Get To Know: Ed Carpenter #33 – Ed Carpenter Racing, Indy 500

From my (Jake Query) IMS Radio perch atop the Northeast Vista, I’ve seen ya. I’ve seen ya pulling names from a hat and the driver’s name you  pull end up being your favorite for the next 500 miles.

So, for the 33 days leading up to the race, I figured I’d let ya know more about the PEOPLE in the cockpit or the people you may end up rooting for when you pull a name out of a hat. A couple things you might want to know about these drivers is…

• Who shares YOUR passion?
• Who likes YOUR favorite musician?
• Whose story strikes a chord that connects beyond the strip of paper you pulled from the hat?

Strap in. Ride along for 33 days of “Get to know”.

Ed Carpenter – Ed Carpenter Racing – Car #33

All You Need To Know About Ed Carpenter.

It’s fitting that, as a younger man, Ed Carpenter was a fixer-upper who flipped houses as a hobby. He got pretty good with tools, bought houses in his hometown of Indianapolis, put in some sweat equity to give ‘em a face lift, then put them on the market.

2 years ago, his family sold the biggest house of them all: the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Everette Edward Carpenter, Jr. was born in Paris, Illinois on March 3, 1981. As a young boy, he moved with his mother to Indianapolis, where he was legally adopted by his then step father, Tony George. Tony, of course, is part of the famed Hulman-George family that owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, before selling to Roger Penske.

Carpenter began racing quarter midgets at the age of 8, and became a USAC star before joining Indy Lights in the early 2000s. He made his IndyCar series debut in 2003, a year later he started in his 1st Indianapolis 500.

Now a veteran of 18 “500”s, he’s led laps in 1/3 of those races, started on pole 3 times, and had 3 top 5 finishes.

A Park Tudor School and Butler University graduate, Carpenter and his wife, Heather, have 3 children. He can frequently be spotted at sporting events cheering for his beloved Colts, Pacers, and Butler Bulldogs.