INDYCAR: Ed Carpenter Chasing Indianapolis 500 Dream as Owner, Driver

There are ten full-time IndyCar teams that have their sights set on winning the Indianapolis 500 every year. While the 16 other races on the calendar are important, they obviously pale in comparison to this iconic event. The drivers are almost always the main focus, but the team owners are fully invested in everything that goes into the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Roger Penske has dominated this event, with an unprecedented 18 victories. Chip Ganassi's organization went to victory lane for the fifth time last year. Michael Andretti has a long history of rotten luck in this race as a driver, but he has also been able to celebrate five times as a team owner. Michael Shank won his first as a team owner two years ago, with the historic fourth Indy 500 win for Helio Castroneves. Both AJ Foyt and Bobby Rahal have been able to win the marquee event as both a driver and an owner.

That is an extremely exclusive club that Ed Carpenter would love to join. Carpenter has long been a fan favorite in this race, as a native Hoosier should be. The Butler University graduate will make his 20th start at Indy next weekend, in hopes of finally capturing that elusive victory. Should he pull off the feat this year, Carpenter would smash the record for most starts before finding victory lane. The record is currently held by Sam Hanks, who made 13 starts before finally winning the 1957 race.

With three Indy 500 poles to his credit, Carpenter has shown that he has the speed in his cars to contend for wins. Rinus VeeKay is a prime example of that, too. Yesterday the 21-year old ECR driver qualified on the front row for the third year in a row, and has never started worse than 4th in this race. The bad news is the driver starting 2nd has only won this race once since 1970.

The trio of Carpenter, VeeKay, and Conor Daly have shown flashes of brilliance in the last few years, but something has always gone sideways on race day. Carpenter will be the first to tell you that the track picks the winner each year, and it just wasn't meant to be for his organization. He just missed out on the top 12 in qualifying, and will start from the inside of Row 5 on Sunday.

With three top-five results, including a runner-up finish in 2018, Ed is certainly capable of getting the job done. He has led 146 laps at Indianapolis, but leading Lap 200 is his ultimate goal. Any one of these drivers could be drinking milk at the end of this month.

Winning as a team owner would definitely mean the world to Carpenter, but crossing the finish line first as a driver would be truly special. Seven drivers born in the state of Indiana have gone on to win the Indianapolis 500. The last to do so was Wilbur Shaw, who went on to become one of the legends of the speedway. As Carpenter's driving career begins to wind down, the pressure to win picks up a little more with each passing year.

While he plans to wear his ownership hat for many years to come, Ed understands that the window is closing on his shot to win this race from the driver's seat. Should he find victory lane, he would be the first to do so carrying the number 33 on his car. Carpenter was born on 3/3 and has 3 IndyCar wins along with his 3 Indy 500 poles. The number 33, which is synonymous with this race, just fits him.

There have been some popular wins in this race that spans more than a century. When Tony Kanaan won after 12 years of trying, the entire town of Speedway celebrated. The fourth win for Castroneves was historic. A Carpenter win would send 400,000 people into a frenzy inside the confines of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Until that happens, Carpenter will keep strapping on his helmet and making sure his team is fully prepared for the Month of May.