Drag Illustrated Issue 164, January 2021 | Page 26

Dirt

CHARLES CARPENTER
have caused the blocked artery that led to the stroke . It wasn ’ t caused by a clot that could move or cause another stroke , but by 100 % blockage that formed over time . The legendary Pro Mod driver has suffered a couple major crashes during the course of his career , and one of those incidents may have created a silently ticking time bomb .
“ It may have been from the wreck I had at the Houston ADRL race [ in 2009 ],” Carpenter says . “ That was a pretty violent crash . But they don ’ t know for sure . They don ’ t have a way to test it to be sure , but they think it is some kind of neck issue , damage in my carotid artery somewhere . These cars are harsh , but I can ’ t think of anything I ’ d done recently that would cause it .”
Despite the major health event , Carpenter is determined to make a complete recovery to the point that he can return to competition in his nitrous-fed ’ 68 Camaro . In just a handful of appearances in 2020 , Carpenter was racing sideby-side with the full-time , top-tier nitrous Pro Modified teams in the PDRA ’ s Pro Nitrous class . He was recording career-best numbers in the 3.70-second range with his 908ci engine , often out-qualifying drivers with 959ci powerplants .
“ The racing is my biggest goal to get back out there ,” Carpenter says . “ That ’ s been my whole life since I was a kid . I want to get back to it again . I feel like I will be able to . It ’ s going to take a lot of work . I just want to get back to where we were .”
The next step on Carpenter ’ s road to recovery is more physical therapy . He ’ s also working through some newfound back pain .
“ I ’ ve had some back injuries show up that I didn ’ t even know I had ,” Carpenter says . “ In my lower back I ’ ve got some herniated discs and I have a lot of back pain . It ’ s
just trying to get all this stuff back in check . I never have downtime like this . When you have downtime , you have time for things to hurt .”
Through this experience , Carpenter has realized he has the whole drag racing community in his corner . Thousands of people offered prayers and well-wishes whenever Carpenter ’ s son and DI Chief Operating Officer , Mike , would post updates on Facebook . Hundreds of get-well-soon cards poured in and were hung up in his hospital room . Fellow Pro Nitrous competitor Jay Cox , who Carpenter has credited for his tuning advice in recent years , had a “ Get Well Charles ” message written on the rear windshield of his “ Pumpkin ”
’ 69 Camaro during the PDRA World Finals in mid-October .
“ That ’ s been very motivating and humbling ,” Carpenter says of the outpouring of support . “ That ’ s what we love so much about the sport of drag racing . We ’ re competitors out on the racetrack , but when somebody ’ s down , we ’ re all trying to do anything we can to help them . I got so many cards at the hospital , it was overwhelming .”
“ I would like to thank all the fans and racers for all the cards and everything I received in the hospital ,” Carpenter continues . “ It was very good therapy . It was very motivating .” DI
PHOTO : COLE ROKOSKY
26 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 164