back of the pack. Even though they were slightly slower pace wise, they too were racing for position on the bottom of the racetrack in the preferred racing lane, so Carson had some decisions to make to get by them with the pressure mounting behind him from the talented racers in positions two through five closing in. He pulled up on the rear nerf bar of Brandon Hanks #84 and moved underneath him exiting turn two. Hanks was slowing as he tried to make his way into the infield pit area. He spun trying to enter the backstretch opening to bring out the caution flag with seven laps in the books.

That cleared the track ahead for your race leader, which was a good thing but also allowed second running David Gravel to pull back alongside him in the side-by-side restart formation. Carson chose the inside lane for the restart with Gravel moving to his right side. They got back up to speed with Carson fending off Gravel who was racing ahead of Schatz, Schuchart, and Kofoid. They got another lap recorded before sixth running Hunter Schuerenberg #55 was off the pace on lap 8 to bring out the second caution flag of the night.

Carson was back on the gas maintaining the to spot in front of Gravel and Schatz, but before he could get into a rhythm the yellow flag was back out for ninth running Sheldon Haudenschild #17 who hit the wall and spun after racing contact with Ashton Torgerson while dueling for position.

Carson would delicately step on the accelerator again with 20 laps to go. Donny Schatz had a good restart and stuck to the bottom with Gravel trying the high side of the racing surface. That allowed Schatz to move by the defending World of Outlaws champion for the runner-up position on lap 12. Two laps later, on lap 14, Sterling Cling brought out the caution flag again as he slowed on the track.

Carson would again restart and lead Donny Schatz, David Gravel, Buddy Kofoid, and Logan Schuchart back up to speed. These professionals were making this tricky work at speed look easy, but it was far from amateur work. Carson continued to lead Donny Schatz at the halfway point of the race by a slim margin with Kofoid moving by Gravel to take over the show position. Emerson Axsom moved into the top five.

Showing great patience as the laps began to dwindle down with Carson staying focused on his mission with Schatz in tow. But the race for third was heating up behind them between David Gravel and Buddy Kofoid. The two talented racers were exchanging the show position back and forth like a hot potato looking to be the final driver on the podium. One lap Gravel had it, the next lap Kofoid took it. That battle continued until the final two laps when Buddy Kofoid finally controlled it and maintained it.

Carson was never challenged throughout the last half of the race as he excelled to a dominant win by 2.848 seconds over Donny Schatz who ran a terrific race with Buddy Kofoid coming home third, David Gravel fourth, and Logan Schuchart completing the top five.

After crossing the scales and waiting on the ramp enroute back to victory lane while the other cars and crews exited the track’s infield pit area, Carson secured his seventh World of Outlaws victory this season and the 54th career WoO win as he rolled to a stop in victory lane. He climbed out smiling and was greeted by his equally excited teammates Philip, Robby, and Adam to celebrate the win before climbing up top to celebrate on his Vortex Racing Products wing with confetti raining down on him as he waved the checkered flag.

Interviewing with Conner Wade, Carson explained, “You just had to have a lout of patience. It was definitely a different Pevely than we’re used to I feel like, but we’ll take them anyway we can get them.” He continued, “I was thankful to start on the pole in that one. I felt like as long as I didn’t make too bad of a mistake on the bottom I was going to be in pretty good shape. I just had to be ultra patient, really just running off my right front and trying to stay rotated to grab the bottom off exit and squirt by them lappers.” It was Carson’s and the JJR #41 teams fourth victory together at Pevely. Cling out the win and turning his attention to tomorrow’s Ironman 55 Carson stated, “Just really thankful to have such good supporters and get them another win. Hopefully, we can get that Ironman 55. It’s one of the trophies that I’d love to put up on the mantle and one I don’t have yet.” Another great run for Macedo and the forty-one!

Carson Macedo Wheels the Forty-One to Victory in the “Show-Me State” at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park During the Night Before the Ironman! Photo Credit: Cameron Saich – CS Productions

JJR’s Valued Sponsorship Partners for 2025: Albaugh, LLC; Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT); Border International; Scott Boyd Family; Saich Family; Tarlton and Son Inc.; Complete Parts & Equipment Solutions; Durst Inc.; High Performance Lubricants, LLC; Kistler Racing Engines; Maxim Racing; Sander Engineering; Bandy & Associates Accountancy Corporation; Boltz Family; Pro Powder Coating (PPC); RaceDiecast.com; Team Jack Foundation; Mark Burch Motorsports; T-FAB Custom Metal Fabrication; Xtreme Body and Paint; All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads; AutoMeter; Bell Helmets; Ben Cook Race Car Products; BlackBeard LTD; BMRS (Brown & Miller Racing Solutions); BR Motorsports; CASM Safety Products; C&R Racing; Crow Enterprizes; CS Productions; Engler Machine & Tool, Inc.; Factory Kahne (FK Shocks); Fibreworks Composites; FK Rod Ends; Fuel Safe Racing Cells; Greber Racing Components; Hoosier Racing Tire; ISC Racers Tape; Jansen Transportation; K1 Race Gear; KSE Racing Products; LogoDaddy; Motor State Distributing; Mr. Jim’s Racing; Prime Composite Innovations; Saldana Racing Products; Sam I Am; Schoenfeld Headers; Smiley’s Racing Products; Smith TI; Vortex Racing Products; Walker Performance Filtration; Wilwood Racing; and Winters Performance Products.

To stay connected with Jason Johnson Racing (JJR) and Carson Macedo go to www.jasonjohnsonracing.com.

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