Ed Carpenter has carried the Butler University logo to the pole position in the last two Indianapolis 500s. He’s hoping the Bulldog logo can bring him even more luck in the 99th Running of the “500.”

Carpenter, a 2004 graduate of Butler, will carry his alma mater’s logo on his No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka CFH Racing Chevrolet during the month of May.

He welcomed university president James M. Danko, athletics director Barry Collier, men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann and mascot Butler Blue III to the team’s garage on May 12.

“It’s fun to have them here,” Carpenter said “They want to hear about what I do, and I want to hear about their program, so it’s mutually beneficial. It’s a great group of people and I’ve enjoyed getting to know them over the past few years – whether it’s (former coaches) Brad (Stevens), Brandon (Miller) or Coach Holtmann.”

Carpenter showed the group the ins and outs of his Indy car, including some of the aerodynamic body work that differs between the superspeedway package that he will run and the road/street course configuration that Luca Filippi has used this season.

Holtmann, who led Butler to the third round of the NCAA Tournament in his first season as coach, was impressed with the amount of preparation that CFH Racing does for each day the car is on track.

“Unless you’re an avid fan, you probably don’t get all that goes in to that one day,” Holtmann said. “It’s not unlike our sport (basketball). He’s trying to perform at a high level and it’s impressive to see. He could have gone on for two or three hours about the car.”

But more importantly, the group was happy to meet and cheer on the fastest member of the Butler family.

“Ed’s impressive,” Holtmann added. “We’re, obviously, a huge fan of his. I didn’t grow up a racing fan, but I am now and I’m certainly a fan of Ed. It makes it special to have one of our own from Butler here.”