Ready or Not— Duane Carter Enters the Indy 500

“duane, I’ve Already Pulled Your Qualifying Number”

-  Jim Mcfarland

You’ll recall last month Smokey was having difficulty finding a driver who would drive the reverse-torque car the way he wanted. About the only driver who looked like a possibility had been Duane Carter, who had been in retirement for a short time in addition to being one of the “older” candidates.

The primary problem Smokey faced with using Carter as the driver. (He’d said he would just drive half-laps for a while during the race until he “figured out.”) What did he mean by this? Up to this point, the car had already been clocked in a speed trap on the back straightaway as the fastest car in the field. Even so, he was still faced with getting through turn 3 at the high speeds of which the car was capable.

The Wednesday before the first day of qualifying, he decided to make one more attempt at getting through 3 before he lifted. “Coming off of 2, I nail it down. I put my left foot on top of my throttle foot and vow to die but not lift until I reach the pine tree [a trackside spot that the more experienced drivers had told him he needed aim for].”

“Same deal. I lift early. I’m pushing as hard as I can with both feet (or so he thought). I pull in the pits, jump out, and go looking for Duane Carter. He ain’t hard to find.” On Saturday, it’s “Line ‘er up, qualify it. and Duane says, ‘Hell, no. I ain’t ready. Next week.’”