CHARLES CARPENTER SPEAKS: THE CRASH
well end up on
one of those wild video reality shows showing spectacular accidents.
That’s of little solace to the man who made a name driving really fast
1955 Chevrolets. Carpenter was involved in a first round accident where his car became uncontrollable at the finish line, impacted the wall, became airborne and then came crashing down on all-four wheels.
Let the record reflect that four-link, Pro Modified race vehicles make for poor off-road, 4X4 vehicles.
Carpenter is sore and downright miserable physically, a byproduct of the accident.
“I'm feeling pretty rough,” Carpenter said, moving gingerly after being diagnosed with fractured T7 vertebrae. “I just think everyday gets worse. I guess stuff just shows up. It just wrenched me around so bad I'm hurting pretty bad all over.”
Veteran Pro Mod Icon Grants First Interview Since Houston Crash …
Charles Carpenter realizes that his experience last Saturday evening at the ADRL season-opener at Houston Raceway Park may very
Carpenter was involved in a first round accident where his car became uncontrollable at the finish line, impacted the wall, became airborne and then came crashing down on all-four wheels.
Let the record reflect that four-link, Pro Modified race vehicles make for poor off-road, 4X4 vehicles.
Carpenter is sore and downright miserable physically, a byproduct of the accident.
“I'm feeling pretty rough,” Carpenter said, moving gingerly after being diagnosed with fractured T7 vertebrae. “I just think everyday gets worse. I guess stuff just shows up. It just wrenched me around so bad I'm hurting pretty bad all over.”
Carpenter has an appointment with a spine doctor in Charlotte, N.C., to assess the damage to his back.
“Honestly, my back is the least thing that hurts. I hurt in my side, my ribs, up under my arm and stuff like that where it just gives me such a jolt, a side jolt. It's to be expected,” he said. “After seeing all the pictures and everything I really feel pretty good compared to what the pictures look like.
“I'm going to make it; it's just going to take me time.”
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The competitive spirit that burns deep within Carpenter, a three-decades-plus veteran of the sport, prevents him from calling his career
“Oh yeah, I am coming back,” Carpenter proclaimed. “The biggest problem is money, I have no money, but I have so many people calling me offering money, parts and support. We're going to come back. I'm not done. Everyone knows how much I love this.”
The outpouring of support has been overwhelming to the point that a donations account on Paypal has been established.
When his physical condition allows him to take steps towards a return, he will likely find it hard to keep from attempting the break-neck pace he’s maintained throughout the course of his career.
“We believe the car is repairable,” Carpenter said. “Yes, 100 percent I am coming back. Some way or another I am coming back.”
Carpenter can’t say enough about the Terry Murphy-constructed frame surrounding him in the crash.
“The car held up,” Carpenter said. “All the safety features of the car worked great. All the Stroud components, the Bell Helmet, the HANS, everybody's stuff did what it was supposed to do.”
The crash, that’s something he’s played over and over in his mind, trying to desperately grasp some reason that his run went awry.
There was no time to get scared because it happened so fast. The moments leading up to the crash seemed to take forever, but once the accident transpired, a snowball effect ensued.
“It’s the weirdest thing, that car was drifting left, I don't know where at, but I was slowly turning right.” Carpenter admitted.
He replays the accident in his mind, thinking aloud.
“That's the way you drive them [Pro Mods],” Carpenter points out. “This thing is drifting left but I am turning [the steering wheel] right making real small moves, just putting more and more pressure on the steering wheel. I've done it a thousand times. Once it got to a certain point, immediately if it had made its move I would have gotten out of it. That's all you do.
“It never started to make its move back and then when all of a sudden it just made that sudden whip to the right; that's when it was up on two wheels.”
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Carpenter is not one that likes to shift the blame but he can’t help but think the track was slicker than usual.
“There was just no racetrack there,” Carpenter admitted. “That track was so slick out in the middle that when it got out there to the point to where I turned it enough to make it move, the rear end just washed out. Then it let it get up on two wheels.”
Then the questions began.
“Did I drive it too far? Could I have done it different? No. These cars move around a lot,” Carpenter continued. “When you start going that fast and the tires get small, that's just part of it. You just finesse that feeling. If I was driving it again I wouldn't do anything different than I did.”
Could it have been the off-season track preparation that contributed to the feel of the track? Carpenter wonders that very thing.
“I think whatever they did in the grinding procedure,” Carpenter offered, before pausing.
“I don't think the rubber would ever stick to that track. That track actually felt like the [Texas] Motorplex did when it was brand new. When the Texas Motorplex was brand new, all concrete track, if you got out of that groove you were done and that's exactly what it felt like to me.”
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Then there is the major “what if” that continually makes its way into Carpenter’s mind.
What if he had gotten on the other side of the wall?
“I’m afraid my injuries would have been far worse,” he said. “It definitely would have started barrel rolling and of course, those scoreboards were coming up and there's a gully on the other side of that wall. It's an absolute miracle it didn't go over that wall.
“Of all the wrecks I have seen, I've never really seen a car climb a wall like that car did. It just climbed that wall, it just hit it a perfect impact that it just rode right up that K-wall. At the time it was happening I couldn't figure out what in the world it hit. Of course, it knocked the breath out of me. I could see, I was never unconscious, I could see that wall. Why I was seeing it was because it had me nose first looking at it.”
Carpenter has seen the photos and one brief video, all of those examples drive home one significant point.
“I think I am a lucky man,” Carpenter said. “The part that bothers me the most is my son standing there watching it. He and I have had this conversation, if he was in that car, I can't image what you would be thinking. By the same token, it's a testimonial to what we do. I have preached this for 30-plus years, if you wear your safety equipment and you stay in the car and the car stays within the confines of the race track you walk away 90-plus percent of the time.”
Carpenter is certain the experience has made him look at new safety features for the car he returns with.
“The seat insert deal will be the number one thing I do,” Carpenter proclaimed. “I am a safety nut. I wear everything. I wear my belts tight. We're always up on that. I may look at something about the chassis; my leg took a pretty hard hit against the double frame rail and overextended my knee a little bit. I may entertain the idea of a mesh containment device or anything I need to do to keep my leg from swinging. You can't think of everything, but yeah, there will be some things I will change.”
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