Kansas
By A.J. Foyt

The race at Kansas Speedway had always been run on what seemed like the hottest day of the summer but this year it was moved to the last weekend in April. The race was cooler than normal but it was held on what was probably the hottest day of April. With 85 degrees and a fairly strong wind, it made driving conditions a little tricky around the 1.5 mile superspeedway.

Our driver Darren Manning handled it all pretty well in the ABC Supply car. He qualified 11^th  which was our best qualifying run on an oval since the 2006 season opener when we qualified 10^th at Homestead, FL.

This year in the IndyCar Series, we don’t have final practice on the ovals which means that you are finished running after you qualify for the race (except for the Indianapolis 500’s Carb Day). It means that there is one less practice session, so in Kansas, the teams had two one-hour sessions on Saturday to figure out their qualifying and race set-ups.

Some figured it out better than others and some never did. We had our own struggles but nothing like last year. It was more like last week in Japan, where by the end of the race, Manning was running his best times of the day. He ran ninth or 10^th until the first round of pit stops.

We made some adjustments to the car which took longer than just fuel and tires and he dropped to 12^th. The stop was under green so that hurt us a little. We didn’t have a problem on the stop but we are looking at ways to speed them up.

 The race was slowed by only two yellow flags, one of which came after everyone had stopped.

That meant teams couldn’t make massive changes on their setups because there wasn’t enough time during the green flag pit stops. You’re limited to changing air pressures and a turn or two of the front wings. Of course the drivers’ have additional tools in the cockpit such as adjusting the front and rear bars and plus a weight jacker to try to compensate for the changing track conditions.

Looking at the computer, he was using them especially in traffic which turned out to be the most challenging condition out there. It was difficult to pass cars that were slower than you which is how we got hung behind slower cars, losing lots of track position.

In the last stint, Darren passed one such car and with less than ten laps to go, he closed in on the ninth and tenth positions: my grandson A.J. IV and Jeff Simmons were battling side by side. It could have become very interesting but Scott Sharp spun and the race ended under caution. We finished 11^th.

I have to remember we keep improving race by race (it’s our best finish this year for the ABC Supply team) but I’d like to step up that pace in finishes too.

I was glad to see my grandson come in ninth to earn his first top-10 finish of the year with Tony George’s team. He did a great job and I’m sure it will boost his confidence going into Indy.

There are lots of exciting things going on for me at Indy—starting with A.J. Foyt Opening Day at the Speedway this Sunday. The four cars I drove to victory lane at Indy plus the one Kenny Brack drove, will circle the Speedway with drivers who all have a connection to me in some way. I will be in the pace car driven by Tony George. I’m sure it will bring to mind my ‘77 win when Tony Hulman took that victory lap by my side for his last time around the Speedway.

This month is shaping up to be filled with lots of celebrations surrounding my career. I’ll try my best to keep you up to date but my focus will be on the race we have to run, not the ones I’ve already run.