He has no plans to back down whatsoever, his wife Stephanie remains supportive and daughter Brittany is a huge fan of the sport. Even though he faces long odds when he races with the USAC National sprint car series he feels that competing against the best makes him stronger. He rightfully thinks he can win every time he signs in with the BOSS or USAC East series. Beyond that, he will be in racing for decades to come. He began working in an engine shop as a young man and in 2006 along with a partner he launched Edge Racing Engines. Not surprisingly he builds his own powerplants but has appreciated help he has received in things like fuel injection from the well-respected Don Ott. When Carmen works in his shop, which rests about a mile from where Flight 93 went down on 9/11, he is usually alongside his father and son. For the record, his dad thinks his boy figured it out. “He understands race cars,” Carmen Sr. says. “Whatever it takes he will find something to make the car work.”
Since the end of World War II there is only a four-year span where a family member was not grabbing the wheel of a race car. There is a lot of pride in that. The bottom line is that every top racing series needs a Carmen Perigo Jr. He is an adult, he appreciates that he has been given an opportunity that many can only dream of, and he has also earned everyone‘s respect. Thinking about his situation, he says, “Everybody wants to win, and I do too. But I can appreciate every aspect of racing from building the car, to the family time in the shop, to towing to the track, to the late night in Waffle House, the stories, and the history.
I love it all.”