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Dominant NEMA Victory
Key in Carpenter's Plans
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Kyle Carpenter will be the first
Northeastern Midget Association driver afforded the opportunity to take the “Synergyn Challenge.” NEMA will begin its 19-race 2003
season April 5-6 at Thompson Speedway’s Icebreaker
Carpenter, 19, was last season’s Most Improved driver and returns for his third NEMA
campaign.
Should Carpenter, the winner at last fall’s World Series, elect to start scratch and
win at the Icebreaker, he will collect $500 from Synergyn,
the producer of oil and lubricants. The challenge is to win two straight, coming from the
last starting spot the second time using Synergyn products. It is one of several added
incentives on the 2003 NEMA/Wirtgen agenda.
The Gloucester, MA-based Carpenters – Kyle and father/owner Brad – return with
“the same chassis (Hawk), the same motor (Snyder) working with the same notes.”
In addition to the win, the team, part of the heralded 2001 Rookie class, had 11 top-10
finishes en route to fifth place finishes in the final standings.
“We would like to get a win that’s real convincing,” says Kyle.
“Everybody knows we won at the World Series. We put ourselves in a position to win
but we were not the dominant car. [The win] was good because I had to drive real smart to
get it, but I want to go out and hands down be the car to beat.”
It has Carpenter, a student at North Shore Community College, fired up. “Through the
off season,” he continues, “I’ve thought about the win and aspiring to do
something better. It has made me dig harder and really look forward to the season.”
According to Carpenter “NEMA is a very good place to be right now” and he bases
that on lessons learned from three “non-wing” road trips in 2002 – an ARCA
race in Toledo, a NAMARS race at Sandusky and a USAC event at South Boston.
“The other clubs think NEMA is one of the strongest Midget clubs going,” said
Carpenter. “We were shocked to know how many people know about NEMA, how highly they
think about it. I remember sitting in the rain in Toledo and everybody talking about our
club, our strength, our car counts.”
Carpenter won a heat and finished fifth at Sandusky. Despite limited practice (battery box
problems), he qualified 21st and finished 11th in Virginia. Ryan Dolan and Howie Bumpus
also made the trip.
“It was great hearing all those big names you hear on TV,” adds Carpenter,
“but then we came back home to race Drew and Nokie Fornoro, Russ Stoehr, Bobby
Seymour. They’ve got way more experience than anybody [in the other clubs]. Racing is
more gratifying than going someplace else.”
Carpenter is proud to be associated with the other 2001 rookies and continues to learn
from them. “Every time you go on the track you learn,” says Carpenter, who
“picked up” a ton of knowledge chasing eventual winner Drew Fornoro for many
laps last year at Oswego. “I find myself critiquing others and I think I’ve
learned the most from the younger guys, seeing the mistakes they make.”
He came to Midgets after four f successful Go Kart seasons, taking advantage of
NEMA’s lowering the minimum driving age to 16. He is “extremely happy” with
where he is now.
“Before I got into the Midgets,” he says, “I thought about Winston Cup.
Now, I see how everything works and I’ve run a few non-wing shows, I know this is
where I want to be. I love the Midgets, the open-wheels. I love the idea of Midgets,
Sprints and Silver Crown with a fulltime sponsor.”
Another win at Thompson, where Brad has so much history, would be special. Brad spent many
years with the legendary Bentley Warren. “I’ve heard all the stories,” says
Kyle, “so while all the NEMA tracks are great, Thompson and Oswego are special
places. I’d really love to get one at Oswego.”
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