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By A.J. Foyt
 The
Indianapolis 500 is over and I'd like to congratulate Gil DeFerran and
Team Penske on their victory. They were the class of the field.
My grandson A.J. Foyt IV was in class all day in the No. 14 Conseco
car. He battled a variety of problems, some of our making and some he
made on his own. But he finished the race which was our main goal
going into the race. I know he was as relieved as I was when it was
over.
We got off to a bad start because he didn't have radio contact with
our pit or spotters for the first 47 laps. We knew it at the start,
thought we got it fixed but when he was on the pace laps, it was
apparent we didn't. We tried to pit him before the green flag but he
couldn't hear us.
 When
he did pit on that first caution, we had him take off his helmet and
switch earplugs. But the new fix wasn't very good because he still
wasn't responding to our questions. Finally I brought him in on lap 47
and kept him there until I was satisfied he could hear us. It still
wasn't perfect but we did have contact. He had lost six laps in the
process so all we could hope for was a clean race and a respectable
finish.
One of the things he had trouble doing was regaining his rhythm after
he got lapped by the quicker cars. He would give them room but that
meant getting out of the groove and his tires picked up the marbles
which, until he got them cleaned off, slowed his speed. When he was
able to get back in the groove, he ran laps in the 217-220 mph range.
He was told by the officials to keep his line low and the leaders
would pass him on the outside. Unfortunately, the officials didn't
tell the leaders (or they chose to ignore it) because they kept diving
underneath him and several times it was really close.
I know it was long day for him but I believe he learned a lot that
will help him the rest of the season. He avoided some of the mistakes
that the veterans didn't and brought the Conseco car home in one
piece.
My other drivers Shigeaki Hattori and Airton Dare weren't as lucky.
Shige had a low fuel pressure problem right from the start and it
turned out to be a faulty fuel pump. The Epson team tried to fix it
back in the garage but when he rejoined the race, the problem
remained. He completed only 19 laps and finished 31st.
Dare's race looked good in the beginning because of the pit strategy
that gained him track position. He stayed out during a caution period
when the leaders pitted and moved into second place. He ran in the top
three in the No. 41 Conseco/Toyota until he had to pit under green,
and then he lost a lap. That's the risk you take when you pit out of
sequence.
He did get his lap back on the next restart and ran in 17th until his
accident on lap 126. He had moved over for the leaders and by getting
out of the groove, he got up into the marbles. It shot him into the
wall. Luckily, he wasn't hurt but I know he was really disappointed.
He ended up in 24th.
 The
bright spot of the day was the birthday celebration for A.J. IV. He
turned 19 on race day and is the youngest driver ever to compete in
the Indy 500. He learned a lot that day but he avoided trouble and
he'll go on learning. I'm proud of him. |
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