Fast Feddie Carpenter off the Lucas Oil tour

[HoosierDirtFan]

DROPPING OFF THE TOUR.

It's one of the hardest decisions I think I've ever had to make... To want to do something so bad and just not be able to make it happen is a horrible feeling. With trying to run a business that demands all of your time and follow the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series tour, which demands as much, if not more time is virtually impossible. Not to mention the financial aspect of it. It's been costing an average of 5k a week to follow the tour and some nights only getting back $200. The stress of trying to keep up with it and not let my fans down is wearing me down and making me miserable to be around. I still plan to run any Lucas Oil and other series races that are within a few hours from the shop. It's just being gone for weeks at a time that I'm not able to do right now. I hope to be able to try again next year. Knowing what I know now, I think we will have a better shot at going the distance. We will still wear our sponsors names proudly. Big thanks to them and all the fans that have helped me out along the way. Also want to say that the Lucas Oil officials and drivers have treated me like family along the way, and I really appreciate that! Thank you all, and like Forrest Gump said.... I Think I'll Go Home Now. check out these folks and see if they can be of a service to you. Help the ones that help us.


Sunoco Race Fuels
Casey’s All-American Pool Co.
Overhead Door Mid-Ohio Valley
Gates Trucking
Whitts Mobile Home Movers
Leonardtown Ford
Joy Construction
Feights Farm
Conley Trucking
Childers Lawn Service Inc.
3K Construction
Poske’s Performance Parts
DC&S Logistics
Kent’s Transmissions
TMH 33 Trucking Inc.
Hellraizer Jacks
Octane Race Products
Vic Hill Racing Engines
Jay Smith Racing
Jenny Hendrix Trucking
Dan D’s Catering
Mountain State BBQ
Brynleigh Higgins
Hounshell Motorsports
JD Family Ministries
Thompson Leather Company
J&J Fabricating
Selmon Trucking and Excavating
Maverick Bennington
The Daley Family
Integra Racing Shocks
Perot Bucking Bulls
Keyser Manufacturing
Par 3 Carts and Sales
Johnnie and Kathy Boston
Injector Experts
STAKT Body Panels
The Model Man ~Curtis Turner
Virginia Driveline
If I forgot anyone, I’m sorry. My brain is worn completely out.

[Driver50x]

I’m glad that he toughed it out as long as he did. That is a tough row to hoe for anyone without deep pockets. I don’t know how half of those guys can do that grind.

[WisWildManFan]

I wonder what he had for expectations, I feel like most people thought it would go a lot like it did.

[Dirt Clod]

Gave it his best shot. Learned a lot, had fun, and got out before going broke. Now back to his business and running regionally. Nothing wrong with that.

[chathamracefan]

A few of these seem to pop up each year. Sadly the sport has reached the point where even a solid regional guy can step up to a national level & be successful is far fetched. Props to Freddie for trying.

[klemmabyna]

hope he had a ball while doing it. took some balls just to take a shot.

[over4T]

Thanks for giving it a shot Freddie. Big time racing, in any genre, has become brutally expensive and darned few in the Saturday night racer category even give it a try. You did and a tip of the hat to you for it.

[Morgs153]

I might be a thousand miles from Freddie Carpenter and never met the man but I was pulling for him when I heard he was going to run the Lucas tour. A little sad but not entirely surprised to see that he had to pull back from the tour. Sad because it just shows how much this sport has morphed into such a big money game. Being a privateer with your own chassis alone has got to be very tough when competing in the national tours when it comes to getting tech support and shared data. All the best to Freddie with his local and regional efforts and his chassis business.

[ckatralis6]

Yes, I don’t know how half of those guys can do that grind.

[chathamracefan]

Just for reference I looked at the Lucas results and had to go back to 2023 to find a win by Chris Ferguson as the last sort of regional guy to win a race on that series. And he has been national at times. A few wins by guys like Tyler Erb & Mikey Marlar who are more outlaw in terms of their schedules but either are or have been national guys.

Point being the regional guys basically never win a national tour race these days. It used to happen a couple times a season between the 2. Heck Feger has a few Lucas wins as he was real good at Paducah years ago. Now like 4 guys win 95 percent of the races on both of those tours it seems. With the scraps divided up between series regulars & national level invaders.

[BTExpress]

Chatham 💯 true. At least on the two National Sprint car tours, the smaller teams crab a win every now and then. Not so much so these days in the DLM world, yet somehow the fans keep packing the stands despite 5 or 6 of the same drivers winning ALL THE TIME.

[TBSprintFan]

Ross Robinson is another who dropped off of the Lucas tour.

[foxfire2dirtracing]

Ross dropped off the tour last year as well. Didn’t fair very well in Florida.