Ed Carpenter is sitting at The Spark Coffee on Main Street in Speedway, and he’s talking about his magnificent obsession — winning the Indianapolis 500. He is Ahab and this race, the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, is his elusive white whale. This coming Sunday will mark the 42-year-old Indy local’s 20th attempt to realize his long-held dream, a dream that was first kindled after he watched qualifying from Turn 2 when he was 8 years old.
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“No doubt I’m obsessed with it,” he was saying as nearby customers glanced over — Is that Ed Carpenter? “There’s hardly a day that goes by that I don’t think about it at some point. ‘Obsession’ is accurate; it’s the biggest motivator for me that keeps me energized and motivated to work hard every day, in the gym, on the business side of the organization, everything.”
Just don’t say that it means any more to Carpenter, who is former IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Tony George’s stepson and has lived in Indianapolis since he was a child, moving from Illinois. It’s the ultimate prize for virtually everyone in this world of very fast race cars.
“Yeah, people say it’s in your blood, it must mean more to you than anybody,” he said, slightly annoyed at the suggestion. “Look, it’s the greatest race in the world. Everyone here knows how special it is, and if they don’t, when they first come here — and this is common when guys first come over from Europe — as soon as they experience it once, they do know. It becomes a part of who you are. People who win here, it changes your life.”
The desire to win here used to consume Carpenter, and yes, it still does to a great degree. But after 19 Indy 500 starts, he will no longer let his successes or failures at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway define who he is or what his legacy might be. Now, he’s got a family — wife Heather and their three children.
Which changes everything.
“I used to feel like I’d be a failure without (winning a 500),” Carpenter said. “Now I know raising a family is more important, and I have that perspective now. Really, what determines your legacy is what you leave behind, and you can do that without winning this race on your resume, but it still don’t mean it doesn’t change your life. Nothing makes you immortal, but winning here puts you in a category from a historical standpoint. …
“For a long time, I felt that if I didn’t win this race, I wasn’t sure how I’d look back at my career. Obviously, it’s still the thing I want most in my professional life and it’s not even close, but I really enjoy the process and the pursuit. If I never win it, I think I’ll be content with the effort I put into it …
“It’s such a hard race to win. Look at Michael Andretti, he never got it done here, but nobody’s going to say he’s not one of the best of all time. There are guys who are fantastic at this place who have never won here. It doesn’t mean that A.J. (Foyt), Al (Unser, Sr.), Helio (Castroneves) and Rick (Mears) are that much better than everyone else; they just had things go their way. People say the track chooses the winner, and I believe that to a certain extent. You’ve got to be perfect, but you’ve got to have things go your way. There are so many twists and turns it can take. You’ve got to eliminate the things you can control, like a pit mistake or a mistake on the track. You look at (Scott) Dixon last year, he had the speeding (in pit lane) penalty; there’s no room for those errors, especially in the latter stages of the race.
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“But I know how much I’ve put into it year-round for 20 years and whatever happens, I’ll always be proud of that.”
Ed Carpenter has been the polesitter three times and has three top 5s and six top 10s in 19 tries at the Indianapolis 500, but he’s never won IndyCar’s crown jewel. (Mykal McEldowney / USA Today)He’s come close, painfully close, earning three top-5 finishes at this event. He finished second to Will Power in 2018 after winning his last of three poles. But there’s one that got away that still rankles him more than any other.
It was in 2014, another year when he started on the pole. With 25 laps to go and Ryan Hunter-Reay leading, Carpenter was near the front during a restart. Carpenter and Townsend Bell were side-by-side going into Turn 1 when James Hinchcliffe dove inside and suddenly, it was three-wide. Hinchcliffe made contact with Carpenter and the pair spun and crashed into the wall.
Carpenter was done, finishing 27th.
After the race, he said, “If he (Hinchcliffe) didn’t have a concussion last week, I would have punched him in the face.”
The race was there to win, and then it wasn’t.
“I truly feel we had our best stuff that day,” he said. “I finished second (in 2018), but that car in 2014, it was unbelievable. I felt we had everything we needed and we hadn’t really even started trying hard yet. I was just sitting in position, waiting, saving fuel, sizing people up. That’s the one that got away. I didn’t get a great restart, so that’s on me. … I blamed Hinch pretty aggressively in the moment, but Townsend was probably the main reason (for the crash). … That was a great opportunity.”
Carpenter, a specialist who currently only drives ovals on the IndyCar circuit for his team, Ed Carpenter Racing, is also known for something else: His qualifying ability.
He’s won three poles — in 2013, 2014 and 2018. The last Sunday in May hasn’t always been kind, but the previous weekend has always been Carpenter’s big stage. While he’s properly proud of that — qualifying is a white-knuckle affair that tests a driver’s bravery unlike any other event during the month of May — he would trade all those poles for one swig of milk on the victory podium.
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“It gets annoying, the perception that (qualifying well) is what I come here to do, what my team comes here to do,” he said. “That couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s just that we’ve gotten that part sorted out; we just haven’t nailed down the most important part.
“Every day that I’m out here, people are like, ‘Hey, win another pole.’ And I’m like, ‘I’ll take it but I also don’t give a s— if I don’t win another pole. I’ve experienced that and it’s awesome, but the race is what it’s all about.”
Carpenter cites the 2014 Indy 500 as the one that got away after a crash with James Hinchcliffe (right) ended a strong run. “That car in 2014,” Carpenter says, “it was unbelievable.” (Robert Laberge / Getty Images)Qualifying Saturday wasn’t the usual Carpenter tour de force, with his No. 33 Bitnile.com Chevy machine; he finished 13th, just outside the Fast 12, and will have to try to win the race from the inside of the fifth row. Not insurmountable, but track position is hugely important in this race.
“I’ve learned how hard of a race this is to win,” he said. “There’s been years when we’ve had the best car, led the most laps a few times, felt like we’ve done most of the things we needed to do to win the race. There are things we can control and others we can’t. More so than any other event, it challenges drivers just to be perfect.
“Over the course of 19 years, the race has changed a lot. I remember watching as a kid, there would be maybe a handful of cars on the lead lap; now, it’s two-thirds of the field. It used to be a race of patience and management, taking care of your equipment; now it’s a 500-mile sprint.
“You have to be perfect, and that’s not just on the track, that’s in the pits and everything else. It’s really hard to overcome a big mishap without just catching the right yellow that cycles you back to the front so … it’s a race of perfection.”
And luck. Yes, lots of luck.
How long will he continue racing and chasing his Indy 500 dream?
“I always joke that I don’t have an expiration date stamped on me like a carton of milk,” Carpenter said. “I still love what I’m doing, I’m still good at it, and as long as that’s the case and I have the motivation and ability to go fast, I see no reason to stop. I think (48-year-old) Helio (Castroneves, who still races full-time) has extended all of our shelf lives.
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“Like all sports, it’s getting younger, but this race and this track, more so than any other, does favor experience here. I still have the drive for it. I think I’ll know when that’s fading — similar to the decision I made when I decided to stop racing full-time. When I have that similar feeling, it’ll be OK (to retire).”
However it pans out this Sunday, Carpenter insists his 20th attempt will not be his last try. Not even close. He will continue climbing into his turbo-charged “Pequod” for some time to come, will continue chasing his lifelong dream, his magnificent obsession.
(Top photo: Brian Spurlock / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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