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Chicagoland
By A.J. Foyt
 The
season ended with our race at Chicagoland Speedway Sunday afternoon
and I have to admit, I'm glad this season is finally over. It's the
shortest season we've run since 2001 but it felt pretty long to me
and our ABC Supply team.
It was what I'd call a transition year if I had to describe it. We
changed drivers, we changed engine suppliers and we changed most of
our crew. About the only things that remained the same was our
sponsor ABC Supply and our car chassis Dallara…and me of course.
Our last race was a disappointment in many respects but if this
season has taught me one thing, it's to look for the silver lining.
We've made some improvements in some areas like our pit stops which
all went off without a hitch, or at least a major hitch. When you're
working new crew people into that situation, that's a plus.
When we lost out on final practice because of the rain on race
morning, we decided to go with last year's race set-up which worked
pretty good for my grandson Anthony, who finished 11th on the lead
lap.
 In
fact Anthony returned to the Indy cars this year for the first time
as a substitute driver for Dario Franchitti who'd gotten a
concussion while racing vintage cars in Europe. Anthony did a good
job and would have had a better finish if their pit strategy worked
out (which it didn't). He qualified 11th, the best of his three
teammates. He finished 14th ahead of two but behind Tony Kanaan who
finished seventh. He, like us didn't get final practice, so I think
he did a good job considering he hadn't raced anything since April.
With last year's set-up, we may have over-corrected it for Jeff
Bucknum who is less experienced on the ovals because the car was
pushing too much in the very beginning. I'd rather have too much
push in a car than have it too loose and most drivers feel that they
can control a push but a loose car is very unnerving, it's also
faster but not for the inexperienced.
A yellow flag on lap 12 when Vitor Meira and Tomas Scheckter banged
wheels (and kept going!) gave us a chance to put more front wing in
to help get rid of the push. That helped a lot and Jeff had quite a
race going on with Sarah Fisher and Bryan Herta. We did get held up
by Herta in the beginning and once Jeff passed him, he pulled away.
By then the lead packs had really pulled away. Jeff still has quite
a bit to learn about drafting and using the draft to pass. It was
only his second time on a 1.5-mile oval but I could see some
improvement over his first time when he raced at Kentucky even
though he finished better there. Jeff finished where he started
which was 17th. And that is where our car ended up in the final
standings.
The race was very exciting for the fans because there were two
competitions going on, one for the race and one for the title. The
championship contenders' group of four (Penske and Ganassi teams)
were in a league by themselves. That lead pack put everyone down a
lap but they kept the race exciting amongst themselves right up to
the checkered flag.
Dan Wheldon won while his teammate Scott Dixon was a close second.
Sam Hornish finished third and won the championship over Wheldon.
Wheldon actually tied Hornish in points but Hornish won more races
which was the tiebreaker. Helio Castroneves finished fourth in the
race and third in the points race while Dixon finished fourth.
Confused yet? The top three put on a heckuva race and they had the
fans on their feet for the final laps.
Congratulations to Team Penske for winning their first IRL IndyCar
Series championship. It makes it even better when you win the Indy
500 in your championship year.
Looking at next year, I am more motivated than ever. I hope to make
an announcement in the coming month about my plans because it will
be a big year for me and my sponsor. I'll be celebrating my golden
anniversary of racing Indianapolis-type cars. 50 years! I can hardly
believe it myself. ABC Supply will celebrate 25 years of success as
a wholesale distributor of roofing, siding and windows.
I'll be focused on the changes we need to make on our race team so
we can have a season that reflects our past success. This will be a
busy off-season for all of us at A.J. Foyt Racing and we are getting
started on it right now! |
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