When Duane "Pappy" Carter Sr. first raced at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway in 1947, he had no idea his offspring would still be hurtling
across the famous yard of bricks nearly six decades later. Though the
11-time Indy 500 starter and subsequent USAC Director of Competiton
passed away in 1993 -- one year prior to son Pancho's last of 17 500's
-- his legacy at Indy remains prominent. That legacy will receive an
added boost on Friday as his 22-year-old grandson Cole tackles the
Brickyard in the Futaba Freedom 100.
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Cole Carter. Photo by Earl Ma.
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The USAC midget veteran will make his rear engine competition debut
for the newly-formed American Revolution Racing team based out of
Indianapolis. While this amounts to a brand-new operation likewise
making its series debut, the rookie will enjoy a wealth of experience
supporting him, led by team owner and veteran IPS crew chief John Jones.
Team manager and engineer Darrell Soppe, a three-decade Indy veteran
with the likes of Penske and Newman-Haas, heads the crew while Pancho
will share race day spotting duties with 1983 500 winner Tom Sneva.
But before all this could become official, Cole first had to get his
IPS rookie test out of his way. The team took care of that task with a
successful two-hour test at Kentucky Speedway last Thursday. "It went
really well -- we just went down and tried to get some laps in. We
didn't really make any changes to the car; we just wanted to get some
seat time in this type of race car. It was a real learning experience;
the car's a lot different than what I'm used to driving, so it was
good."
For a driver who started racing quarter midgets at the age of nine and
has pursued the traditional American short track oval ladder system
exclusively ever since, Cole's first experience in a rear-engined
formula car left one key impression. "These cars don't hardly ever move
compared to the cars I'm used to running. When you're (in a short track
car) on dirt or on pavement, they tend to move around a lot because of
the lack of downforce. The Dallara has so much more downforce, it just
makes the car a lot more stable, and you never really notice you're
running as fast as you are."
Along with his brother Dane, Cole has made his mark in USAC over the
past five years, placing 12th in the national midget standings in 2003
and fourth last year, despite a foot injury benching him for three
races. His efforts caught the eyes of his future team owners, who
sought a good old-fashioned short tracker they could promote into IRL's
fledging feeder series. "First I met John back in 2003 when we were both
working with Panther Racing (where his dad guided Sam Hornish Jr. around
the track for his two IRL championships). He just came to help at one
of the races at the end of 2004 in Arizona. He came out again for the
Copper World Classic and brought (team partner) Bryan Fisher with him to
both of those.
"They just got to watch me run for a while, and they'd had an idea like
this for a couple of years to put together a team and go run in the
Infiniti Pro Series. They started talking to other people, one thing
led to another and the ball got rolling. So here we are; we got as much
financial support we could and got all of our friends involved, and now
we're going to run this race."
The ARR team's philosophy emphasizes the importance of providing avenues
for developing talented young American drivers into future Indy 500
competitors. Both Duane Sr. and Jr. used the traditional short track
oval route as their means of getting rides at the Brickyard. But Cole's
devotion to that same career path comes as an anachronism in a time
where each passing year brings an Indy 500 lineup with more road racing
veterans and fewer short trackers. "I think really the reason there
aren't more drivers there is because they don't have the opportunities
like they used to back in the 1970's and '80's," he admits. "Guys now
that come from USAC usually all go down to NASCAR just because that's
where the opportunities are.
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Cole Carter. Photo by Earl Ma.
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"For me, this is my opportunity now because I know people in the IRL
like John and Bryan, and that's really the only reason I think I'm
here running. I don't think there's anything wrong with an open wheel
driver from USAC going into the IRL if they're as dedicated with running
those cars like they are stock cars. It's just the lack of money that
most drivers have to bring here or people financing them that a lot of
drivers don't have. That's why you don't see many in there (anymore)."
Cole and company hope a good performance at Indy Friday will buck that
trend, and in the meantime he will remain active in USAC this weekend by
running his midget at Indianapolis Raceway Park Saturday for the Night
Before the 500. "We were going to do a whole lot (more) racing this
week, but now I've kind of limited my schedule a little bit to just the
two. We'll go out and do the IPS race on Friday, hopefully have the car
all ready for Saturday, then get back into the midget where I'm probably
a little more comfortable and a little more adapted to. I'll try to
not go down into the first corner and not lift like I've been used to
over the last few days with the IPS car. I'm really comfortable in the
midgets and have been doing that for a long time, so we should be all
right with that. Going back and forth is something I'm not too worried
about."
If ARR should run additional IPS races following the Freedom 100, would
that impact Carter's ability to contend for the midget title? "We've
looked at the schedules a little bit, and there are some conflicting
dates. Last year we ran all but three or four races and ended up fourth
in the points. We still don't really have all of the budget in place yet
to run for the championship in the midgets again. But if we do end up
running the rest of the season in IPS, we'd still only miss a handful
of races and should still be up towards the front in the USAC midget
standings. But things change, and I could pick up some rides in the
other USAC series. Who knows where we'll be at, but if we have to jump
on some planes to go back and forth and do what we'll have to do."
Although Carter will only enjoy two 40-minute practice sessions prior to
qualifying his #77 Holiday Inn Express Dallara, the conservative words
of advice from Pancho should serve him well during his Indy baptism.
"He said you're not driving the car you've been driving, so just take
it easy and be careful. Make sure you get a good finish, whether it be
first or fifth, sixth, whatever -- to be there at the end will be the
most important thing."
While Pancho and contemporary second generation driver Johnny Parsons
are half-brothers, making Johnnie Parsons' 1950 Indy victory part of the
extended family record, scoring a first 500 win for the direct Carter
bloodline remains "the ultimate goal. Between my dad and my grandfather,
they've raced there somewhere around 30 times, and the best they could
ever do was a third place (with Pancho in 1982). It's just one of those
places which has eluded the Carter family, so if I could win that race
or any race there, I'd be estatic."
With only six individuals among the 19-car entry list boasting prior
Freedom 100 appearances, a debutant win for Carter in the 500 support
race may not be so far-fetched. "I think it's a definite goal. The
people involved in this team are really excited about me driving for
them -- it's kind of like a breath of fresh air for them, as they
haven't been used to quite this kind of opportunity. Judging from the
people I've raced with who have been in the Infiniti Pro Series, they've
had success right away, so I think we should be able to compete right
off the bat.
"It would mean a ton to me to go out there and win a race in front of
all those people in the Month of May at Indianapolis, my hometown.
Whether it would be the Indy 500 or anything else, to be the first
Carter to win a race there would make my month and career at this
point."
