CARPENTER’S NEW ’55 TO MAKE ITS DEBUT THIS WEEKEND

After nearly seven months, Charles Carpenter will finally be back on a drag strip this weekend at the Quick 8 Racers Association race at Farmington Dragway.

When Carpenter takes to the Farmington eighth mile this weekend, it will be in a brand new Terry Murphy ’55 Chevy. While the body and paint scheme may bring back vivid memories of the car Carpenter campaigned for more than a decade and sold, the 34-year veteran is quick to caution against such thinking.

“This car is radically different,” said Carpenter. “The paint scheme is about the only thing that hasn’t changed dramatically. We’ve done a lot of things that we would have liked to have done to the other car, but that weren’t feasible. A lot has changed in Pro Mod since the other car was built, and we feel like we have caught up with that technology now. Add in the fact that this car is about 150 lbs. lighter than the other one, and we think we will have a bad hot rod. There is definitely no other car on the planet like it, and that’s a really good thing. I love that.”

While Carpenter is the type of guy that doesn’t like to miss any race, he feels that the extra time and effort that was taken to complete the car will pay off in the end. “I hate that we missed the first two races of the ADRL season and a couple other quick 8’s, but it may have been a blessing in disguise. Right now we have almost two months to test and get the car worked in before we make our ADRL debut at the Independence Drags at Motor Mile Dragway,” Carpenter said. “We’ve got no sponsor as of yet so we are just taking it one day at a time. We won’t be going to Tulsa and you won’t see us in Martin unless something changes. It’s just the state of affairs in this game right now, and that’s unfortunate for the racers and fans.”  (photo courtesy Charles Carpenter) [5/22/2008]