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Indianapolis Motor Speedway By A.J.
Foyt
 I
first came to Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1956 and saw my first
Indy 500 from the grandstands. I didn't race here until 1958 but I've
been coming back ever since. I retired from driving Indy cars on Pole
Day in 1993 and until now, that was the last time a Foyt drove an Indy
car around the Brickyard.
That has changed this year now that my grandson A.J. Foyt IV is
driving for me in the Indy Racing League. He comes to the Speedway as
a rookie but he's been coming since he was a baby. He was born May
25,1984 so he wasn't around for any of my four wins as a driver but I
think he's been to the track every year since he was born. In fact, I
think he was the only one in my suite who watched the race from start
to finish. At least that's what they tell me.
So now it's 2003 and he is the youngest driver ever to qualify for the
Indianapolis 500 which he did in the No. 14 Conseco Dallara/Toyota. He
did it Sunday afternoon in the worst qualifying conditions I have ever
seen here at the Speedway, and remember, I have been coming here since
1956. The winds were gusting between 40-50 mph and straight across
turn two. I mean those conditions had the veterans talking to
themselves.
It was in turn two that A.J. IV put on the most spectacular show of
the day. Having just turned a warm-up lap over 225 mph, he was on his
first qualifying lap when coming out of two the wind caught him and
snapped the car around on him. He was steering lock-to-lock, checking
his mirrors, braking and then not braking as worked feverishly to keep
it off the wall while going backwards at 168 mph! He coasted to a
stop--finally.
There's an old saying, ‘If you can't win, be spectacular' and A.J. IV
was every bit of that. But we both know he was very, very lucky. In
fact that night we were in the suite and someone was praising him
about the great job he did in ‘saving it' and I said he was just
lucky. A.J. IV put his fingers to his lips and said "Shhh" and we all
broke up.
We got the car back to the garage and found some things that may have
contributed to his spin which I wasn't very happy about. The Conseco
crew made the adjustments and we went back out because we really
wanted to get it in the first day. Having a rookie sit around for a
week thinking about trying to qualify is not good.
In his second attempt I told him to just give me four solid 224 mph
laps because I just wanted to get him in the show. He was able to
average 224 but he messed up on the last lap so it was the low end of
224. I was a little upset with him at the time but looking back, I
think it took a lot to get back out there after his first qualifying
run.
He will start 23rd which is the same position that I started in my
last Indy 500 here in 1992. I finished ninth in that race so if he
does like grandpa, I'll be very happy.
This week is a busy week for me because we have to get our Epson car
qualified with Shigeaki Hattori this Sunday, also known as Bump Day.
Shigeaki had to miss out on the first weekend of qualifying because he
had an accident in turn one during practice and suffered a mild
concussion and broken finger. I expect he'll be cleared to drive for
this weekend. This will be his second 500; he finished 20th last year
as a rookie.
We also have the Infiniti Pro Series running here for the first time.
The Pro cars will run the Freedom 100, a 40-lap race around this 2.5
mile speedway. It will be the first time ever that there will be a
companion race here during May.
Ed Carpenter is driving the No. 14 Futaba/Delphi Dallara. We tested
here last month and it went pretty well. It's his second year in the
series--he finished third in the standings last year. He's young, just
22, but he's already won in the USAC midgets and sprints.
We start practicing with him on Thursday, qualify on Friday and race
on Saturday. Then we finish up qualifying for the Indy cars on Sunday.
I'll keep you posted... |
