|
|
 |
Gateway
By A.J. Foyt
 A.J.
Foyt IV's learning curve got a little steeper with the Emerson Indy
250 at Gateway International Raceway Sunday afternoon.
I am not a big fan of oval race tracks where you have to shift gears
to get around and Gateway, outside of St. Louis, is one of those
tracks. Shifting gears is for road courses, not ovals. So I wasn't too
excited about racing there. Plus we had some problems with the track
coming apart and cutting tires in our testing there.
The Indy Racing League officials brought someone in to patch up the
track and I guess it worked because we didn't cut nearly as many tires
as we did in the test sessions 10 days before.
Unlike me, my grandson liked the track and liked shifting gears. He
thought it was fun-that's a kid for you. We had a pretty good weekend
going for Team Conseco. It was only a two-day show which meant we had
to practice and qualify all in the same day.
A.J. IV qualified 16th which wasn't too bad considering it was his
first time racing there. We had practiced a little better (14th) but
he had a smooth run and he out-qualified some other good teams.
Race day things didn't start out well. Our rear tire changer Daniel
Hines got hurt in pit practice when a wild air hose knocked him up the
side of his head. He got some stitches and returned to the track later
that day but he sat out the race. Then our final practice could have
gone better. We started out good but the changes we made didn't seem
to help so we went back to our original set-up.
In the race, A.J. IV said the car was loose and he was trying his best
to deal with it. The leaders were setting a very fast pace so he got
lapped before 30 laps went by. Then when two faster cars tried to go
by him at the same time a little later, he made slight contact with
one of them and ended up brushing the wall. It was a pretty light
brush because the Conseco car didn't have any suspension damage.
I made some changes to help the handling but it wasn't enough. Then
the gearbox went so he pitted and we changed that. It took almost
seven minutes and he lost 16 laps. At this point we were just getting
him back in the race to gain more experience and pick up a couple
positions.
But that wasn't the end of our troubles. Forty-six laps later, he said
something happened to the motor. So we replaced the electrical system
but that wasn't the problem. He returned a lap later and said the car
still wouldn't accelerate. I knew it was bigger than something we
could fix in the pit box so we parked it.
It turned out that something broke in the fuel injection system so we
were done for the day after 118 laps.
Overall, I think A.J. IV learned a lot from that race, which is
usually the case when you have problems. And learning as much as he
can every time he is in a race car is the name of the game this
season. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
