Anthony Macri suffered a pair of compression fractures during Friday’s Sprint Car feature at Williams Grove Speedway. The Kings Royal champion was leading the race when his car flipped over the cushion.

Macri began in the first row and was battling Steven Snyder Jr. for the lead. Driving the No.39M winged sprint car, Macri got up front after 16 laps.

The following lap, Macri checked up behind the No.88 entry and tripped over his right front at Turn 4. The ensuing crash saw him tumble down the cushion and land upright.

The safety crew had to remove Macri from the top and wheeled him to a local hospital. A team statement on the matter read:

“Following last night’s incident at Williams Grove Speedway, Anthony was transported to the hospital for evaluation. He has been diagnosed with compression fractures of T4 and T5. At this time, there is no confirmed timeline for his return to competition, as he will undergo further medical evaluation and follow-up care. Anthony and the entire team would like to extend their sincere appreciation for the support, messages, thoughts, and prayers received.” (via X/High Speed Dirt Media)

Anthony Macri experienced a similar back injury six months ago at Eldora Speedway. Consequently, he was out of commission for three months after a T4 fracture.

As of now, there’s no official timeline for Macri’s return to competition. Snyder Jr. went on to win Friday’s main event, outrunning Lance Dewease to the finish line.

Anthony Macri opens up on nature of sprint car racing

Anthony Macri has been on a dream run recently. The Dillsburg, PA native has logged three wins, five podium finishes and nine top-10s across 12 starts this season.

Most recently, Macri won the World of Outlaws DIRTCar Nationals and earned the Big Gator. He’d already secured a pair of top-5 finishes leading up to the third and final event. Macri battled reigning champion David Gravel and held him off to bag the $20,000 prize money.

In a post-race interview with SprintCarUnlimited, Macri opened up on his journey into the sprint car world.

“I feel like I have the confidence that we can go, you know, just about anywhere in the country and and be competitive and and run up front. But, I mean, at the end of the day, this is sprint car racing and you can look like a hero one night and look like look like an idiot the next. So, I guess that’s the beauty of the sport,” he said. [5:20 onwards]

The result marks Anthony Macri’s eighth World of Outlaws victory and ties him with Jimmy Sills and Cody Darrah on the all-time win list. He’s also the ninth different winner of the Big Gator.