Ed Carpenter: There's no big secret to oval success (VIDEO) - MotorSportsTalk

Prior to the Indianapolis 500 last month, Ed Carpenter had not been in a Verizon IndyCar Series race for more than seven months.

Part of that is due to the fact that over the off-season, the American chose to put Mike Conway in his No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet for the road/street races while he would drive solely on ovals.

But even with the long layoff from racing, Carpenter was in contention to win at Indianapolis until his crash with James Hinchcliffe. Then at Texas Motor Speedway last night, he bolstered his reputation as one of the best oval racers in the series with a Firestone 600 win.

However, Carpenter insisted that there’s no magical secret behind his oval success despite not always being in the car.

“I work hard all year round,” he said after leading Will Power to the checkered flag at TMS. “I train in my office and in the shop every day. I mean, what I said before Indy, no one had run an oval since [the season finale at] Fontana, and we’d tested as much as anyone. I’ll be testing twice this week. So just because you’re not in a car doesn’t mean you can’t be prepared.

“I’m engaged with the team every day. I don’t feel I’m missing anything. I mean, I’d like to run more races always, but I’m happy to run the ones I am and want to make the most of it…Every time we get in the car, I feel like Mike and I both have a chance to win right now with the job the team is doing for us.”

Carpenter’s win is the second of the year for ECR after Conway earned his second career win on the street course at Long Beach back in April. With their combined efforts, the No. 20 is finding its way up front more often.

But what about the future? Would Carpenter contemplate changing his current team set-up to go after a driver’s championship?

As it turns out, he would think about it – when the time is right.

“We’d love to go to a team when we have the opportunity,” he said. “But at the same time, we want to be able to grow at our own pace and do it in a way that’s going to allow us to continue to do things the way we’re doing them now, which we feel like is working.”

Indeed, Carpenter believes that his team is perfectly fine the way it is for now.

“You know, I wouldn’t trade any one person on our team for any other person up and down pit lane,” he said. “We’ve got a good group of people, and I think we’re able to show that on track right now.

“Like I keep saying, I’m really proud of the whole team, the whole effort, the whole group. It’s a great team to be a part of. We have a lot of fun, and it’s even more fun when you’re winning.”

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Vicki Golden has earned a career worthy of a thousand stories and 805 Beer tells at least one of them, as “Inverted Perspective” premiered March 30 on the company’s website and YouTube channel.

Golden did more to break the glass ceiling in SuperMotocross than she ever thought possible. She knows this because riders have never felt the need to explain any of her accomplishments with the disclaimer, “for a girl”.

At this point in Golden’s career, she’s been the first woman to finish top 10 in AMA Arenacross Lites, the first woman to qualify in the Fast 40 in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the first woman to compete in freestyle Moto X competition, earning a bronze medal by doing so.

Her love for moto came from childhood while she watched her dad and brother ride. By seven she was on her bike and making waves throughout Southern California.

Golden, 30, is still madly in love with the sport and has no plans on moving away but her career is already one to talk about. 805 Beer’s film series wanted to do exactly that.

“I’m taken aback by it all,” Golden told NBC Sports about the documentary. “It’s just crazy to see your story, it’s one thing to live your life and battle everything that comes about but it’s another to just sit there and talk about it.”

805 approached Golden about the feature by asking, “Do you even realize that what you do, and your story is special?”

Golden took the question as a blank canvas to map out the highs and lows of her career and life.

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The title “Inverted Perspective” came from a brainstorming session with Dominick Russo and it highlights Golden’s outlook on the sport of SuperMotocross and her life in general.

“My whole life, my whole career was thinking differently and looking at things that shouldn’t be done and aren’t there, while being able to make a place for myself, where no one thought there should be a place,” Golden said. “It’s inspiring someone to think in different ways. It sums up my life.”

*Vicki Golden is not “fast for a girl”; she’s just fast. – 805 Beer*

While Golden is no stranger to the spotlight, this was the first time she’s been fully involved with the storytelling and creation of a feature about herself.

“It’s not like a full new experience,” Golden said. “Obviously, you get your standard questions about your upbringing and accomplishments, but I’ve never really put into perspective things that happened in my past with my dad and putting that to light. Also, certain other things that maybe got overlooked in previous interviews or films. I wanted to touch on these and Dom wanted to create a story. It’s just cool to see it come to light, it’s a nearly impossible thing to tell somebody’s life story in 40 minutes.”

Golden’s father was left paralyzed after an ATV accident, robbing him the opportunity to ride again. This happened a few months before the father-daughter duo was set to compete in the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals when Vicki was 12. While she might have been unable to grasp the severity at the time, it’s something she carries with her. Golden continues to ride in his honor.

Years later, an accident in 2018 nearly sidelined the then 25-year-old Vicki when a freestyle accident almost resulted in the amputation of her lower leg.

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Golden 805 Beer — *Vicki Golden has ridden a variety of disciplines in SuperMotocross, which gives her a unique perspective. – 805 Beer*

“Inverted Perspective” highlights her father’s diligence in helping Vicki continue with her career and the kindness and strength he carried while fighting his own battle.

“My dad was the entire reason that I started riding in the first place,” Golden said. “So, to honor his memory and to honor what we went through and how hard he pushed to keep our dream alive and keep everything going – in that sense then, it was really special to be able to honor him and talk about him.”

The 40-minute feature was filmed entirely in black and white, a stark contrast from the oversaturated world of motocross where the brighter the suit the easier it is for fans to find their rider and follow him in the race. By filming in monochrome Russo and Golden had the chance to focus on the race and track from a different perspective.

“It was cool to be able to film it differently,” Golden said. “It created a challenge in the sense of what was going to be more visually impactful for the film.

“I couldn’t be here without the companies that back me but at the same time, it’s not like the logos or colors disappeared, it’s just different lights shed on different spots. It’s just a cool way to do it and to take color away and still be impactful. When you think of black and white, you think of old school, the OG way of doing things.”

Ed Carpenter: There’s no big secret to oval success (VIDEO)

Vicki Golden and 805 Beer tell a unique story from an Inverted Perspective

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