Visiting the Indianapolis Home of Ed Carpenter | Golden Badge

[Music] [Music] hey welcome back to another edition of the gold badge home edition if you will brought to you by Chapman heating air conditioning and plumbing my name is Jake query from 935 1075 The Fan this man needs no introduction when it comes to the Indianapolis 500s 20 starts now right going for 21 right be 21 hopefully Ed Carpenter uh will be legal actually this year for his Indie 500 starts the guy cares Chevrolet car number 20 for Ed carpenter racing and we're here at your north side I'm going to say EST State okay but this beautiful home that you have we call it a compound a compound compound okay so I got to thinking about it and I thought you know what I'm I was just going to talk to you about the Indie 500 and then I thought with all of the memorabilia here and with all the work that you've put into this beautiful compound I thought it'd be more fun to just walk around and talk and see stuff yeah yeah it sounds good to me I've lived here since the mid 90s essentially other than my time away at Butler and Heather and I lived a couple other places before before we came back home so we can talk about it and show you some of the property all right so we're going to show it off the the long time now 20 plus year residence in Indianapolis of the pride of Indianapolis and Paris Illinois but we'll get to that of Ed Carpenter it's all coming up here on the golden badge okay this kind of says it all Ed Carpenter's man cave now here's the thing and I noticed you have all the Rings right here we've seen other drivers that have each year you get a ring right correct yeah start Rings now what's interesting to me is of all the stuff that you have in here only probably 50% of it's racing related you got kind of a all kinds of sports in here right I feel yeah I feel like there's too much me in here already it's you know and it says my man cave it's really uh the boys you know Crews our youngest I actually just replaced the rim on that Papa shot a couple weeks ago because the one on there no he took so many shots and Bricks evidently that that's right like broke one of the supports stuff we collect in here what's your favorite thing that you have in here like if the one thing that is the most special to you would be what uh I don't know I'm not a super sentimental guy um you know this this picture is probably one of my favorite things actually this was the picture from when ECR won its first race in 2012 my whole family is represented uh my mom's over here so this is in California yeah this is at Fontana Tony's over there Cruz is in Heather's belly still rder in McKenna so everyone was there we were fuzzy car at the time it was Fuzzy Victory Lane but that was a big moment for for the team so I noticed you have stuff that kind of represents you know Butler you're very linked to Butler obviously right and just Indianapolis in general you know you this city for you I mean I know what it means right yeah but is it weird for you now because you're no longer the owning family of the speedway and now you're kind of on the you know you're like the rest of us right I think it's less weird for me just because my whole life and mo all of my career I've been on the participant side of it so you know I think a long time for a long time a lot of people expected that eventually I would go work there that was never really what I wanted to do or my plan I wanted to be on the competition side so you know I've been doing the same thing from when our family owned it to now with with pinsky's stewardship so for me not not as much changed as other members of my family okay so let's let's walk around here here's one of the things I really like um and I I'm actually very envious of this so this just looks like a normal coffee table but it's a little bit different right yeah yeah so this was uh a gift from the race team they made three of them actually they made like five we have a couple at the shop but they gave one to myself Tony and Stuart the three owners of the team they try to do something cool every year but this is definitely one of the coolest so this is a Firestone Tire and then it lists on the side every Firestone everybody that's won the 8500 W on firestones right which is majority right which is the majority you know and Firestone you know just in terms of the Rel liability great partner right yeah I mean it's the only race Tire I've ever driven at the speedway and hopefully it stays that way so you got some trophies over here is that right a few not not a ton most most of them are at the race shop so when you look at the trophies that you have here's just a random shoe I shouldn't say random there's probably some me door fell off that cabinet last week I haven't fixed that yet so so why these trophies I mean you have other trophies that you could pick what makes these special uh I mean that was my first Indie Car win there for Kentucky um the peak pole award was my first Indie Car poll at Kentucky uh just random stuff the 500 thing up there rookies get at the speedway which it used to have all the flags on it my kids over the years kind of destroyed those so those need replaced were they race by the way uh no no that ship sailed really they're hockey players hence the the pop a shot over there and then you've got a Pacer basketball I know what the Pacers mean to you right yeah it's kind of cool to have Pacers Racers again right yeah it's awesome I hope I hope they make it a a real series and it last a while what's the the is this symbolic the shoe no I think Heather just sat it there it was laying around so she just made it part of the decor I have no idea what that sh and I noticed you have several things signed by PT Manning which is an institution if you're from Indianapolis but yeah that was actually a gift from my dad so there's a there's a pton an an Eli actually um and then there's some footballs up there a Payton football and a Eli football that came with those helmets see that was just a gift but you know cool cool Collectibles when when the speedway was sold and your family is is handing over as you said stewardship to Roger Pensky see if that's me I go in the last night and I take everything that I possibly can it was pretty organized that there was I was going to say was there anything that you wanted though where you're like come on we got to be able to to maintain claim of that no I didn't really I didn't really think of it that way you know there was there was certain things that I think family did want you know they split out some of the some of the cars that were there weren't Speedway owned or Museum