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Looking back over a checkered season
By A.J. Foyt
 This
past season in the Indy Racing League was a season of highs and lows.
We started out with just one car, Eliseo Salazar in the No. 14
Harrah's Dallara/Olds Aurora. And we racked up three top-five finishes
in the first three starts.
I expanded the team at Indy to three cars. Robby Gordon qualified a
Conseco-sponsored car on the front row and Donnie Beechler joined
Salazar as a teammate (although at the time I didn't know it would be
for almost the entire season). Beechler and Gordon both ran strong in
the 500, but dropped out with car problems. Salazar, who had a tough
month leading up to the race, came home seventh.
We seemed to struggle over the next few races but found a combination
that worked for Eliseo at Richmond. He was leading the race with 27
laps to go when Eddie Cheever tangled with him battling for the lead.
Kansas was a mixed bag. Eliseo qualified third, his best start of the
season and Donnie finished third for his best finish of the season.
After that, engines were our main problems, they either blew or just
lacked horsepower. It became more and more evident as the season wore
on. Donnie put together a couple of fifth place finishes but Eliseo
struggled.
So for the final race of the season at Texas, I decided to try an
Infiniti engine with driver Greg Ray (who runs strong at that track)
in the No.11 Harrah's Dallara. Due to the September 11th attack, the
race was postponed three weeks and shortened to two days. That
actually became one day because rain washed out the first day of
practice and qualifying.
To make matters worse, Ray was crashed by another car in morning
practice, which totaled out Ray's car. It looked like we were done,
but my Harrah's crew pulled off an incredible feat of teamwork. They
took the back-up car fitted with an Olds Aurora engine and replaced it
with the Infiniti engine, a very tall order especially on race day!
Ray brought the car home in the top-10 after starting last but he
struggled because he hadn't been able to practice in the car and it
had a short track suspension on it. But I was impressed by the
Infiniti engine.
I was even more impressed by Eliseo's performance; he drove one of his
best races of the season. He was still short on horsepower but he
worked the traffic and was even able to challenge for the lead on
occasion. He ended up fourth in the race and fifth in the final
standings. I told him afterwards that he drove a helluva race.
Looking forward to next year, I know that there will be some changes
in the horsepower department but I am undecided as to exactly what
those changes will be. And I am not sure how many cars I will run
because I am still looking to add another primary sponsor or two.
Harrah's will return as the sponsor of the no. 14 Dallara.
One thing is for sure. With a 15-race schedule set for next year, I
have a lot of work to do over the winter. |
