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Gateway
By A.J. Foyt
 Meet
me in St. Louis. That's what my Harrah's Indy car team is going to do
next year because we are going to test there before we race there next
year. We can't go through another weekend like this one. And we won't.
Gateway International Raceway, just east of St. Louis, is a track that
is shaped like a paperclip – long straights and narrow corners. The
surface is rough and there are slight elevation changes, and it is a
hard track for the drivers and their engineers to find a good set up.
With it being just a two-day show for the Indy Racing League, there is
even less time to figure it out.
It was apparent in qualifying that we were struggling since Airton
Dare qualified 20th in the Harrah's 14, Eliseo Salazar qualified 21st
in the Harrah's/Banco Chile 11 and Greg Ray qualified 23rd in the
Harrah's/EDS 41. For the first half of the race they ran in that order
with Airton and Eliseo trading places but they were 17-18-19 or
15-16-17.
All of them complained about the cars' handling and I have to take the
blame because I am the team engineer as well as the team owner. What I
think was happening was that the cars were allowing the tires to pick
up excess rubber from the track and build up on the left rear tire.
That build-up made the cars feel very loose to the drivers who were
telling me over the radio just how difficult the cars were.
I told them to just hang on until it was time to pit and we'd adjust
the car, and for the most part they did. But I knew that they were
sunk when I saw what the problem was because the adjustment they
really needed couldn't be made during a pitstop. We were lucky just
one Harrah's car brushed the wall during the race because I am sure
there were plenty of chances to do so with all three cars.
Greg had the toughest weekend and probably suffered the most from our
lack of testing. He had never been there before while both Airton and
Eliseo raced there last year. As luck would have it, Greg also had the
least amount of time on the track because we had to change his motor
just a few laps into his first practice session. In the race, he
fought the car until he couldn't hold onto it. On lap 139, he slid up
into the wall and was done for the day. He placed 19th.
Airton managed to finish 11th in the 14 car while Eliseo finished 14th
in the 11 car.
Airton said afterwards that he never turned right so many times in an
Indy car race in his life. Believe me, you never want to turn right in
an Indy car on an oval. But the good news was he finished the race.
After three straight DNFs, that seemed like a small victory in itself.
Even my grandson A.J. Foyt IV had a tough day in the Infiniti Pro
Series Gateway 100. He had never been here before either but he
qualified fifth, and seemed to get comfortable with the track. In the
race, he had gotten as high as second when he developed motor problems
in the Harrah's 14.
The motor problem was terminal and he had to drop out after 63 laps.
He placed ninth. Ryan Hampton ran a great race to win his first trophy
after starting on the pole. Arie Luyendyk Jr. finished second while Ed
Carpenter finished third. Ed moved to within 40 points of my grandson
with just two races to go.
The one team that had a good weekend was my Conseco team which ran at
Bristol Saturday night. Mike Wallace finished 10th, making it the
second top-10 finish in three races for us in the NASCAR Winston Cup
Series. To put that in perspective, in my previous two years in
NASCAR, I think we got only three top-10 finishes!
Needless to say, I was very proud of the way my Conseco team ran that
night. I think the 14 was one of the few cars that came away without
scratch, which if you watched the race, you'd know how amazing that
was.
One of these weekends I would love to be able to write how every one
of my race teams had a great weekend. With just two races left on the
Indy Racing League schedule, it better happen soon. Time is running
out! |
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