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IndyCar
MILLER: IndyCar’s Oval Dilemma
At some point during The Split, all those oval fans who used to pack Phoenix, Milwaukee and Michigan lost interest.
Robin Miller  |  Posted October 03, 2011  
The IZOD IndyCar Series has had no problem filling the grid on ovals, but getting more than 15,000 fans to come watch has been a challenge everywhere but Indy, Texas and Iowa. (LAT)
There was a lot to take in Sunday afternoon during the celebration at Kentucky Speedway and quite a bit of irony as well.

American short-tracker Ed Carpenter was holding the first place trophy as proudly as his little girl and car owners Sarah Fisher and Andy O’Gara were trying to grasp the fact their little team had just beaten Chip Ganassi’s boys.

Tony George, who is Ed’s step father and former car owner that started the all-oval Indy Racing League in 1996, posed for the family photo along with his mom, Mari Hulman-George, the care taker of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Fisher, the first female to win a pole position in an Indy car race at Kentucky in 2002, came close (second at Homestead in 2001) but never won an IRL race as a driver or owner before Carpenter clipped Dario Franchitti by a nose.

George spent a lot of family money trying to get Carpenter into victory lane but Vision Racing never got it done before closing the doors.

And Carpenter had finished second the past two races -- losing to Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe in 2009 by about the same margin he beat Franchitti.

So here’s this Mom & Pop operation (literally and figuratively) based in a shop on the west side of Indianapolis with big dreams and a tiny budget giving loyal sponsor Dollar General the best feel good story of 2011.

“I think we’ve come a long way in four years and the boys on this team have done a great job, along with Andy,” said Fisher of her husband, who serves as team manager, while cradling three-week-old daughter Zoey.

“Dollar General told us a couple weeks ago that we didn’t fit into their plans for next year so maybe this win can change that.

“I just know we have a talented group and I’m so proud of Ed. We hired him because he’s always been fast on ovals and that’s what we concentrate on but I still don’t believe it.”

For Carpenter, it was sweet vindication for wearing the “privilege” tag all these years.

The 30-year-old had moderate success in USAC midgets and sprints (one win in each division) and led the Hoosier Hundred for 80 laps after winning the pole position in 2000. He wasn’t a star, but he was a competent racer.

PHOTOS: Click Here or on the image below to view INDYCAR: Kentucky Race 2011



Of course, without TGeorge’s financial backing he might have been an Indy 500 only driver from 2003-2009 but the fact remains that Ed always ran pretty good at IMS and on the 1.5-mile ovals. And Vision Racing was far from being a top tier team.

“I always believed that I belonged here and I thought I could win races,” said Carpenter, who qualified fourth at Kentucky and made the outside groove work all afternoon. “Of course until you actually win one, there are going to be people who think differently and there are plenty of capable drivers out there who won’t get the opportunity.

“But I don’t care what anybody else thinks right now. Winning feels good for myself, my family and my team and it took 113 tries so I’m going to enjoy it.”
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