Michigan International Speedway
Firestone Indy 400

Date: July 27, 2003
Start: 16
Finish: 14


A.J. Foyt IV turned in a strong performance in the Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan International Speedway Sunday afternoon but problems with the gearbox forced him to retire early, turning a top-10 finish into 14th place. Foyt IV completed 179 of the scheduled 200 laps around the 2-mile banked oval track.

Alex Barron edged out Sam Hornish by just 12 thousandths of a second to win his first race of the year as a replacement driver for injured Felipe Giaffone. Hornish debuted the new generation Chevy Gen-4 engine to score his first top-five finish of the year.

Foyt gained four spots on the first lap but after a couple laps he drifted back to 16th complaining that the car was very "loose", meaning that the rear of the car wiggles. If it wiggles too much, the car spins out. Team Conseco owner A.J. Foyt told him to hang on until the first scheduled pitstop.

Foyt IV did and the team made adjustments in the tire pressures and front wings.

The next pit stop was made under caution on lap 60. However, as Foyt IV was exiting the pits he felt a problem with the car. He circled back to the pits but not before he lost his right rear wheel which bounced ahead of him as he came down pit road. Fortunately, no one was injured and the crew was able to put on another set of tires.

Foyt IV moved into the top-10 by lap 70 but slipped to 11th six laps later where he ran until his next pitstop on lap 107. He moved back into the top 10 by lap 118 where he ran until his next pitstop on lap 139. Unfortunately, he had to pit about seven laps early because of problem in fueling the previous stop; he lost a couple positions. The track went yellow several laps later but Foyt didn't pit with the leaders and he was able to regain one of his laps.

By lap 161, he moved back into the top-10. The yellow flag came out for Alex Barron's half-spin coming off turn 4 which was triggered by contact with Tomas Scheckter. Foyt IV pitted under the caution but after a nine-second stop, he couldn't get the car in gear. The team then replaced the gearbox in the pit stall and Foyt IV rejoined the race 12 laps down.

He retired with eight laps to go with problems in the second gearbox.

"We didn't have enough overall downforce on the Conseco car," Foyt IV said. "We kept adjusting on it throughout the race but we were just going to ride it out to the finish and then the gearbox blew up for a second time. It was a long day."

"A.J. IV did a good job out there today," the senior Foyt said. "I didn't give him the best set-up and we messed up in the pits but he kept his cool and ran a real good race. I just feel bad we couldn't get that top-10 finish. But he's getting better with every race and I'm sure we'll have some good finishes before the season is over."

Team Conseco is testing at Gateway International Raceway this Tuesday and Wednesday in East St. Louis as they prepare for the Emerson Indy 250 Indy car race to be held there August 11th. It will be broadcast live on ABC-TV starting at 3 pm Eastern time.

NOTES & QUOTES: Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan

A.J. Foyt IV: Conseco No. 14 Panoz G-Force/Toyota/Firestone

Michigan 100
Ed Carpenter: No. 14 Futaba/Delphi Dallara


A.J. Foyt IV on Michigan: "I'm looking forward to running at Michigan this coming weekend. Michigan is very similar to California Speedway where I had a good test with the Conseco car at the beginning of the season. Going into Michigan. I feel a lot more confident, so I think we'll do pretty good. Plus, we won the Infiniti Pro Series race there last year, so I have some good memories."

Foyt IV will be testing at Gateway International Raceway next Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for the August 10th event there. The team will then drop off owner A.J. in Indy on Thursday as he prepares for the Brickyard 400 with his son Larry who is a rookie in the NASCAR Winston Cup series.

Coming home again...Foyt Racing Team Manager Craig Baranouski returns to his home state of Michigan where his team will compete about 40 miles east of his hometown of Coldwater. Baranouski, 43, joined Foyt's team after the end of the 1986 season and is second only to General Manager Jack Starne in terms of consecutive years of service (Starne has been with Foyt since 1967). Baranouski began his Indy car career in 1982 with the late Scott Brayton, with whom he worked for four years before working on Pat Patrick's race team for a season. As a kid, Baranouski watched races at nearby Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy and later worked on several race teams competing there.

Past performance for Foyt Racing at Michigan International Speedway: Last year Foyt fielded three Indy cars, with Eliseo Salazar posting the best qualifying run (9th). A mechanic's mistake on the car's pre-race prep proved costly as Salazar never contended for the victory; he placed 19th. Airton Dare started 13th and finished 23rd, he dropped out with throttle sensor problems. Greg Ray started 23rd and finished 17th. A.J. Foyt IV qualified 2nd for the Infiniti Pro Series and won the rain-shortened race after a heated battle with Arie Luyendyk, Jr. and Ed Carpenter.

Ed Carpenter on Michigan: "I am looking forward to returning to Michigan International Speedway. Last year, I finished third in the rain-shortened race, and I feel like we should be strong, returning with the team that won the race last year. My main objective of the weekend is to win the race and beat Mark Taylor and the Panther Racing team. They have established such a large points lead. It will be hard to beat them in the championship without gaining some points back on them soon. I still feel that we can win the championship. It will be an uphill battle for the rest of the season, but I feel we can come through and win the championship."

The Firestone Indy 400 will be televised live Sunday at 3:00 pm Eastern on ABC.