Hmmm....maybe some innovative NASCAR promoter can pitch a giant Cat vs a giant Komatsu, in a titantic pre-race battle of rock-crushers

  

  
Canadian Patrick Carpentier, on the NASCAR comeback trail....(Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

    PHOENIX
    Remember Patrick Carpentier?
    The Canadian racer with that Richard Petty grin, whom sports businessman George Gillett introduced to NASCAR racing, albeit in a venture that needed a little longer to mature than Gillett could handle without a sponsor?
    Well, Carpentier, who has homes in both Montreal and Las Vegas, is trying to crank up a new NASCAR venture….with construction equipment giant Komatsu.
    The company is the world's second biggest heavy equipment manufacturer…. behind Caterpillar, a NASCAR sponsor for years now.
    Carpentier has Komatsu on the quarterpanel for NASCAR's summer race in Montreal, and he's hoping to parlay that into a return to NASCAR's Cup tour.
   "We're trying, believe me, we're trying to sell it to them," Carpentier says. "We're trying to get every angle. And I think it would be good for Komatsu to be here. Caterpillar has picked up a lot of business through NASCAR."
    Of course Carpentier needs for the world economy to turn around, particularly the construction sector.
    Carpentier didn't make it to the end of his 2008 rookie season, and he concedes "I really didn't expect it to go like that. It was hard…but I understand it, that this works with financing, and Mr. Gillett had had enough of paying out of his pocket."
    For all his promising talent, Carpentier simply didn't have quite enough to attract the big sponsorship it takes to keep one of these NASCAR operations afloat.
    "Since then, I've been like a bear – hibernating," Carpentier says.
   And schooling – in construction. Six days a week in Montreal, to get all his contracting licenses.
    "I've been trying to work with a few teams, but nothing has worked out yet…..I'd love to get back in this thing," Carpentier said. "I miss it, I really miss it.
   "That's why we're here, to see if we can get something going, and get back."
    Carpentier says construction is his second love, after racing.
   "I still think it's going to be a while before the market comes back…but once the market comes back, we'll start building in Vegas," Carpentier says.
   
   

   
Hey, how about dozer-versus-dozer, mano y mano? (Photo:Komatsu)

   

   
A big Cat (Photo: Caterpillar)

   

   

   
   
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