Austin McCarl Gets First Ever 410 Victory at Rapid Speedway in Iowa

McCarl says this first 410 victory was also for Cory Miller, Steve Fitzpatrick, Jeff Morris, TJ, his dad and his brother Carson.
McCarl says this first 410 victory was also for Cory Miller, Steve Fitzpatrick, Jeff Morris, TJ, his dad and his brother Carson.
In racing, as with love, the first cut is the deepest. "My first win was awesome! I want to do it again," exclaimed Austin McCarl, the seventeen year old up and comer from Altoona, Iowa. McCarl notched his first ever 410 Sprint Car victory at Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa last Saturday night. This was McCarl's second trip to "Rocky" this season; he finished fourth there back in May.
The entire T-MAC Motorsports Inc., team worked exceptionally hard for this win.
The entire T-MAC Motorsports Inc., team worked exceptionally hard for this win.


"This was great for my confidence and my team," added McCarl. "I love the guys who help me, Cory Miller, Steve Fitzpatrick, Jeff Morris, TJ and my Dad and brother. They all work really hard and this was for them too."

A late race incident gave McCarl a fortuitous spot in the feature redraw. "We were running fifth there on the white flag lap," he explains. "Robby (Wolfgang) trashed a motor and gave us a gift fourth that put us in the redraw."

The draw put McCarl on the inside of row two for the main event. "I just went into it trying to put the heat behind me," he said. "I went out there and just did my job! I ran third for about three laps and (second place John) Cressman drove off the track."

That left him to track down the race leader (Donovan Peterson). "I drove into one and two and hung with Donovan, and I was able to slide by him in three and four," explained Austin.

"It was really slick. At the middle stages, I was running the top of one and two and the bottom of three and four." After passing the leader, it was clear sailing for McCarl, and the celebration was on.

McCarl started racing go-karts when he was 11 years old. He would only race a little in winter because his dad was always racing, so there wasn't much time left during the summer. When McCarl turned 15 he got into a 360 Sprint Car for a few races, and then moved into 410 racing at Knoxville when he turned 16. This marks only his second year at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa.

"My relationship with K&N is going very well and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank them. We use their carbon fiber air box, air filter oil, filter cleaner and engine oil filter. All the K&N products are great, I have been around racing all my life, and I have learned from my dad that you should always use the best products, cutting corners is not the way to go with racecars and K&N flat-out has the best products."

Like so many young racers competing today McCarl would like to end up in NASCAR someday, but first he is looking to get a Knoxville Championship. "My dad has six, so I would love to get at least one. But if I can't get all the way to NASCAR, I would love to have a good career in Sprint Cars."

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