New View From The Cockpit:Taking The Vision To Infineon: The Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma will be Vision Racing’s fifth trip to Infineon Raceway. The team’s best finish at Infineon came in 2007 season when Tomas Scheckter finished eighth. The Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma will be the team’s 80th IndyCar Series event since their first season in 2005.
William Rast Returns: Vision Racing is bringing back the William Rast branded livery on the No. 20 machine which as most recently run by Carpenter during the Canadian swing through Toronto and Edmonton. This time the No. 20 William Rast Dallara/Honda/Firestone machine will ride in the sponsor’s home state. William Rast, a People’s Liberation subsidiary known for its stylish high-end denim, based in Los Angeles, Calif. and the premium lifestyle brand with emphasis on stylish denim, has been a mainstay on the Vision Racing body work all season. William Rast was also featured earlier in the year as a primary on the team’s No. 21 car driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in April. Carpenter’s car will feature a grey matte finish, day-glow orange accents and of course, William Rast branding.
Oh So Close: Earlier this month at Kentucky Speedway, Carpenter earned a career-best finish of second, led 34 laps, was the most improved driver (started 14th) had the fastest lap of the race for the second consecutive season and put on an impressive display that stole the show as by crossing the finish line just 0.0162 of a second behind Ryan Briscoe of Team Penske. Not only was it Carpenter’s career-best finish in 93 starts over six seasons, it was also Vision Racing’s best oval finish and it also matched Ryan Hunter-Reay’s second place finish for the team earlier this season on the streets of St. Petersburg. Hunter-Reay was runner-up to Briscoe in that race as well. It was the closest finish in the history of Kentucky Speedway and the 11th closest finish in IndyCar Series history.
On Road/street Courses: The team’s best finishes on a road or street course is second, recently scored in the 2009 season-opener at St. Petersburg by Ryan Hunter-Reay in his debut with the team. It’s is also the team’s highest finish overall. Prior to Hunter-Reay’s podium finish, the previous best road and street course drives include a fourth place finish scored by Paul Tracy in 2008 at Edmonton, and a pair of sixth place drives; one captured by Tomas Scheckter on the streets of St. Petersburg in 2007 and the other by Ed Carpenter in 2006 at Watkins Glen International. The team’s best finish at Infineon came in 2007 season when Tomas Scheckter finished eighth.
On Loan: Considered a win-win situation for all involved, Vision Racing driver Ryan Hunter-Reay has taken over piloting duties of A. J. Foyt’s No. 14 ABC Supply entry for the remainder of the 2009 IndyCar season in a deal that began at Iowa. Hunter-Reay, who drove the No. 21 Vision Honda Dallara to a second place podium finish in the 2009 season opener at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida, and has transferred his driving services to A. J. Foyt Racing as a temporary replacement for the injured Vitor Meira.
2009 Team Highlights: This season’s highlight to date came in the season-opener in St. Petersburg, Fla. when Ryan Hunter-Reay started 14th and drove all the way to finish in second place and again just last weekend when Ed Carpenter also started 14th, led 34 laps and finished second by just 0.0162 of a second at Kentucky Speedway. Carpenter has also added four top-ten finishes at Kansas, Indianapolis, Texas and Iowa.
Ed Carpenter - No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
At Infineon Raceway: Carpenter has been running at the finish in all four previous attempts at Infineon Raceway. However, he is still looking for his first top-ten finish there. In his first attempt at Infineon Raceway in 2005, Carpenter started 20th and finished 15th with Vision Racing. In 2006 season he started 16th and finished 12th, in 2007 he started the race from the 14th spot, ran as high as 12th and ultimately finished 13th, and last year he started and finished in the 23rd position.
Most Recently: Starting from the 21st spot, Carpenter drove a clean race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course two weeks ago. He drove as high as 13th in the event and finished 17th. Unfortunately, Carpenter fell one spot to 14th in the IndyCar Series championship point standings with 239 total points after 13 races (221 points behind the leader).
Baby On Board: Just as planned, Carpenter and wife Heather (Pettigrew) welcomed their second child into the world on June 1st as the 8 lb. 1 oz., 20 inch long Ryder Carpenter arrived on his due date. Young Ryder has been traveling the IndyCar Series circuit with his family at just a few weeks old; joining the schedule back in June for the Iowa event and tagging along ever since. Big sister, Makenna was born in October 2007, while the couple was married November 8, 2005 on the Island of St. Thomas.
2009 Season: This is the sixth full season in IndyCar Series competition for Carpenter and the seventh season that he has participated in overall. Carpenter is looking to build off of four top-ten finishes and a career-best second place finish at Kentucky Speedway. His top-ten finishes came on the ovals of Kansas, Indianapolis, Texas and Iowa. The Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma will be Carpenter’s 14th event of the 2009 IndyCar Series season.
Leader Laps: In his fifth IndyCar Series start in at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2008, Carpenter recorded his first laps led in an IndyCar. He led the field for three laps under caution and finished an Indianapolis 500 career-best, fifth. He led again this season for a lap at Texas Motor Speedway and again last weekend for 34 laps at Kentucky Speedway. He has a total of 38 career-leader laps.
Back With Menards: The No. 20 Vision Racing machine again features the most recognizable car on track as it carries the day-glow yellow color of Menards for the second consecutive season. Menards returned as the primary sponsor of the No. 20 Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, driven by Ed Carpenter. The Menards sponsorship also continues a long-lasting relationship between the home store retailer with Carpenter. The 28-year-old driver carried the Menards livery in 2002, with Sinden Racing in Firestone Indy Lights competition and well before that his days of dirt track racing behind the wheel of quarter midgets.
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