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Japan
By A.J. Foyt
 My
first trip to Japan was quite an experience. I started off from
Houston on Sunday morning and after 13 hours, I was in Tokyo Monday
afternoon. When I got there I had to take a bus to the track (a 3.5
hour ride). The track is about 60 miles northeast of Tokyo but it is
in the middle of nowhere and the travel agency set up shuttles to take
the teams to the various hotels. The drivers and owners stayed at the
hotel at the track which was very convenient but pretty isolated.
 By the time we arrived at the hotel which overlooks the Twin Ring
Motegi track, I was tired, very tired. Fortunately, I didn't have
anything to do for the next couple days. In fact, I was going a little
stir crazy because the TV was in Japanese (there were some programs in
English but it was hit-or-miss). The only way for me to keep up with
things was reading the Japan Times.
My grandson A.J. IV and I went to Tokyo on Wednesday. The best part of
that trip was the bullet train which we caught at Utsunomiya (another
bus ride 1.5 hours away). Once we got into Tokyo, we found a
McDonald's and we had double cheeseburgers and fries. It tasted great.
We didn't spend too much time in Tokyo-I don't really like to window
shop and from what I could see, things were a lot cheaper in the
States. So after lunch, we got back on the bullet train; it goes 150 -
170 mph and is very smooth and quiet. You really notice the speed when
another bullet train goes past in the opposite direction because there
is some buffeting. When we got back to Utsunomiya, we caught a cab-I
wasn't up for another bus ride. It cost $100 for a 25-mile trip. I
didn't find the food that expensive but the transportation costs were
a little on the steep side.
 By
Thursday, my team had unpacked the Conseco and Epson cars and had the
garage set up. To be honest, it felt good to be around the race cars.
I went over everything with the crews about setting up the cars. I had
decided to run the G-Forces that weekend.
Our practices on Friday went pretty well. A.J. IV practiced better
than he had at the previous two races. Motegi is a difficult track
because it is egg-shaped so the turns are completely different. In
fact the drivers shift gears going into turn three. A.J. IV had to
work on that a little bit. Shigeaki Hattori had run at Twin Ring with
the CART series back in 1999 so he was familiar with the track.
However, we struggled to find a set-up that he liked.
We got practice in on Saturday morning but qualifying was rained out
so the grid was set according to the practice times with fats time on
the pole. With 24 cars in the field, A.J. IV started 18th and Shige
started 22nd.
Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day for racing. We had our final
practice that morning and for most of it, A.J. IV was running 10th
(he'd gotten the shifting down) but right at the end a couple guys
slipped by him and he finished up 14th. Still, he looked good and his
lap times were consistent.
In the race, A.J. got a good start in the Conseco car but after a lap
or two he got sideways and that took the wind out of his sails and he
dropped back a few spots. Shige was coming up through the field in his
Toyota-powered Epson car when he tangled with Sarah Fisher due to a
miscommunication with his spotter. Sarah was out and Shige went to the
garage for repairs to his left rear suspension.
He came out 32 laps down and ran pretty well for 20 laps until the car
developed a vibration. He parked it and was credited with 20th. We
were really disappointed because we wanted to do well in Shige's home
country.
A.J. IV meanwhile had been running very smooth and had gotten his
rhythm back. He was running 11th when he made a pit stop under green
just around the halfway point. The stop went smoothly. As he
accelerated on his out-lap, he went too hard into turn three on cold
tires and full tanks. The car didn't turn and he slid up into the gray
area of the track.
 When
he came into my view in turn four he was headed for the wall but he
looked like he just might save it. Then the car hooked on him and he
did an inside spin and slid across the track. He hit the inside wall
hard with the front and the car whipped around and smacked it again
with the rear. It hit so hard that it broke the Toyota motor in two!
As soon as A.J. IV got out, he looked over at me. I felt bad for him
because the look on his face was sheer disappointment. He had such a
good run going in the Conseco car. They checked him out at the track
hospital and he had cut his knee and finger and his right ankle
swelled up pretty good but otherwise he was okay. That was pretty
lucky because the hit was so hard that it totaled the car.
When I talked to him that evening he was feeling better which I was
glad to see. I know he learned his lesson and I'm pretty sure he won't
make that mistake again. He wasn't alone though because a lot of the
more experienced drivers made the same mistake. Twelve cars crashed
during that race which was eventually won by Scott Sharp.
Although Japan didn't really work out for us, we did enjoy being over
there. The fans were very polite and respectful of our time. They
would wait patiently until you had a chance to give them an autograph.
Many of them even brought us presents, which was a big surprise.
The next day Shige arranged for a car and driver from the Toyota
dealer to drive me back to Narita Airport. The ride was one heckuva a
lot better, the scenery was nicer and it took just over two hours.
As much as I enjoyed Japan, I couldn't wait to get back to the good
ole USA. That's one thing about traveling abroad, it always makes me
realize just how good we have it here at home. And believe me, it felt
good to be back in Texas. |
