Ed Carpenter (racing driver)

Ed Carpenter
Ed Carpenter at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Carb Day for the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
Nationality	American
Born	(1981-03-03) March 3, 1981 Indianapolis, Indiana
IndyCar Series career
Debut season	2003
Current team	Sarah Fisher Racing
Car number	67
Former teams	Vision Racing PDM Racing Cheever Racing
Starts	103
Wins	1
Poles	1
Best finish	12th in 2009
Previous series
2002–2003	Indy Pro Series

Ed "Special Ed" Carpenter (born March 3, 1981) is an IRL IndyCar Series driver. He is the stepson of Indy Racing League founder Tony George and is currently competing in the IZOD IndyCar Series, driving for Sarah Fisher Racing.

Career history

Early career

Following a successful career in midget racing that dated as far back as 1989, he moved up to single-seater formula cars in 2002 with the creation of the IRL Infiniti Pro Series. Driving for Sinden Racing Services, he finished third in points with a best finish of second. He drove for legendary owner A.J. Foyt the following season and won the Futaba Freedom 100, the series' most prestigious race, in his backyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He made his Indy Racing League debut later that season contesting a few races for PDM Racing and longtime owner Paul Diatlovich.

IndyCar Series

In 2004, Carpenter ran his first full–time season for Red Bull Cheever Racing. He struggled to match the pace of experienced teammate Alex Barron and scored only a best result of eighth place. Out of a ride for 2005, Carpenter's stepfather, Tony George, started the new team (Vision Racing) and immeditely signed Carpenter to a contract. However, Carpenter failed to finish in the top ten in all of his 17 starts that season.

On March 26th, 2006, during the warmup for the Toyota Indy 300 IndyCar Series opener, Carpenter was involved in a brutal crash with driver Paul Dana. Dana died soon after from his injuries; Carpenter was reported to be "awake and alert," and was released the next day suffering only bruised lungs. He returned to the series on April 22 at Twin Ring Motegi. In a rain-affected race in June at Watkins Glen International Carpenter switched to rain tires late in the race while most others stayed on slicks and captured his best IRL finish at the time, a sixth place.

2007 was much like 2006 despite the addition of a third car to the Vision stable. Carpenter crashed out of five of the seventeen races and finished 15th in points, last among the Vision teammates. In 2008 Ed had only one teammate (A.J. Foyt IV) as veteran Tomas Scheckter was not retained. Several times (mostly early in the year) Ed appeared poised to win his first race but could not seal the deal. His season ended with a firey crash at the Chicagoland Speedway from which he walked away.

Carpenter on pit road during the 2009 Toronto Indy weekend.

The 2009 season started slowly, mainly because the first two races (at St. Pete and Long Beach) were on street circuits, where Ed is still in the learning curve. He scored back-to-back top 10s on the ovals at Kansas and Indy, as he and wife Heather await the arrival of their second child. The day after the Milwaukee race, Heather gave birth to baby Ryder. Carpenter's season (and career) highlight came on August 1st in the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway, leading the race 5 times for 34 laps before coming up just .0162 seconds short of Penske Racing's Ryan Briscoe following a pitched side–by–side battle.

Carpenter will begin the 2011 season driving the #67 Dollar General entry for Sarah Fisher Racing in nine races, starting in St. Petersburg.

Carpenter finally took his first series victory in the 2011 Kentucky Indy 300, edging out Dario Franchitti by 0.0098 seconds, the cloest finish in the history of the speedway.

Motorsports career results

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
2002	Sinden Racing	KAN 5	NSH 5	MIS 3	KTY 2	STL 3	CHI 7	TXS 5								3rd	226
2003	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	HMS 15	PHX 13	INDY 1	PPIR 4	KAN 2	NSH 13	MIS 7	STL 4	KTY 5	CHI 2	FON 2	TXS 4			3rd	377
2005	Vision Racing	HMS	PHX	STP	INDY	TXS	IMS 11	NSH	MIL	KTY	PPIR	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON	26th	19

IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2003	PDM Racing	HMS	PHX	MOT	INDY	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	STL	KTY	NZR	CHI 13	FON 13	TX2 21				27th	43
2004	Team Cheever	HMS 12	PHX 19	MOT 22	INDY 31	TXS 21	RIR 16	KAN 14	NSH 22	MIL 11	MIS 14	KTY 8	PPIR 11	NZR 20	CHI 11	FON 12	TX2 21				16th	245
2005	Vision Racing	HMS 18	PHX 16	STP 19	MOT 16	INDY 11	TXS 20	RIR 12	KAN 17	NSH 10	MIL 12	MIS 23	KTY 22	PPIR 19	SNM 15	CHI 17	WGL 14	FON 20			18th	244
2006	Vision Racing	HMS DNS	STP INJ	MOT 20	INDY 11	WGL 6	TXS 9	RIR 8	KAN 16	NSH 10	MIL 16	MIS 7	KTY 11	SNM 12	CHI 5						14th	252
2007	Vision Racing	HMS 6	STP 18	MOT 15	KAN 17	INDY 17	MIL 7	TXS 18	IOW 6	RIR 10	WGL 12	NSH 13	MDO 16	MIS 14	KTY 7	SNM 13	DET 10	CHI 16			15th	309
2008	Vision Racing	HMS 5	STP 18	MOT1 6	LBH1 DNP	KAN 10	INDY 5	MIL 20	TXS 9	IOW 23	RIR 11	WGL 17	NSH 8	MDO 15	EDM 13	KTY 6	SNM 23	DET 14	CHI 28	SRF2 20	15th	320
2009	Vision Racing	STP 18	LBH 18	KAN 9	INDY 8	MIL 16	TXS 9	IOW 10	RIR 13	WGL 16	TOR 15	EDM 16	KTY 2	MDO 17	SNM 11	CHI 6	MOT 13	HMS 12			12th	321
2010	Panther Racing	SAO	STP	ALA	LBH	KAN	INDY 17	TXS	IOW	WGL	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	CHI 20	KTY 2	MOT	HMS 13			28th	90
2011	Sarah Fisher Racing	STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY 11	TXS1 18	TXS2 16	MIL 16	IOW 11	TOR	EDM	MDO 22	NHM 11	SNM 25	BAL 20	MOT	KTY 1	LVS		26th*	125*

* Season in progress.

¹ Run on same day.

² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
9	5	112	1	1	2	26	0	0

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2004	Dallara	Chevrolet	16	31	Team Cheever
2005	Dallara	Toyota	26	11	Vision Racing
2006	Dallara	Honda	12	11	Vision Racing
2007	Dallara	Honda	14	17	Vision Racing
2008	Dallara	Honda	10	5	Vision Racing
2009	Dallara	Honda	17	8	Vision Racing
2010	Dallara	Honda	8	17	Panther Racing
2011	Dallara	Honda	8	11	Sarah Fisher Racing

External links

• CBS Sports
• ESPN interview
• IndyCar Driver Page