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Watkins Glen
By A.J. Foyt
 I
didn't make it to the IndyCar Series race at Watkins Glen last year
because of Hurricane Rita hitting Texas. Texas survived and so did
I. It had been a while since I'd been to Watkins Glen International
- 17 years actually -- but the trip this past weekend was
worthwhile-and a lot more rewarding.
Felipe Giaffone drove my No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda to a fifth
place finish in the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix last Sunday
afternoon after starting last. He and my ABC crew did a heckuva job;
they didn't make mistakes and they were able to capitalize on the
mistakes of others.
 And
there were plenty of those because of the wet weather. The weather
was bad all weekend; if the sun did appear it was only briefly. In
fact, most of the time it was cold, drizzling or raining hard.
Giaffone had never been to the Glen before (and pretty much everyone
else had) so he was at a disadvantage because it's a long, fast road
course to try to learn in a day.
His practice times that first day were a little off-pace but I
expected that, knowing his times would improve with each lap he
made. Unfortunately, because of the weather and time constraints
with a six-hour sports car race set to run there on Saturday,
qualifying was cancelled. The IRL officials used those first day
practice times to set the starting grid. We started dead last.
Giaffone improved the next day to third in practice but that because
everyone didn't practice for the entire time because the track was
wet. When it became dry, he jumped up in the speed ranks. Still he
showed improvement. He liked the car more in the rain than he did
when it was dry so he was hoping for rain on race day.
He got his wish because we started on rain tires, which are tires
that have thick grooves in them to disperse the water. They are also
softer to help gain traction-not an easy task on wet roads when
running at speeds averaging over 100 mph.
After seven laps around the 3.37 mile course, the track was getting
pretty dry. Nearly everyone pitted for slick tires (smooth, no
grooves) which are a lot faster when the track dries out. Giaffone
ran in the top 15 for the first half of the race and then moved into
the top 10 by lap 32. Fourteen laps later, the yellow came out for
the seventh time and when the race restarted, he was in fifth place.
It had begun to rain again so I radioed him to see if he could
continue with his 'dry track' slick tires because there were only
seven minutes left in the race. In road racing, the officials can
change it from a distance event to a timed event if necessary. In
this case the race ran five laps short of the scheduled distance
because it was either 60 laps or two hours, whichever came first.
Getting back to Giaffone, he stayed out along with the top three
runners among others. He had his hands full of steering on the
restart but he didn't relinquish his spot for another lap.
A couple guys passed him and I was hollering to him about it when he
said they were on rain tires. The short shower ended and Giaffone
began searching for the dry line around the track. He found it and
on the last lap he gained back the two spots he'd lost.
It was our first top-five finish since July, 2002 when we won the
doubleheader at Kansas Speedway in the Indy Cars (Airton Dare) and
the Indy Pro Series (A.J. Foyt IV).
You have to go back even further for the last time I was at the
Glen-1989. Then I was driving a Winston Cup car. My race lasted
seven laps due to overheating. I'm pretty sure it was the engine but
it could have been me because it was in the beginning of August,
when it was hot and dry.
 We
could have used some of that weather this weekend but I'm not
complaining. I doubt the four drivers who finished ahead of us would
either. They were Scott Dixon (a repeat winner), Vitor Meira, Ryan
Briscoe and Buddy Rice.
In five races so far this season, we have a couple top 10s and now a
top five. A good finish gives a team momentum and you can bet that
my ABC Supply team will be carrying that momentum into Texas Motor
Speedway this weekend.
Please tune in Saturday night to ESPN starting at 9 p.m. eastern
time when we run the Bombardier Learjet 500. If we log another good
finish, we'll definitely be flying high! |
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