CART's Carpentier moves to Las Vegas

Las Vegas may not yet have a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race, but the Valley quickly is becoming a second home to many of the series' top drivers.

Patrick Carpentier, who drives for Player's/Forsythe Racing in the CART FedEx Championship Series, has rented an apartment here and will make Las Vegas his winter home.

"Patrick took an apartment in Las Vegas for the winter," Francois Cartier, a spokesman for Player's/Forsythe Racing, said. "It's a little cold here in Canada for him to train in the winter and do some of the things he likes to do to keep in shape, so that's why he chose Las Vegas."

A native of Quebec, Canada, the 28-year-old Carpentier also plans to pursue his hobby of racing go-karts here during the off-season, Cartier said.

Carpentier joins fellow CART drivers Paul Tracy, Jimmy Vasser and Richie Hearn, who have moved to Southern Nevada. Tracy and Vasser live in Las Vegas while Hearn resides in Henderson.

According to Cartier, Carpentier had intended to move to Phoenix, but settled on Las Vegas after making a visit to Arizona earlier this summer.

"He went to Phoenix first and it was so hot, he decided to go to Las Vegas instead," Cartier said.

Carpentier was CART's rookie of the year in 1997 after finishing 17th in the championship with 27 points while driving for Bettenhausen Motorsports.

He moved to Player's/Forsythe Racing in 1998 and finished 19th in the series, again scoring 27 points.

This year, Carpentier is 13th in the championship with 61 points through 17 of 20 races. He finished ninth in last weekend's Honda Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Raceway in California.

archive