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A.J. Foyt II - A.J Foyt IV - A.J. Foyt III |
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A.J. Foyt IV Tests at Homestead
 HOMESTEAD,
Fla. (Dec. 5)--A.J. Foyt IV finished up his two-day Indy car test at
Homestead-Miami Speedway on a positive note.
The 18-year-old who will make his Indy Racing League debut at the
1.5-mile track in less than three months had a tough start in the A.J.
Foyt Racing entry. After turning laps in excess of 192 mph on
Wednesday, December 4th, there was a suspension failure on the car
which triggered an inside spin and contact with the wall in turn 4 at
approximately 11:20 a.m.
Foyt IV, emerged from the car on his own but was transported to
Homestead Hospital for observation. He was released that afternoon.
He returned to the track on Thursday but by his own admission, he had
trouble getting the back-up Dallara/Chevrolet up to speed.
"I was pretty screwed up this morning," Foyt IV said. "I didn't have
any confidence in the car or myself. I was getting frustrated but my
grandfather was patient; he explained I wasn't going fast enough to use
all the downforce. To me, it felt like the car was skating all around."
The senior Foyt called on his other Indy car driver Airton Dare, who
was on hand as a driving coach, to shake down the back-up car. Early in
the run, the engine dropped a valve and the crew changed the engine.
Dare logged about 30 laps before turning the car back over to the IRL
rookie.
"After Airton got in it and I saw the times he turned, I knew the car
was okay," the Infiniti Pro Series champion said afterwards. "I got
back in the car and got back up to speed. I learned a lot today, maybe
more than I wanted to but now I feel good about coming back here."
Foyt turned nearly 150 laps in the car before the team packed up and
headed back to Houston Thursday evening.
Other teams testing were Chip Ganassi Racing with Tomas Scheckter and
Scott Dixon, Andretti-Green Racing with test driver Dan Wheldon and
Team Penske with two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves. |
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