Ed Carpenter and his household have a rooting interest in this year’s 2024 Summer Olympic Games, cheering for American pole vaulter Brynn King. The Olympian and Carpenter’s daughter, standout high school pole vaulter Makenna Carpenter, share a trainer.
That relationship sparked because of a connection between Ascension St. Vincent Sports Performance in Indianapolis and Ed Carpenter Racing, which led the Carpenters to American Olympic gold medal pole vaulter Jenn Suhr. That has the Carpenter family rooting for King to bring home the gold while competing in Paris.
“A lot of their trainers worked with USA Track and Field,” Carpenter said. “Some of those trainers now have a big racing business and some of the people we work with on the physical therapy side hooked us up with Jenn Suhr and her husband, Rick, who was Brynn’s coach. So, that was the connection.”
Carpenter isn’t the only driver in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES paddock with a watchful eye on the television over the next two weeks. With all 17 rounds of the 2024 season in addition to the exhibition race The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge airing on NBC Sports and the same family of networks of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, the series takes a scheduled break to observe the quadrennial festival of global sport.
“We’re going to watch the Olympics and take a little break,” said Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Chrisitan Lundgaard.
The Denmark native flew this week to his native land for some rest and relaxation.
Lundgaard, an avid golfer, said the Olympic sport he’s most excited to watch is cycling. The sport has been contested in every Summer Olympic Games since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 games in Athens, Greece, and has grown in importance to Lundgaard.
The annual Tour de France sparked a cycling interest for Lundgaard and would be the sport he would pick to compete in if he had the choice to be an Olympian.
He isn’t alone in choosing cycling. The sport was a common pick among the drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES paddock to watch during the Olympics because it’s a common form of training.
Driving INDYCAR SERIES machinery requires exceptional physical fitness and endurance to withstand the rigors of a physically demanding sport. Cycling is a preferred method to work multiple body areas at once.
Andretti Global driver and former hockey goalie Marcus Ericsson trains through cycling and said while he’s a self-described Winter Olympics fan, he will tune in to the Summer Games. He also chose cycling as the sport in which he’d like to go for gold.
Both drivers would have some cycling competition from Swiss-born Frenchman Romain Grosjean. The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver said cycling and tennis are his two favorites because he “doesn’t run fast” to excel at either.
This also will be the first Summer Olympic Games during which Grosjean is living and settled in the United States. Due to COVID-19 measures, the 2020 games in Tokyo were delayed until 2021. That was Grosjean’s first season competing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and he was living in Miami while his family stayed in France.
Three years later, Grosjean and his family found a house and reside in Miami, enjoying the American lifestyle.
Living in the United States has brought forth an interesting predicament to which nation Grosjean will pledge his allegiance for the Olympics. Switzerland, the nation of his birth; France, where he grew up and where he has his racing license; or the U.S., where he lives and races?
“I think for the 100 meters I’m going to go for the Americans,” he said. “They seem to be pretty good. I’m going to cheer for whoever I think has a good chance.”
American driver Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing and Meyer Shank Racing driver Felix Rosenqvist of Sweden said swimming has their eye. They like the intensity of the competition in the pool.
The 2024 Summer Olympic Games begin Friday, July 26 and end Sunday, Aug. 11. The next time the NTT INDYCAR SERIES hits the track will be for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at 6 p.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 17 at World Wide Technology Raceway, with live coverage on USA Network, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.