Fuzzy's Vodka Chevy Not As Fast Friday at Milwaukee, Carpenter to start 21st Saturday

Fuzzy's Vodka Chevy Not As Fast Friday at Milwaukee, Carpenter to start 21st Saturday

Topics: Ed Carpenter, Milwaukee IndyFest

Fuzzy's Vodka Chevy Not As Fast Friday at Milwaukee, Carpenter to start 21st Saturday

Tom Blattler
Ed Carpenter Racing
June 14, 2013

June 14th 2013 - WEST ALLIS, Wis. – Ed Carpenter was not pleased with the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet’s performance Friday in qualifying for Saturday’s Milwaukee IndyFest 250-lap main event, the ninth race in the 19-event 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series.

The Indy 500 pole winner worked hard with his engineering staff Friday but the proper settings were not found for his two-lap time trial run at the famed Milwaukee Mile. Carpenter will now start 21st Saturday after clocking a two-lap average of 164.797 miles per hour.

The Butler University grad drove his machine to a 165.051 m.p.h. to opening qualifying speed followed by a 164.543 speed for the 164.797 average.

Carpenter, who started 22th last year at Milwaukee, made an outstanding charge to the front of the field before settling for eighth at the checkered flag. The only team owner/driver in the field hopes for a similar performance Saturday when the green flag drops at 4:30 p.m. EDT.

The Milwaukee IndyFest will be televised live at 4:00 p.m. EDT at the oldest auto racing facility in the U.S. as part of the Wisconsin State Fair Park. The race track is celebrating its 110th year of competition.

Marco Andretti and James Hinchcliffe, both with Andretti Autosport, will make up the front row for the 250-mile event Saturday with speeds of 170.515 m.p.h. and 170.418, respectively.

"The Fuzzy’s Vodka car just hasn’t been as good as we would like it,” said Carpenter, who placed fourth last Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway. "We had a little problem in the morning practice and we lost some valuable track time. But we have been chasing the proper setup all day now. Last year, we didn’t qualifying well but the car worked pretty well in the race. The track here is always a little tricky here and the race is a tough one. We are going an extra 25 laps this time, so I’m hoping we can repeat our run of last year when we fought up to the top-five before finishing eighth.”