McCargo’s passion serves as his purpose through his business Track Barn

This article is a part of the Lactic Acid Podcast Black History Month celebration, where we highlight those who make a difference in the sport of track and field. 

In the great state of Texas, there’s a black-owned business that is the first of its kind in the sport of track and field. That company is called Track Barn, and the leader and founder of the company is Carl McCargo.

With a passion for service, McCargo looks to lead the company that he created to elevate the sport of track and field through creativity and design. 

McCargo’s passion for the sport began when he first started competing in track and field in his high school senior year in the state of California after quitting baseball. After competing for a brief period of time at Riverside Community College, he then walked on to the University of Central Missouri, where he was an All-American in the decathlon and the javelin. He used that passion for the sport, in addition to his newfound business acumen that he gained in college to launch his career in track and field manufacturing. 

In the spring of 2020, he was the national account manager for ESSX, which is a company that sells pole vault poles. After achieving success at ESSX, he then thought more about what he could do to help elevate the sport of track and field, which led to the creation of Track Barn.

“I was like man, pole vault is a very privileged sport and if I could help people who have similar backgrounds like me, or at least elevate from a youth market, what could I do?” he said. 

“I made a couple of his clubs some uniforms and started to get some traction on the soft goods side,” he said. “And then that following year, I met my partner Josh, and he kind of took over our soft goods. I had left Essix and I opened up accounts with Gill, UCS, Richey – we basically sold every vaulting pole you could think of. Basically the whole idea from it was to get it where coaches could make one call and get it all. So you don’t have to call this vendor for this, and this vendor for that.”

McCargo is a fan of Amazon’s and Walmart’s online business model. He said that he wanted to mix the two models together to give the customer a journey as soon as they visit the website to view the products that the company carries, such as backpacks and uniforms, while also impressing customers with their social media presentation as well.

“I wanted it to be an experience for the customers, not just when they swipe their card and get their package, I wanted the journey to continue after the package left our warehouse,” he said. “I think it’s really important for us as a company to create something that’s a part of the community, for people to think that they are a part of something.”

Track Barn has made efforts since the start of the company to be innovative in their approach. They’ve partnered with companies such as Milesplit, and they’ve even created their own brand of discus called Olympus back in April. McCargo said that the company has sold almost 1000 discus so far.

While McCargo leads the company, his business partner and Chief Operating Officer Josh Colley has been with him every step of the way, and has been a reliable force that’s helped lead the company. He and McCargo trademarked the Olympus brand together, and McCargo calls him his right hand man.

“We both have a passion for track and field and it’s been really cool to find someone to work with,” he said. “I really struggled as a coach to try to find that assistant coach or even head coach to team up with that I connected well with. I finally was able to find that with Josh. We had really good strengths and weaknesses and we complement one another.

The first few months of us working together, we didn’t think it was going to work out. Now here we are – we joke about it all the time. And were about to go to our second AAU meet and first indoor meet ever, which just kind of started. So it’s been kind of cool.”

The company started during the height of COVID, and McCargo and Colley were working at different jobs at the time. When McCargo started Track Barn, he had modest expectations. Almost four years later, the growth of the company has exceeded his expectations.

“When Josh and I started working together, he was the one that kind of told me that dude, this could be huge,” he said. “Mind you, I had just hired him coming out of COVID and I just quit my job, so I said we’ll see. Both of us at the time – Josh was working at Starbucks, I was working at Milesplit, still doing part-time stuff with ESSX. It was super cool to have my passions flow through the community and everybody else to appreciate what we were doing. I joke around with Josh all the time, we’re like this positive infection in the community where people can’t get enough of it.”

Giving back and investing in the youth is at the forefront of what McCargo and Track Barn is about. The company has a grassroots program centered on supporting young athletes, as well as club teams and organizations. For McCargo, supporting the youth will always be a priority for not only him, but his company as well.

“It’s huge, it’s our foundation,” he said. “For me, if we’re able to make an impact at the youth level, then we’re able to impact track and field at its very lowest point. If you can get that ooo, ahh, wow factor at the high school, middle school and youth level, then you’ve made a difference.”

McCargo said that he loves to be able to bring fully custom goods that Track Barn makes to the kids that they work with. He says that customers will take pictures at meets, and Track Barn will recreate it for them, which brings joy and excitement to the kids.

“That’s really why we do it,” he said. “To get these kids excited to look good, feel good and hop on the track and make something happen.”

The love and joy that McCargo has for the sport and what it’s done for him is evident with his approach to Track Barn. McCargo hopes to continue to share the love and joy for the sport that changed his life to generations of kids of all ages and athletic backgrounds.

“It’s my lifeline,” he said. “I remember taking the picture with my son the day we got the partnership agreement back from MileSplit with my son. It’s my heart, track and field changed my life. I was an unhappy baseball player, and for me to bring life to these other kids and encourage kids from other sports to come out and compete..I want to continue to do that for kids at a younger age and encourage and grow our sport as a whole. I think that’s the big thing.”