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Off Season Activities Keep ECR Plenty Busy

Off Season Activities Keep ECR Plenty Busy

Ed Carpenter
Ed Carpenter Racing
February 2, 2013 @ 11:15 am

There is a racing myth that activity around a racing team slows down when the final checkered flag drops in the season finale.

That might have held true for a couple of weeks at Ed Carpenter Racing and Ed’s victory in the MAVTV 500 at the Auto Club Speedway had everyone really pumped up. But even lead engineer Matt Barnes admitted that his department was already planning the off-season development at the race-winning dinner that September night in Fontana.

“It was funny that after a few beverages at the Fontana-winning dinner that we talked about what to do for the next week on our 2013 program,” said Barnes, who finished his rookie chief engineering season in spectacular fashion at Fontana. “We are fortunate to have a great sponsor in Fuzzy’s Vodka to get us a budget to plan out the 2013 off-season. We were able to jump on our projects immediately after the Fontana season finale.”

As the ECR/Fuzzy’s team enjoyed its respective vacation time, the crew returned to the Indianapolis-based team headquarters with a renewed attitude that included a new fitness program. Led by trainer Aaron Feldman, St. Vincent Sports Performance, one of the nation’s leading sports fitness facilities that fields NFL, NBA, MLB and college sports athletes, has housed the ECR crew’s daily workouts. Those fitness tasks are not just restricted to Ed and his “over-the-wall” crew members. The entire team worked out four times a week for an hour each session in developing a stronger performance for the 19-race IZOD IndyCar Series.

Like the engineering department, each ECR team facet was inspected and a solid direction was determined for the off-season work.

Sure, that day-to-day grind during the racing campaign can be tough for a team. There are long hours at each track, travel and not much down time. But fans would be surprised at the hours put in from October to March at ECR.

Carpenter and his lead management team of Derrick Walker (general manager), Tim Broyles (team manager), Barnes (lead engineer) and Bret Schmitt (crew chief) work closely in formulating a game plan for the off-season once the overall 2013 budget is confirmed. And nothing is passed over when it comes to preparation for 2013.

Testing on and off the track is just a small portion of the off-season development. Even logistics coordinators Matt Giese and Jeff Hughes completely revamp the transportation units and rebuild the inside of the massive race car transporter. And it’s all hands on deck to rework the trailer’s new flooring and other projects in the transportation fleet as well as update the shop equipment and facilities.

“We have to do a lot of things in the off-season that we just can’t get to when the season is on,” said Broyles. “It’s pretty much non-stop for the crew once the first of March hits, so we are able to work around the shop and catch up on all of the little things that don’t get attention in the summer. We are a smaller team from other IndyCar operations, so we have guys crossing over and assisting in many areas in the off-season. But this team has a great group of hard workers with experience. That helps us.”

Broyles, Walker and Carpenter felt this off-season would be much easier than 2012 when the team was just starting up. There wasn’t a full lineup of crew members this time last year and just getting the equipment together to go testing was a big chore. This year’s off-season is much more organized at ECR.

“I’ll be honest, it was a big thrash last year at this time,” said Carpenter, the only driver/team owner in the IZOD IndyCar Series. “Plus the series had new cars and engines. We were just trying to put the new car together so we could get to the first test in Sebring. The crew was trying to get their hands around the new chassis. It just wasn’t an easy adventure for everyone.”

But ECR constructed a solid lineup of crew members with veterans like Jimmy Johnson, Chris Hogue, Nick Cooper, Paul Hicks, Albert Gray and Steve Krock and engineers like Barnes, Brent Harvey, Joe Howard and Ed Delporte. The crew blended together by mid-season and Barnes and his engineering staff began finding a “sweet spot” with new chassis.

Strong performances on the ovals at Texas, Milwaukee, Iowa and, of course, at the Fontana finale put the ECR/Fuzzy’s squad in the contender ranks in its very first season.

So, the 2013 off-season has already seen a variety of testing in the wind tunnel, gearbox, shaker-rig as well as on track running. And Ed has even been in the special Dallara Simulator in Italy to work on 2013 setups.

“It’s amazing the work we have accomplished this off-season,” said Carpenter. “Last year, we were just trying to collect parts and pieces. Now we have not changed our crew members and even added some people for 2013. I am very proud of the team’s growth last year and the off-season has seen the team continue the progression. I know we’ll be more prepared for the start of the 2013 trail.”