Foundation own their family cars so you know some of that stuff got pulled out that was you know historical to the family before the sale but you know for me I I've always felt like the speedway belongs to everybody you know I mean I know how much you care about it you know everyone that participates in it as a driver team owner media everybody feels like it's part theirs which is what makes it so special so how how soon before all that went down did you I mean obviously know about it I mean that that that was taking place for how long in the works I mean there was conversations about it probably for a couple years but it never really got serious you know and and Tony and Roger both told the story of Tony approaching Roger at lagona and you know that was the first inkling of a conversation with him and it it went pretty rapidly from there so for you do you think in other words was that the kind of thing where if it wasn't Roger Pensky would it have been would it still have been shipped out there or was it because it was the possibility that it being Roger Pensky uh I don't I don't totally know how to answer that I think the reason why I don't think the discussions ever fully went all the way before was the family wasn't comfortable with who was maybe interested and everyone felt comfortable you know with Roger being the the next one to take on the the stewardship do you still have secret codes and stuff to get in there I I never had secret codes you don't have the password have to remember my garage code you know when we when we get out there this week uh okay so you guys have this as you call it compound it's beautiful here on the north side of Indianapolis you live here with most of your family lives in this area right everyone but my sister and she's just down the road so yeah my parents are here I'm here my brother Heather and I have three kids my brother has three boys so there's always something going on here so can we see it can we walk around and see where you like go fishing absolutely canoeing and everything else around here all right we we'll continue doing that on the home visit with Ed Carpenter Ed carpenter racing guy care Chevrolet number 20 and the 108 indianapol 500 okay so you you have water here this is how many acres take take me through just kind of this land cuz it's beautiful obviously but but was did you come upon it or you said it was all came together right it's a family compound so my parents bought the property in the mid 90s it was originally meant to be a four or five home small subdivision and there was only one house built when Tony bought the house he just bought the other Lots um and so for a long time it was just one house in the back and we built the barn for my sister's horses and that was it like this was all pasture at one point for the horses and then around 2012 my parents didn't want their big house anymore you know they were kind of planning for their their future and they thought about selling it at one point but didn't get any serious offers and they didn't really want to leave so we decided to kind of start over and my parents built a new house up front we built here and my brother built the house right there so if you come home too late at night you get in trouble cuz like they know now right well that's why you know obviously my parents had first choice of where to build and they said they wanted to build up front and I was like why do you want to build up front like by the road and they're like no we don't want to have to drive by all your guys crap like kids stuff and so they just stay up front but yeah Tony's office is like he can see the gate and you know even though I'm 43 years old if I'm leaving at like 9:30 at night he'll call me and be like where you going what are you doing so but it's but it's nice you know it works for our family I don't know that it would work for everybody but you know it's great it's great for the kids notice that you have we have an observer here I don't know if you can see it or not but you've got a you got a duck that's just hanging out over there couple of can geese it looks like there's a couple geese there's three Ducks over there one of them is permanent uh Gary He's not I wouldn't say he's tame he's like a wild duck uh but he lives here year round he never leaves he get How old uh I think three or four I can't remember my my mom got a duck for each grandchild several years ago and the circle of life got all of them but Gary He's a he's a Survivor where does Gary go in the winter time um so there's like you can see that little structure over there that was a chicken coop at one point in time um no chickens anymore but he kind of he I don't know totally where he hangs out but that's where he gets fed so he he may sleep in there okay I I knew nothing about the wintertime dwelling of ducks right yeah um okay so then around here do you ever go in in the water and do you ever you have a like a paddle boat you take out uh we do have some kayaks there's one over there under old Treehouse um the boys will fish out of the kayak my nephew Tony loves to fish and my son youngest son Cruz so they they fish a ton um I've been in mostly by accident a couple times but mostly it just gets used for for fishing you know when when you think about Ed the just day-to-day life for you I mean you're you're owning a team you're trying to get cars up to speed whether it be at India in the month of May or the rest of the season how important is it to have a place like this where it is quiet it's calm yeah it's I mean it's it's fantastic you know it's one it's been home for most of my life I lived at some other places but you know I've I've lived in in this vicinity pretty much my whole life so you know it's it's nice we're really lucky Heather's family her sister and parents are just a mile down the road my parents are obviously right next door so um you know we have a ton of support with with our family we're all all very close you know most holidays happen here um you know so it's it's nice to have have so much support around when you're running the race you know I think we've probably talked about this before but do you feel pressure is maybe the wrong word but the representation of Indianapolis because I think for so many people it would be so cool to see someone from Indianapolis winning the Indie 500 yeah it hasn't happened in a long time but I I wouldn't say there's pressure from it I I feel support you know I think the the encouragement you get from from the local fans and just how uplifting they are you know it's it's a big part of what keeps me motivated and coming back what's your favorite part of