Ed Carpenter

Driver / Owner

Only one individual in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES handles both the responsibility of driving the racecar and owning his own team: Ed Carpenter. As one of the most experienced drivers in the field, 2024 will be Carpenter’s 22nd season of Indy car competition.

Even now as he competes exclusively in the oval events, the 42-year-old has 24 top-ten finishes since starting his own team and led at least one race for 14 of 15 seasons. He solidified his status as a hometown favorite when he scored back-to-back pole positions for the Indianapolis 500 in 2013 and 2014; in 2018, he became only the 10th driver in the 102-year history of the Indianapolis 500 to win three or more pole positions.

The 2003 Butler University graduate resides in Indianapolis with wife Heather and their children Makenna, Ryder and Cruz.

Updated 8-17-24

Ed Carpenter learned to drive on tractors, but by the time he was eight years old he had moved to racecars. Carpenter began his career in quarter-midget and three-quarter midget competition at the club, regional and national levels. His midget debut came in 1999 at the 16th Street Speedway as part of the USAC Regional Series.

Through 2001, Carpenter found success while moving up through the USAC ranks, competing in the National Midget Car Series, Silver Crown and Sprint Car Series. In 2002, Carpenter joined the Menards Infiniti Pro Series (now Indy Lights) and finished third in the point standings with 454 of a possible 455 laps completed.

Three weeks after he graduated from Butler University in May of 2003, Carpenter became a winner at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after claiming the inaugural Freedom 100. That win, coupled with six top-five finishes in seven races, gave Carpenter another third-place finish in the Indy Lights championship.

2003 was also the beginning of Carpenter’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES career. His debut came at Chicagoland Speedway where he made history when he was the first driver to compete in an Indy Lights event and an Indy car event in the same weekend. Carpenter’s rookie NTT INDYCAR SERIES season followed in 2004 with Red Bull Cheever Racing, finishing second in the Bombardier Rookie of the Year standings.

From 2005 to 2009, Carpenter drove full seasons for Vision Racing, collecting 26 top-10 finishes along the way. In 2010, he competed in four events for Panther Racing/Vision Racing. He earned his first career pole position at Kentucky Speedway, finishing second in the race for the second year in a row. Kentucky continued to be kind to Carpenter as he claimed his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES win the following year at the track, one of ten events he competed in as part of Sarah Fisher Racing.

A new team came to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES grid in 2012, Ed Carpenter Racing. Carpenter’s own team would feature himself as the driver and an association with Fuzzy’s Award Winning Vodka. He claimed his second season finale victory in a row with a last-lap pass at Auto Club Speedway. Throughout the season he finished 14 of 15 races, tied for the best finishing record in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

Carpenter and his team were able to claim the coveted pole position for the 2013 Indianapolis 500 with an average speed of 228.762 mph. He led 37 laps of that event, the most of any driver. In October, he nearly won his third consecutive season finale, finishing second at Auto Club Speedway. Carpenter placed fifth in the final NTT INDYCAR SERIES oval point standings.

For the 2014 season, Carpenter announced he would drive in the six oval events and hired Mike Conway to drive the Fuzzy’s Vodka car in the road and street course events. Carpenter finished in the top five of half of the races he competed in, including a win at Texas Motor Speedway. That victory was one of three Ed Carpenter Racing would record in 2014. Carpenter was the fastest qualifier for the Indianapolis 500 for the second year in a row, claiming another pole position with a four-lap average of 231.067 mph.

Carpenter continued to compete in the oval events during the 2015 and 2016 seasons, but was plagued by mechanical and electrical issues. In the 11 races he completed in, he was sidelined in all but three. However, two of those three resulted in Top 10 finishes, including a 6th place at Iowa Speedway. In 2015, Luca Filippi stepped into the No. 20 for the road and street course events and Carpenter hired 2015 Indy Lights champion Spencer Pigot to drive the non-ovals following the 2016 Indianapolis 500.

For the third time in five years, Carpenter earned himself a front row starting position for the Indianapolis 500 as he qualified second in 2017. He qualified 4th at Iowa Speedway and 5th at Gateway Motorsports Park, with a best finish of 7th at Phoenix Raceway. Before being collected in an incident in the opening green-flag lap at his final race of the year at Gateway, Carpenter had finished no worse than 12th in the other five oval races in 2017. Pigot again took over the No. 20 for the road and street course events.

In May of 2018, he won his third pole for the Indianapolis 500, only the 10th driver in the 102-year history of the race to win three or more pole positions. He would lead 65 laps, most of all drivers, before a runner up finish – the highest of his Indy 500 starts. He was running at the checkered flag in five of the six oval events he competed in with a Top 12 finish in each. British rookie Jordan King would take over Carpenter’s No. 20 at the road and street course events.

Carpenter continued to show his prowess at IMS in 2019, starting on the front row of the Indianapolis 500 for fifth time in the past seven years. He added to his tally of solid “500” results by finishing 6th, the best of ECR’s three-car lineup. Later in the summer, he reached a milestone 50th career Top 10 finish, even with only competing on ovals since 2014. In his final race of the year, Carpenter returned to the podium with a thrilling side-by-side finish at WWT Raceway – a mere .0399 seconds separating him from the first position. It was the 12th season in a row where Carpenter would lead at least one NTT INDYCAR SERIES race. He would finish in the Top 6 in three out of his five races in 2019. Ed Jones, the 2017 Rookie of the Year, drove the No. 20 during the other 12 events on the calendar.

The 2020 season started off on a high note as Carpenter earned a Top 5 finish at Texas Motor Speedway. His campaign would eventually consist of six oval races as the schedule was continually adjusted. Carpenter represented the newest branch of the United States Armed Forces, the United States Space Force, in the 2020 Indianapolis 500. The partnership was announced live on Fox & Friends and allowed Carpenter to take flight with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds days before the “500.” Fellow Indiana native Conor Daly drove the No. 20 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet for the road and street course events.

Four oval races were included on the 2021 calendar, all which Carpenter competed in. Only .0047 of a second separated Carpenter from another front row start at the Indianapolis 500, with teammate Rinus VeeKay bumping him to 4th. A stalled engine would drop him to 28th, but years of experience helped him rejoin the fight at the front with a quarter of the race remaining. His 5th place result in 2021 remains one of his strongest 500 finishes. He would again share the No. 20 with Daly.

With Daly moving to the No. 20 full-time in 2022, the No. 33 entry was created for Carpenter and ECR’s lineup expanded to three cars on the ovals. By pacing the field at Texas Motor Speedway, he has led at least one race in 14 of the past 15 NTT INDYCAR SERIES seasons. Prior to this year’s Indianapolis 500, Carpenter set the fastest practice lap since 1996. He advanced through all rounds of qualifying, where the field was narrowed from 33, to 12, to only 6 who had a chance to earn the pole position. He would ultimately mirror his qualifying effort from the previous year and start 4th – his 7th Top 4 start in the past 10 years.