|
|
 |
|
|
Kentucky
By A.J. Foyt
|
P.J. Jones finishes 4th
at Watkins Glen.
|
Although I normally write about my Harrah's Indy car teams in this column, this
week I am also going to talk about my Conseco Winston Cup team which got its
first top-five finish in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Sunday afternoon.
But before I even get to that, all of my teams are glad to hear that Jason
Priestley is doing better after his crash at Kentucky Speedway in Sunday
morning's practice for the Infiniti Pro Series. Jason has earned a lot of
respect for the way he handles a race car and it's a shame that he had to find
out about the other side of the sport. But I guess if you are going to drive
race cars, you are going to find out about it sooner or later.
His accident was very serious because he hit the wall head on, which is the
worst kind of hit for a driver. I understand that he is now in Methodist
Hospital in Indianapolis and is responding. I know he is in good hands since I
spent some ‘sheet time' there myself. We wish him the best.
Now onto Watkins Glen...I hired P.J. Jones to drive the No. 14 Conseco Pontiac at
Watkins Glen International because P.J. has a lot of experience on road courses
and he set a track record on that particular one. P.J. is the oldest son (he has
a brother Page) of Parnelli Jones, 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner and one of my
fiercest rivals back in the 1960's.
I figured my team was better than it was showing this year and I was really
happy that someone else besides me saw it on Sunday.
P.J. started 14th for the best qualifying run of the season since April when we
had started 6th at Talladega. But unlike Talladega, P.J. went to the front and
stayed there. He ran in the top-10 for most of the race and certainly when it
counted.
At the end of the race crew chief Mike Hillman's decision to pit for just two
tires was crucial to our success. P.J. moved into the top five and at one point
was in second briefly but he couldn't hold onto it. He finished fourth but for
our team, it felt like a victory.
 My grandson A.J. IV continues to win in the Infiniti Pro Series but it is not a
cake-walk by any means. AJ IV has won three out of four races so far in the
Infiniti-powered No. 14 Harrah's Dallara. He also won his second pole position.
His early lead (over 2 seconds) was cut short by a yellow flag. Then Ed
Carpenter battled him for rest of the race and even led for four laps. It was a
tight battle because A.J. IV never pulled out more than a three-car length lead.
When Carpenter got by him on the front stretch (right in front of me!), I
radioed, "What happened?"
And he came back, "I missed a shift. I'll get him back."
I told him, "You've only got 10 laps."
He got him back in two.
He won the race by just half a car length – about half a second. His win in
Kentucky was pretty special to him and my son Tony because Tony trained horses
in the area for 13 years (up until I got hurt in 1990 when I asked him to come
home for good). Tony and his family spent a lot of time there and they have a
lot of friends in the area.
My Harrah's Indy car team didn't do as well at Kentucky Speedway. It began with
qualifying when both Airton Dare and Eliseo Salazar had pretty poor runs and had
to start 22nd and 25th. Greg Ray had a better start (18th) but he also had
trouble finding speed.
In the race, Ray got a poor start and Dare got a great one in the No. 14
Harrah's Dallara. Dare continued to move to the front and he was followed
closely by Salazar. Ray's engine let go and he was in the pits after 16 laps.
Dare moved into 11th by lap 36. He pitted on lap 59 for the second time and came
out in 14th. He moved into 10th on lap 79 and was fighting with Tomas Scheckter
when he radioed in that Scheckter's right rear tire was blistering bad. We told
Scheckter's spotter who didn't say anything and three laps later, Scheckter spun
and collected Dare. He was done. Luckily neither driver got hurt but I was
pretty mad that no one acted on the information.
With two cars out, I focused on Salazar but he had a bad pitstop which cost him
some track position. Then, as our luck would have it that day, he pitted under
green and the yellow came out the next lap so he lost two laps. He did manage to
get one lap back but he finished in 14th position.
It was a tough weekend for the Harrah's Indy car team but at least the Harrah's
Infiniti team pulled out a win. And there's always that top-five finish for the
Conseco team which will make their life easier in North Carolina. My "Monday
morning phone call" will be a lot easier to make (and take).
Our next Indy car race is at the 1.25-mile Gateway Raceway just outside of St.
Louis. We'll be staying at the Harrah's Casino there, so at least I know the
accommodations will be great. I'm looking forward to hitting a double jackpot –
on track and off! |
|
|
|
|
