A recent vacation together in Montana and the wedding of Tony George Jr. was packaged nicely with Ed Carpenter’s career-best second-place finish. “It’s all done a lot for us as a family,” said Carpenter, George’s stepson.
Now the goal is to maintain momentum, starting with this weekend’s race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington.
Carpenter said several prospective sponsor representatives will be at the two-day event that begins Saturday, and he and Vision must show they are more than a one-night wonder. Carpenter knows George expects it, too.
“I know Tony well enough to know he was very happy (about finishing second), but at the same time, I know he expects us to have performances like that more often than what we do,” he said. “I don’t think he wants to get too excited because he expects us to execute like that more frequently, especially on the ovals.” Indianapolis Star
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It’s a view Carpenter had grown accustomed to since joining the series full-time in 2004. He moved to Vision Racing in 2005 and managed just three top 5s coming into the year as the program struggled to keep up with the deep pockets enjoyed by the likes of Penske and Andretti Green Racing.
Still he kept coming back for more, believing things would eventually come together.
“It’s kind of like you’re a terrible golfer and you hit one good shot and that one shot keeps you playing,” he said.
Carpenter nearly drilled his first ace at Kentucky. He knows the prospect of repeating the feat at Mid-Ohio aren’t good. He has struggled on road courses this year — his best finish at a road event is 15th — but thinks he can crack the top 10 at Ohio.
“We built some momentum last week I think,” he said.
Positive momentum has been a rarity for Vision Racing, which has been hit with one distraction after another. The team started the season with two cars, but sponsorship for the second car — driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay — dried up after the race at Iowa, leaving Carpenter to go it alone.
Carpenter points out Vision Racing was able to avoid layoffs after Hunter-Reay’s departure, but the organization took another hit when George, Carpenter’s stepfather, was ousted as CEO of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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The move angered George, who has publicly questioned why he was fired. Carpenter, however, does see a positive.
“From my standpoint it’s been a very rough time for our family, for me the silver lining is he’s going to be able to put energy into the race team because that’s what he has left,” Carpenter said. “That’s a positive thing for our team’s future.” The Associated Press
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