Ed Carpenter engineer Ed Delporte, 1971-2025

Ed Delporte, a fixture in IndyCar racing for many decades, died on Tuesday after an extended fight with cancer. The Indiana native was best known as one of Ed Carpenter Racing’s first employees where he served as one of ECR’s trusted engineers.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of our teammate Ed Delporte. After a long and brave battle with pancreatic cancer, Ed passed away the morning of June 3, 2025,” the team said in a statement. “Ed was one of Ed Carpenter Racing’s original employees and has been with the team since its first race. Not only was he a talented electronics engineer, he was a tremendous teammate and an integral part of our ECR family. A true historian of the sport, he attended 13 Indianapolis 500s before working 30. This year was his 31st and we are honored he was able to help us prepare for one more 500. Rest easy, Ed.”

With the need for routine chemotherapy and the energy-draining effects brought on with the treatments, Delporte was unable to perform some of the basic duties at home on his own, and that’s where the brother and sisterhood that exists within ECR came to the forefront.

Whether it was his teammates bringing food, tending to chores around his house, or sitting with him during the laborious-but-boring chemo infusions, ECR rallied around Delporte to help when needed or to keep him company when his spirits needed lifting.

Delporte made it into the shop as often as he could, but with the cancer taking a turn for the worse, he was unable to attend the Indy 500 in May, which led ECR general manager Tim Broyles to have a support sticker created that was carried by all three of the team’s entries.

https://twitter.com/marshallpruett/status/1922973070303633474