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No 67 Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing Honda Dallara driven by Ed Carpenter- Photo Credit: Catchfence Open Wheel Editor: Paul Powell

IZOD IndyCar Drivers In Front of Bellagio Fountain Show

Las Vegas, NV (October 14, 2011)-Sarah Fisher Racing (SFR) drivers Ed Carpenter and Tomas Scheckter took to the 1.5-mile tri-oval of Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) early this afternoon, with a practice session beginning at 1:35pm PDT. Carpenter turned 43 laps during the session, clocking his fastest lap at a speed of 222.397 mph, good enough for 16th place on the speed charts. Carpenter’s teammate, Tomas Scheckter, was also on track for practice in his No. 57 Angie’s List Special, completing 50 laps, and clocking his fastest lap at a speed of 222.901 mph, placing him 8th on the practice speed charts.

Shortly following the final practice session, qualifications set the field for Sunday’s IZOD IndyCar Series World Championship event, the first IndyCar event at LVMS since 1998. Carpenter, in his No. 67 Dollar General machine, wheeled a two-lap average speed of 221.509 mph during the late afternoon qualifying session, which placed him in the 3rd starting position for Sunday’s race, the highest ever starting position for SFR. The yellow and black Dollar General Honda powered Dallara will roll from the inside of Row 2 tomorrow, alongside Alex Tagliani.

SFR driver Tomas Scheckter, a native of Cape Town, South Africa, took to the Superspeedway just moments later, completing his qualifying run with a two-lap average speed of 219.816 mph. The Angie’s List Special will roll off the grid 24th tomorrow, on the outside of Row 12, alongside Townsend Bell.

Sunday’s 300-mile season finale race at LVMS will house the largest starting field on an oval since the 1997 35-car Indianapolis 500, and will play host to one of the most competitive fields of the 2011 season.

Ed Carpenter: “It felt good out there. I was really confident in our race car and qualifying car yesterday in practice, but we had a lot of issues in practice today and really didn’t have a good idea of where we were going to be in qualifying. I almost wondered if we’d even be top ten after the first practice session today. I feel pretty good now knowing that the car still does have speed because I was worried we were maybe losing a little speed, but it came back and we ran about what we thought we could run, so that’s good.”

Tomas Scheckter: “We were great on set-up, so we don’t really know what happened. It’s a bit of a weak qualifying effort to say the least. But I’m really happy, the Angie’s List crew did a great job in practice today…we were P.8, so we’ve got a great racecar and that’s what we’ve got to look at. I’m so happy for the Dollar General car and Ed qualifying right up front. It’s funny because he had problems in practice too and didn’t seem very confident for qualifying and now we’ve swapped around. We’re going to go back and take a look over everything. Everything felt fine, and I had good laps. We just didn’t have the speed.”

About Ed Carpenter:

The 2011 IZOD IndyCar ® Series season marks Ed Carpenter’s eighth year in the series after making his debut at Chicagoland Speedway in 2003.Growing up with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in his backyard with Laura and step-father Tony George as parents, Carpenter was no stranger to racing. Carpenter began racing at eight years old and balanced racing with education throughout much of his career. Earning a Bachelors of Science degree in marketing from Butler University in 2003, Carpenter graduated from Butler just weeks before he won the Freedom 100 Indy Pro Series race at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With a college degree under his belt, Carpenter is now able to focus on several other activities when he’s not racing. Away from the track, Carpenter follows professional football and is an Indianapolis Colts season ticket holder and an enthusiastic Butler Bulldogs supporter. The 29-year old is also an avid cyclist, water skier and enjoys working out. Before he became a regular in the IZOD IndyCar Series, Carpenter was a short track racer in the United States Auto Club (USAC) midget, sprint and Silver Crown Series. 2011 marks his first season with Sarah Fisher Racing (SFR) and Dollar General. Carpenter resides in Indianapolis with his wife, Heather, his daughter Makenna, son Ryder, and their two dogs Bentley (Rottweiler) and Roscoe (Chihuahua).

About Tomas Scheckter:

The native of Cape Town, South Africa made his way up the racing ladder starting out in go-karts in South Africa and then going on to compete in various racing series in Europe from 1997-2001, driving in the British Formula Vauxhall Junior Series, the Formula Nissan Championship, won the Formula Opel Euroseries, and was runner-up in the British Formula 3 Championship. In 2002, Scheckter drove for Red Bull Cheever Racing, winning his first race from pole at Michigan. That year he also won MBNA pole awards a Texas, Kansas and Michigan and was named the Bank One co-Rookie of the year at the Indianapolis 500. The veteran driver finished career-best seventh in the IndyCar Series standings for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, earning five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes and won MBNA Pole Awards at Texas and Michigan. Scheckter competed for Panther Racing in 2004 and 2005. He finished ninth in the IndyCar Series standings for Panther Racing, earning three pole positions (Homestead, Texas, and Nashville) and his second career victory at Texas Motor Speedway. In 2006, he competed for Vision Racing and finished 10th in the IndyCar Series, recording nine top-10 finishes overall. He ran for Vision Racing again in 2007 finishing 10th in the IndyCar Series and recording two top-five and nine top-10 finishes. In 2008, Scheckter competed in six races for Luczo Dragon Racing.

About Sarah Fisher Racing (SFR):

Sarah Fisher Racing (SFR) is an auto racing team that competes in the IZOD IndyCar® Series, founded by IZOD IndyCar Series veteran racer, Sarah Fisher. Fisher announced plans to become the IZOD IndyCar Series first female owner/driver and the youngest team owner on February 27, 2008, at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS). The team competed in three events in 2008, grew 100 percent in 2009 to six races and competed in fifteen total events in 2010, during the team’s first season initiating a two-car effort. With backing from Dollar General, SFR has announced plans to run an abbreviated schedule in 2011 competing in nine events, with Ed Carpenter the No. 67. For more information, please visit Sarah Fisher Racing online at www.sarahfisherracing.com.

- Sarah Fisher Racing, Press Release