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(9-17-2007) CHARLOTTE, NC – Under Carolina blue skies at Rockingham Dragway, Charles Carpenter’s whirlwind Saturday at Dragstock IV came to an early end when he missed the qualified field by three thousandths of a second. Carpenter’s 4.077 pass in the final round of qualifying landed him in the 17th spot, right behind Steve Vick’s 4.074. It marked the first time that Carpenter failed to qualify for a race in 2007, ADRL or otherwise.
“It’s pretty disappointing to come to your home track and fail to qualify,” said Carpenter. “I know I have a lot of fans here at ‘the Rock’, and I hate to let them down. We’ve had a great season, and we hoped to ride the momentum from our win in Norwalk into this weekend. We just got put in a hole that we couldn’t dig ourselves out of.”
After rain forced the cancellation of Friday night’s first qualifying session, race officials elected to give the competitors all three qualifying passes Saturday. In the first session, Carpenter’s Pat Doherty and Custom Autosound-backed’55 Chevy posted excellent incrementals and was well on its way to a good number when the car in the other lane crossed over the center line and took out the finish line block, nullifying Carpenter’s run.
“You just hate to start a race out like that,” Carpenter said. “Based on the 60’ and 330’ numbers, that pass would have been good enough to get us qualified, especially knowing the way the car runs in the back half. But what can you do? That’s just our luck sometimes.”
From there, Flowmaster ADRL officials allowed Carpenter a re-run after the first round of Pro Extreme. That didn’t allow enough time for the engine and clutch to cool properly, and Carpenter ran a much slower 4.097 as the track and air heated up. The team was able to get the car turned around in time for the next two sessions, but Carpenter was unable to duplicate that first run. Carpenter was holding onto the bump spot in the final round when Jamie Hancock, the last car to run that had a chance to knock Carpenter out, laid down a 4.05 to do just that.
“The track really came around for the last session, and we missed it,” said the Charlotte, NC native. “We had way too much clutch all day, even smoking the tires through first gear, then we were too light on clutch when we needed it. It just wasn’t our day. We will be testing before Dallas and will be ready to rebound for the Battle for the Belts. I know we are going to drop in points, but we should stay in the top eight.”
“We never seem to do well at Rockingham, but it’s fun because everyone from home gets a chance to see what we do. Lately, it seems like the further we travel from home, the better we race. Dallas is the farthest we will travel this season, so maybe that is a good sign,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter is still actively seeking primary sponsorship support. For more information about Charles Carpenter Racing and The World’s Fastest ’55 Chevy, or for a copy of the team’s 2007 Marketing Partnership Guide, visit Charles Carpenter Racing.
Photo courtesy of Roger Richards / Competition Plus
Carpenter misses the mark by .003 at Dragstock
(9-17-2007) CHARLOTTE, NC – Under Carolina blue skies at Rockingham Dragway, Charles Carpenter’s whirlwind Saturday at Dragstock IV came to an early end when he missed the qualified field by three thousandths of a second. Carpenter’s 4.077 pass in the final round of qualifying landed him in the 17th spot, right behind Steve Vick’s 4.074. It marked the first time that Carpenter failed to qualify for a race in 2007, ADRL or otherwise.
“It’s pretty disappointing to come to your home track and fail to qualify,” said Carpenter. “I know I have a lot of fans here at ‘the Rock’, and I hate to let them down. We’ve had a great season, and we hoped to ride the momentum from our win in Norwalk into this weekend. We just got put in a hole that we couldn’t dig ourselves out of.”
After rain forced the cancellation of Friday night’s first qualifying session, race officials elected to give the competitors all three qualifying passes Saturday. In the first session, Carpenter’s Pat Doherty and Custom Autosound-backed’55 Chevy posted excellent incrementals and was well on its way to a good number when the car in the other lane crossed over the center line and took out the finish line block, nullifying Carpenter’s run.
“You just hate to start a race out like that,” Carpenter said. “Based on the 60’ and 330’ numbers, that pass would have been good enough to get us qualified, especially knowing the way the car runs in the back half. But what can you do? That’s just our luck sometimes.”
From there, Flowmaster ADRL officials allowed Carpenter a re-run after the first round of Pro Extreme. That didn’t allow enough time for the engine and clutch to cool properly, and Carpenter ran a much slower 4.097 as the track and air heated up. The team was able to get the car turned around in time for the next two sessions, but Carpenter was unable to duplicate that first run. Carpenter was holding onto the bump spot in the final round when Jamie Hancock, the last car to run that had a chance to knock Carpenter out, laid down a 4.05 to do just that.
“The track really came around for the last session, and we missed it,” said the Charlotte, NC native. “We had way too much clutch all day, even smoking the tires through first gear, then we were too light on clutch when we needed it. It just wasn’t our day. We will be testing before Dallas and will be ready to rebound for the Battle for the Belts. I know we are going to drop in points, but we should stay in the top eight.”
“We never seem to do well at Rockingham, but it’s fun because everyone from home gets a chance to see what we do. Lately, it seems like the further we travel from home, the better we race. Dallas is the farthest we will travel this season, so maybe that is a good sign,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter is still actively seeking primary sponsorship support. For more information about Charles Carpenter Racing and The World’s Fastest ’55 Chevy, or for a copy of the team’s 2007 Marketing Partnership Guide, visit Charles Carpenter Racing.
Photo courtesy of Roger Richards / Competition Plus
