by A.J. Foyt

After many years in racing, I know the business has its high and lows. This weekend was one of the lows. And it didn't matter that we were 10,000 feet above sea level.

It began with flying from Houston to Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania early Friday morning for Winston Cup practice and qualifying. It was Ron Hornaday's first time ever at the 2.5-mile track in the Conseco Pontiac. Pocono is not an easy track to figure out. I won four 500-milers there in my Indy cars but I never ran there in the stock cars.

Pocono is a tri-oval with three very different corners. The car set-up is a compromise because if you're real good in one turn, you're way off in the other two. So you try to set the car up where you're pretty good in all three, and maybe the best coming off the last turn onto that long front straightaway.

We tried a bunch of different things with Hornaday but never could get the car just right. He qualified 35th but to be honest with you, I wasn't sure at the time that we'd even make the show.

After qualifying, I left Friday afternoon for Colorado Springs where my Indy car team was running Saturday and Sunday. I thought about the Conseco car on the way out and when we stopped for fuel in Kansas, I phoned in some suggestions for set-up. My crew chief Donnie Brown and Hornaday discussed it and they used it as a basis for final practice. He was 18th in that practice so I think between car set-up and Hornaday knowing the track better, we had a pretty good car for the race.

When I got to Pikes Peak International Raceway Saturday morning, my Indy car team had the two Harrah's cars ready to go. Eliseo Salazar and Donnie Beechler had gotten there earlier in the week so they could get used to the high altitude. The higher altitude means thinner air which affects the drivers' and the cars' performances.

We struggled in practice with both cars. Salazar and I just couldn't find a combination he liked. Beechler had a fuel pick-up problem so he didn't have many hot laps. We qualified bad, Salazar was 12th and Beechler was 16th. 

Saturday night I watched my son Larry Foyt race his Harrah's car in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Kentucky Speedway. He did a good job but it turns out he had a motor problem. Even so, he got a top-20 finish and is still 25th in the Busch Series points.

Final Indy car practice was Sunday morning. After chasing our tails Saturday, I went back to my original set-up, which both drivers seemed to like. I thought we were in good shape for the race.

I caught the beginning of the NASCAR race and Horrnaday looked pretty good after the first pitstop. He moved up to 24th, but the car had a vibration, which wouldn't go away. It turned out that the rear end was going, so Hornaday went into the garage area and they changed it. He lost 23 laps but he was able to finish the race. I learned later that he came in 35th.

At the start of the Radisson 200 Indy car race, I really did think our Harrah's team was going right to the front. But it became clear pretty quick that we were off on the set-up. Beechler came in on the 11th lap because the car was so bad--the race was only five minutes old! But I bet it felt like five hours to him. We made some changes but he was back in 30 laps later for more. Unfortunately, they were green flag stops and he lost about six laps. That's easy to do at a one-mile track where the cars are lapping in the 21-second range. 

Salazar was able to hang on until the first yellow on lap 55 but we needed to make more changes on the second yellow before the car was where he wanted it. By then it was too late, he was several laps down. So I told both my drivers on the radio, don't worry about it, just stay out of trouble and try to bring the cars home in one piece.

They did. We finished 14th with Salazar and 16th with Beechler. The good news is that Salazar is still second in the points. The bad news is that point leader Sam Hornish Jr. now leads by 56 points. And the race behind Salazar has tightened up. Third place Scott Sharp is only two points behind. 

Buddy Lazier won the Radisson 200, which was nice to see because he comes from Colorado and it's always fun to win in your home state. 

Our next race is in two weeks in Richmond, Virginia on the 3/4 mile oval. The cars that tested there lapped in 16 seconds so it will be a very busy race for everyone. Beechler will join Salazar there too. We were in a slump this weekend but we are going to work hard over the next two weeks to get out of it.

We're ready for the highs of this sport--we've had enough of the lows.