So now that you have two ADRL wins against the strongest nitrous fields in the country, what’s the secret to your success?
Carpenter: Well, I think the number-one thing is that I’ve definitely got the best parts out there that I’ve ever had, even with my 10-year-old car, and then of course there’s my son’s help and dedication to it. We’ve also received a lot of help this year from Kelly Bluebaugh; he’s come from Phoenix and helped crew with us and helped me to sell some parts and has been kind of working a bit as a protégé to really learn the business for himself.
And, of course, we had a lot of run time, a lot of laps under our belts and started the season pretty much with a tried and proven combination. We’re all guilty of it at times, but I think a lot of racers just make too many changes at once. I am one to try and really hone a combination. Once I get on something I try not to throw it under the bus too fast.
What does it cost to run one of these Pro Nitrous cars?
Carpenter: Well, you can look at it several ways, but depending on how they run their car, a reasonably funded team will spend between $600 and $1,000 every time they go down the racetrack. That’s not in immediate costs; that’s factoring in things like tires, ring-and-pinions, clutch discs, rings, pistons, everything that it takes for the whole season.
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If you don’t want to use that formula and just concentrate on the weekend’s expenses, fuel, food, immediate costs, it’s going to be somewhere in the range of $2,000 per event. There are so many ways to look at the racing and what it costs. A lot of guys just see it as fuel and food, but I’m feeding this thing rings every week. It gets some or all new rings in that engine and a set of rings is $500. Tires last maybe 20 runs and a set of tires is almost a thousand bucks and it just goes on and on down the line. Then of course, if you ever thought anything of your time, it would just blow all of that out of the water.
Is running the eighth mile an attraction for a team like yours?
Carpenter: It’s definitely better. I mean, we still rebuild the engine after every event, but we can usually go through the event without taking it apart. In quarter-mile racing you can’t run the whole event without rebuilding the engine.
The eighth mile is a great equalizer, too. The starting line can make such a huge advantage because the cars can only do so much in the eighth mile; they’re not going to come back around you at a thousand feet. Just look at the teams out here, you have your ‘money-is-no-object’ teams all the way down to your Doug Reisterers and look what he’s shown us. He’s proven you don’t have to have all the latest, trickest everything; you can make the most of what you have. So much of it in the early days when I started in this type of racing, it took imagination and creativity to make a lot of stuff work and I think he’s showing us a lot of that today.
Does the ADRL promote and foster that creativity in its racers?
Carpenter: I think it does, but I’m a big believer in safety. As long as the safety rules are enforced and kept in check, I’m very open-minded to letting people try new things.
What do you think of ADRL’s Saturday-night elimination schedule?
Carpenter: I like it because it really makes a difference being able to leave on Sunday morning and in most cases being home on Sunday night. It makes it a lot easier and a much more enjoyable experience. I mean, I love my racing right now. I have a guy, Ken Hively, that used to go for years to the Super Chevy Shows with me and he says I act like I’ve just found drag racing.
Are you pleased with the fan response the ADRL is generating?
Carpenter: Oh, I think it’s great. I’ve been going to Rockingham since I was probably six years old and I’ve seen and done all types of racing there, but I had never seen a crowd like the ADRL had there last year. They were standing elbow-to-elbow and didn’t even move for the oildowns; they didn’t want to lose their spot. It was incredible.
Rockingham is pretty much our home track now as far as a national-event facility and we get a lot of good response there. We went out in the first round last year, but I left the car out and there was just a constant line of people coming through with a lot of ‘I saw you race at Shuffletown’ and ‘I used to have one just like this,’ so we had a lot of fun.
Are there any plans to put your son in a team car or eventually take over your ride?
Carpenter: We hope to get his feet wet at Frank Hawley’s driving school over the winter, just let him try it and see how he likes it. I don’t think you’ll see him take over my seat, but there’s a possibility he could take over the driving duties some day in another car and I don’t discount the possibility of a two-car team if funding ever became available.
After nearly three-and-a-half decades behind the wheel, what keeps you going in racing?
Carpenter: Well, I’ve had a lot of experiences and met a lot of great people. I’ve raced in 37 different states and I’ve traveled through all 48 contiguous states and I’ve seen and done things that I never would have seen or done if it wasn’t for drag racing. I have never gotten rich doing it, but I’ve had a rich life because of it.
And it’s kept me young; I really believe that. I’ll be 49 later this year, but right now I feel like I’m as good or better than I’ve ever been.