At the last of his required visits to the Charlotte Spine Center for treatment of the fractured vertebrae suffered in a March 7 crash at Houston Raceway Park, Charles Carpenter’s doctor cleared him to return to driving his beloved ’55 Chevy whenever he is ready.

That’s a good thing, because he’s more than ready.

Carpenter took delivery of his rebuilt and revamped ’55 Chevy from Alan Pittman Race Cars in Greenville, SC late last week, and has been working with invaluable team member Paul Albino of Total Induction Tuning Solutions around the clock to complete the remaining tasks to get the car track-ready. Albino flew in from Connecticut to assist Carpenter. At the last of his required visits to the Charlotte Spine Center for treatment of the fractured vertebrae suffered in a March 7 crash at Houston Raceway Park, Charles Carpenter’s doctor cleared him to return to driving his beloved ’55 Chevy whenever he is ready.

That’s a good thing, because he’s more than ready.

Carpenter took delivery of his rebuilt and revamped ’55 Chevy from Alan Pittman Race Cars in Greenville, SC late last week, and has been working with invaluable team member Paul Albino of Total Induction Tuning Solutions around the clock to complete the remaining tasks to get the car track-ready. Albino flew in from Connecticut to assist Carpenter.

“The car looks incredible, and I can’t say enough about the work and service provided by Alan Pittman and the guys at his shop,” Carpenter said. “We really asked a lot of Alan, and he went above and beyond the call of duty in every aspect. The car was a complete mess, nearly a total loss, and he has brought it back to life. I can’t wait to get it out for some testing and see what it can do.”

In addition to repairing the car, Pittman made several modifications to the original design of the unmistakable nitrous-assisted Bel Air, including stretching the wheelbase to 113”.

“Adding the extra wheelbase should help calm it down,” said Carpenter. “Being a lightweight car, it can become a handful at times. On top of that, it just looks cool. The car is longer and lower, and we used an updated front end body design and raised the rear bumper. It gives the car a stretched look. It should help it be more competitive with the wedge-shaped bodies that are so prevalent in the class now.”

“Among all the other reasons we want to get back out there, I’m really looking forward to representing Alan Pittman Race Cars,” said the 35-year doorslammer veteran. “Alan dropped everything he was doing when I dragged my destroyed race car down to his shop and jumped right on repairing it. Beyond that, you couldn’t ask to deal with a better or more honest businessman. Alan did everything he said he was going to do and then some, all at an extremely fair price. We really owe a lot of this quick return to action to him.”

Carpenter plans to continue to put the finishing touches on reassembling the car then head to a local track for testing before returning to National Guard ADRL competition.

“My original goal was to make our return in Martin at the Ford Summer Drags, but being a small operation, we just aren’t going to be able to make it,” Carpenter explained. “Plus, I really want to go somewhere close by to test out all the changes we made to the car, and also to test my back. This is by far the most extensive injury I’ve sustained in my life, and with it being my spine, you can’t be too careful.”

“We’ll definitely be in Topeka.”

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