the month I mean oh man that's one we get asked all the time and I could probably give a different answer every time I mean I love opening day just cuz we we're getting back on track qualifying is it own experience it can be really fun it can be you know not fun as well if you're not running well um but I I would say you know one of the probably the parade is one of my favorite days and events just because it's something that my family can take part in yeah you know for kids go have always gone to school here obviously so you see so many friends and acquaintances throughout the parade and you know it's really fun for my kids to see their friends and you know you know where everyone sits you know over over the course of time so that's one of the the high points just something we do as a family so the Night Before the Race I mean you're here right yeah we come you don't you don't stay out at the track you just spend the night here and then no I stay at the track but we we kind of turn our house over to close friends and and family um so we we used to go out to dinner just a small group I kind of a long time ago got out of the habit of doing any media on the Night Before the Race um so for while we would just go get a table at a restaurant and it our group grew as we got older and you you make more friends like from you know friends you get from kids schools and sports and so we kind of outgrew going to a restaurant so we started just catering in a dinner here it's pretty casual um we're walking back to kind of the pool area now so we do it back here kids are swimming people are hanging out uh I think the party goes on well after Heather and I go back to the track for the evening uh is mind racing the whole time pardon the pun but yeah yeah it's definitely that's the nice thing about doing it here is there's a ton of people here that everyone knows each other and I kind of just grab a seat and hang out and relax and getting hydrated and preparing for the day but it's also you know relaxing for me to be around family and friends have you ever had a year yet where you're going to the track on Race morning and you truly feel that every box has been check or is there always something that you're thinking to yourself that's the one last thing we got to get to uh you know I think there's there's been a couple years where I really felt like we were the dominant Factor um you know more more years than not I feel confident that we have all the tools to get it done and there's been you know a few where I was Gravely concerned that you know we weren't going to have a great day but you know it's a 500 mile race had I've had surprising races when I didn't think it was going to go well and I've had bad races when I thought it was going to go well so you have to be prepared to to go out and fight no matter how your month's gone up to that point 20 starts if I'm not mistaken I think six top fives yeah wrong that a runner up finish runner up which hurts more the runner-up finish or a race where you you feel really good and then something happens and you end up finishing 17 20th uh I'd say it's pretty similar like finishing second's hard you know I think will beat me like one and a half seconds so when you start dissecting how you could have gotten or how you lost one and a half seconds over 500 Miles like you can kind of make yourself crazy with that you know 2014 when I James and Townsen and I crashed you know that's equally devastating cuz you know I really felt like we had the dominant car that year um they're both tough how long after a race goes away from you do you get over it I mean I mean you come back here it's got to help right yeah it helps I would say you kind of have to move on pretty quick cuz we go to Detroit but at the same time like depending on your mood and what you're thinking about they it also lingers a long time so it's kind of both like some days you've moved on some days you dwell in the past a little bit um you know for me a lot of it's just thinking back from things that we've done well not done well you know as we're preparing for for the next one where you kind of it not in a negative way but just reliving it just to to be better you know no matter what happens Gary doesn't care right no Gary yeah he's he has no clue what I do I don't think your family doesn't care right that's that's what matters the most they love me either way but but you obviously have been a focal point for 20 years at this race your family's been an epicenter of news with this track for you know obviously going back to the 40s right tell me something about Ed Carpenter or your family that your surprise has never been asked about and that you've never actually divulg and you're kind of surprised that nobody knows it and that's a that's a hard-hitting tough question um I don't know you know I I think we're obviously a unique family you know but I would say we're I would say we're about as normal as it gets you know we we still spend every holiday together you know we have in the summertime we have a ton of meals here together you know we're we're just a really really close family that enjoys being together and that includes Tony George of course yep that includes your sister right M yourself and then you know obviously how many how many kids and grandkids did you say yeah so my brother what he's got four I or he has three I have three and my sister has two so we're up to eight grandkids now all right so it's always eight grandkids yeah it's always busy you know literally and I've got two nieces that live close by you know so this is kind of where we're standing this is the spot like every day in this in the summer spring summer when I get home from work pretty much just come back here and there's someone someone hanging out somebody to hang out with and Gary and Gary all right okay Ed Carpenter guy care car number 20 for Ed Carpenter Chevrolet and that is just one of a couple of cars that you're going to have in the field right yeah correct myself Reus and uh Christian Ras Christi rason the rookie and Reus VK who is a perennial front row starter right yeah he's all but one time so far so we'll keep our eye on all of them a trio of cars for Ed Carpenter and then after the race I'm sure they'll be back here enjoying it and maybe enjoying some milk with that Gary would like milk this has been a home visit of the golden badge with Ed Carpenter and you're watching it courtesy of Chapman heating air conditioning and plumbing 935 and 1075 the B

Channel: 1075 the Fan

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Id: gHGuJWSXJvU

Length: 20min 1sec (1201 seconds)

Published: Sat May 11 2024