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AJ served as Grand Marshall of the Harrah's 200 |
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A.J. has a sense of humor -- he needs one
to wear a hat like this! |
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A.J. Foyt won his fourth Indy
500 in this car which was designed and built in his Houston raceshop. |
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No. 500
By A.J. Foyt
 The
number 500 has always had a special meaning for me, mostly because I
associate it with Indy as in Indianapolis 500. But this weekend at
Phoenix International Raceway, it came to mean something else, 500
Indy car races.
That's right; I have been in 500 Indy car races, 369 as a driver (and
owner for most of them) plus 131 more as just an owner. That's hard to
believe.
I don't really pay attention to stuff like that but it seems there is
always someone who does. My sponsor Harrah's had a decal made
commemorating the event. I'm glad that they put it on the No. 14
Harrah's Indy car after our final practice...I get a little
superstitious about things like that.
With 500 race starts, and just 73 wins (including my 67 as a driver),
you know that there are good days and bad days. In fact, this weekend
at Phoenix we had a good day and bad day all within our team. I had
one car in the lead pack for most of the Bombardier/ Copper World Indy
200 race and the other car struggling just to hang on.
After a great run in Homestead-Miami two weeks ago, Airton Dare was
driving his second race for me in the No. 14 Harrah's Dallara/Chevy.
At 24, he has shown great talent but he doesn't have a lot of
experience, Phoenix was his 24th Indy car race. PIR is a tricky track
and if a driver isn't comfortable in the car, that driver is in for a
miserable day.
Dare' is used to running cars that are very stiff-handling, which is
okay for short runs but you are always on the ragged edge of control.
So I was trying to get him comfortable with the set-ups that the fast
guys run, which are softer and give a driver more maneuverability in
traffic. He was trying to adapt to that, plus figure out a track that
is difficult even for the veterans.
The adjustments we made which should have worked didn't. He needed to
be smoother on the throttle and he never could get a rhythm going.
Airton had a long day, racing his heart out to keep the car between
the walls. I'm glad he brought it home in one piece. There were a lot
of guys who didn't.
The reason that I believe it was the driver and not the car is because
Eliseo Salazar had an identical set-up and he said the car was
brilliant. He ran a great race in the No. 11 Banco Chile Dallara/Chevy
and got his second straight top-five finish (he finished second to Sam
Hornish last year). He is back to driving the way he did when I hired
him.
He started 10th and stayed in the top-10 up to the second pitstop,
which we took earlier than everyone else. The strategy worked. When
the leaders pitted five laps later, Salazar moved into second behind
Al Unser Jr. He chased Al until the next caution and on that restart
Eliseo pulled a great move coming down the front stretch and took
(actually stole) the lead. Penske Racing's Gil deFerran and Helio
Castroneves were in close pursuit and so was Sam Hornish but Eliseo
was able to stay in front until the next caution came on lap 143.
We led everyone into the pits, but we had a problem on our stop. The
Penske team had a perfect stop so they beat us out. We let Salazar
down and the Banco Chile crew will be working on that this week.
Still, he hung on to third but then he came up on his teammate, Dare,
who as I said, was struggling. Our spotter should have told Dare to
give Salazar room but he didn't and Dare inadvertently blocked his
teammate which forced Salazar to lift. That's all Hornish needed to
get a run on Salazar and pass him for third.
Castroneves pulled an aggressive pass on his teammate deFerran and led
the final 17 laps to win. deFerran finished second ahead of Hornish,
Salazar and Unser Jr.
We have some things to work on between now and next week's race at
California Speedway. We will be scrambling a bit that first day
because we didn't do the open test there in February but I'm not
worried. We have a pretty good baseline for that type of track and I
don't think either driver will have trouble adapting to it.
On Wednesday, my wife Lucy and I are flying to Washington, D.C. for a
press conference with executives from Harrah's and the Meals on Wheels
Association. My son Larry Foyt is flying in from Charlotte to join us
there.
Harrah's and the Meals on Wheels Association are launching the first
annual "March for Meals Campaign" to raise awareness for senior meal
programs. During March, our Foyt/Harrah's Racing teams in both the IRL
and the NASCAR Busch Series will donate a meal for every race lap
completed, 10 meals for every race lap led and 10,000 meals for every
race won. Larry owns and drives the No. 14 Harrah's Monte Carlo in the
NASCAR Busch series. Harrah's has pledged at least $1 million over the
next three years to support the Meals on Wheels program.
Both Larry and I are happy to be able to do something for the seniors
(and not just because I am one). Sometimes I think that our seniors
are the forgotten ones in our society which is really sad when you
stop and think about it. At least this program does a lot of good for
a lot of good people and we at Foyt Racing are proud to be a part of
it.
And now it's time for this old guy to get back to work. I'm hoping my
next 500 Indy car races are as much fun as the last 500 have been.
|
 Foyt
still a man to respect
Foyt
finds niche as great teacher
The
highs and lows of Indy
For
Foyt, Fontana brings back memories of Ontario |
Dick Ralstins Racing Stories
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[Inc/weekend_results.htm]
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A.J. enjoys a Texas-sized sandwich made especially for
him from Mr. B's Sandwich Shop in Joliet. |
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