IHRA WORLD FINALS QUALIFYING REPORT

-Though he missed qualifying for the elimination rounds, Carpenter ended the IHRA season in a positive way. During the first qualifying session on Friday, Carpenter reset his career-best elapsed time with a run of 6.335-seconds. His previous best was a 6.346-second set just three weeks ago at Maryland International Raceway. Then on Saturday, in the final qualifying round he then ran off a blistering 6.273-second pass to lower his personal mark a second time this weekend. Carpenter also established a personal best in the speed category with a 224.81-mph run in round three, smashing his prior best of 222.84 by nearly two mph.

-The story of the weekend at the World Finals is the phenomenal times of the Pro Mod field. For the second consecutive year, the World Finals have been the site of fastest field in Pro Modified history. With 58 cars making qualifying runs, the slowest car in the elimination rounds clocked a 6.244-second run. This annihilated the previous record for the fastest field at 6.303-seconds set during last year’s event.

-The Friday evening qualifying session was halted, literally, halfway through the Pro Modified class when rain cancelled the activities for the evening. Carpenter and his teammate Pat Doherty were both sitting in the staging lanes when the storm struck. They had to make their second run on Saturday morning in conditions that were not as good as those from the prior night, and using the nighttime setup. This resulted in eight burned pistons and a midday thrash to rebuild the engine. For various reasons, Carpenter rebuilt the engine three times over the past few days.

Charles Carpenter Quote:

"I don’t think I have ever been this excited about a race I didn’t qualify for. I can remember back when it was astonishing to run a 6.27 in an eighth-mile. Now 20 years later we are running these same times over a full quarter-mile. We had the right setup tonight along with terrific track and weather conditions. It is just amazing that you can lay down a number like a 6.27 and still not make the field. That goes to show just how competitive this IHRA Pro Mod class has become, and what an accomplishment it is just to make it to the elimination rounds."

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