Duane "Pancho" Carter
Carter at the2011 Indianapolis 500
Born	Duane Claude Carter Jr. (1950-06-11)June 11, 1950 (age 75) Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.
Championship titles
USACMidget (1972) USACSprint Car (1974, 1976) USAC Silver Crown (1978) Major victories Michigan 500 (1981)
Champ Car career
165 races run over 20 years
Best finish	3rd (1981)
First race	1974Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Last race	1992Michigan 500 (Michigan)
First win	1981Michigan 500 (Michigan)
Wins Podiums Poles 1 14 1
NASCAR driver
NASCARCup Series career
14 races run over 6 years
Best finish	38th (1986)
First race	1985Southern 500 (Darlington)
Last race	1995UAW-GM Teamwork 500 (Pocono)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0

Duane Claude Carter Jr.^[1] (born June 11, 1950), nicknamed"Pancho," is an American former open-wheelracing driver. Best known for his participation inChampionship car racing, he won thepole position for the1985 Indianapolis 500, and won theMichigan 500 in1981.

Carter's national career began while racing in amidget car. He won the 1972USAC midget car championship.^[2] He won the 1972 and 1975Hut Hundred. He had 23 midget car feature wins by the time he left the series in 1978.^[3]

Carter won the 1974 and 1976 national USACsprint car championships. He was the first driver to win the two USAC championships – midgets and sprint cars. He has wins in three USAC divisions – midgets, sprints and Silver Crown (formerly known as dirt cars).

On May 30, 1977, Carter won two USAC Midget features, one USAC sprint feature and finished second in the second USAC sprint feature at Salem Speedway on a day the temperatures were near 100 degrees. This was one day after he finished fifteenth in the Indianapolis 500.^[3]

Carter ran well on dirt and pavement, but was exceptional on the paved high banks at Winchester and Salem, Indianapolis, and Dayton, Ohio. He won the Joe James/Pat O'Conner Memorial race at the half-mile at Salem, Indiana, on four consecutive occasions.

Carter was seriously injured during a testing crash at Phoenix International Speedway in November 1977. The injuries left him with a permanent disability in one of his legs that hampered his ability to perform well on road courses. He still ran very well on ovals. He made his return to racing at the end of March in 1978, winning a USAC Sprint race at the paved five-eighths mileIndianapolis Raceway Park on Saturday night and at the high-banked half-mileWinchester Speedway the next day – his first races back in the cockpit of a racecar.

Carter was inducted in theNational Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1990,^[3] and theNational Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1991.

Carter drove his firstIndianapolis 500 in1974. He finished seventh, and was awarded theRookie of the Year. In 1981 he finished third in theCART championship and captured his onlyIndy Car win atMichigan International Speedway. He finished third in the1982 Indianapolis 500 behind the now-famous duel betweenGordon Johncock andRick Mears. In 1985, Carter drove the brand new Buick V6 engine to the pole position of the1985 Indianapolis 500. He retired with mechanical problems after completing just six laps, becoming the first pole-sitter sinceCliff Woodbury to finish dead-last. His last year as a full-time Indy Car driver was 1990 and his last appearance in an indy car was failing to qualify for the1994 Indianapolis 500. In more recent years, Carter has served as a spotter forSam Hornish Jr.,Vítor Meira,Dillon Battistini,Dan Wheldon,Martin Plowman andAdrián Campos Jr. In 2019, he was the spotter for rookieSantino Ferrucci, who finished seventh, as theRookie of the Year, at theIndianapolis 500. This was the same as Carter in his 500 debut.

From 1985 to 1995, Carter ran fourteenNASCAR Winston Cup Series races for multiple owners. His first start was atDarlington Raceway in 1985, which was theSouthern 500. The race was best known forBill Elliott locking up theWinston Million, Carter finished in 22nd. Carter began the 1986 season driving forElmo Langley; at the1986 Daytona 500, he andKyle Petty were involved in a turn one accident, thus winding up in 34th place. After three races with Langley's team, he moved to driving forRoger Hamby,^[4] competing in six more races that year; he posted his best career NASCAR finish with Hamby, a seventeenth-place finish at theMichigan International Speedway. In 1990, he competed atAtlanta Motor Speedway, driving forPaul Romine;^[5] he drove forDonlavey Racing atCharlotte Motor Speedway in 1992,^[6] and his final two races in Winston Cup competition came forTriad Motorsports atAtlanta Motor Speedway in 1994, where he tied his career-best finish, andPocono Raceway in 1995.^[7]

In 1995, Pancho also raced twoCraftsman Truck Series races,^[8] driving forEnerjetix Motorsports.^[9]

Carter currently acts as a spotter forDale Coyne Racing.^[10]

Duane "Pancho" Carter Jr. is the son of Indy car racerDuane Carter Sr. He was born while his parents were on the way to a race at theMilwaukee Mile.^[10] His father's nickname was "Pappy". Pappy referred to his wife's pregnancy as "little paunch," so they nicknamed the child Pancho.^[3] Carter is the half-brother ofJohnny Parsons. Their mother, Azra divorcedJohnnie Parsons, and eventually remarried, to Duane Carter Sr.^[11]

His full brother, Dana Carter, also raced in USAC midgets, sprints and Silver Crown. Dana qualified but was bumped at the1979 Indianapolis 500. He returned in1980, but suffered a crash in practice. After a sabbatical from racing, he was back behind the wheel in 1982. Dana died of a heart attack on May 6, 1983, the morning after finishing second in a USAC midget race at theIndianapolis Speedrome.^[12][13]

Carter is a graduate ofCalifornia State University, Long Beach.^[4] He is married, to Carla; they have two children, Dane and Cole, who spot for Paul Miller Racing's IMSA entries as well as for Andretti Autosport's Indy car and rally cross entries.^[10][14]

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

• Pancho Carter driver statistics at Racing-Reference

• 1950 births
• Living people
• Sportspeople from Brownsburg, Indiana
• Racing drivers from Indiana
• Champ Car drivers
• Indianapolis 500 drivers
• Indianapolis 500 polesitters
• Indianapolis 500 Rookies of the Year
• NASCAR drivers
• National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductees
• American Speed Association drivers
• California State University, Long Beach alumni
• USAC Silver Crown Series drivers
• A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers
• Sportspeople from Racine, Wisconsin
• Racing drivers from Wisconsin
• Daytona 500 drivers

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