NHRA Top Fuel champion Brown meets Indy 500 pole sitter Ed Carpenter at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Reigning NHRA Top Fuel champion Antron Brown was the special guest of IZOD IndyCar Series driver Ed Carpenter on Wednesday. Carpenter is the pole sitter for Sunday’s 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 at famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Brown, driver of the Matco Tools dragster for Don Schumacher Racing and winner of two NHRA Mello Yello Series races this season, met with Carpenter and members of his Fuzzy’s Vodka team on Wednesday afternoon in the garage area at the home of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

Brown listened as Carpenter explained the controls of his IndyCar and described what it’s like to race before Brown climbed into Carpenter’s machine that earned the pole for Sunday’s prestigious race at an average speed of 228.762 mph.

“It was incredible just to sit in his car,” Brown said. “He showed me the ins and outs of the car and we talked about my 10,000-horsepower Matco Tools dragster. There were similarities between the two, with all of the technology and safety that goes into it.

“I did fit pretty comfortably in his car but they wouldn’t let me on track with it. Ed and I go way back to my early days racing Pro Stock Motorcycle when we both had shops over on Gasoline Alley near IMS. It was great to see Ed and his team and I wish them all the best for Sunday’s race.”

Carpenter, 32, like Brown, resides in the Indianapolis area and pilots the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka car in the IZOD IndyCar Series. He has two career IndyCar Series wins at Kentucky Speedway (2011) and California Speedway (2012).

Brown, 37, currently ranks third in the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel standings as the series heads to Brown’s home track, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., for the ninth of 24 races. Brown is a two-time Pro Stock Motorcycle winner at Raceway Park.