Date: June 15, 2003
 Father's
Day was a tough one for three generations of Foyts at Pikes Peak
International Raceway where the Indy Racing League staged their sixth
event of the season.
A.J. Foyt IV battled an ill-handling race car in the Honda Indy 225 on
the flat, one-mile oval while his father Tony looked on. Tony's
father, Team Conseco car owner A.J. Foyt, tried to make adjustments on
the Conseco Dallara/Toyota during two early pit stops but to no avail.
The elder Foyt decided to park the car after just 41 laps.
"It was a tough day for us," Foyt said afterwards. "I missed on the
set-up and there wasn't much we could do with the car. We needed to
make big changes on the car and they couldn't be done in the pits so I
decided to park it. I had the same handling problems with my other car
which was driven by Jaques Lazier, so I parked him too. We didn't have
that much to gain compared to what we had to lose if they stayed in
the race. It was a hard decision, but it was the right decision."
 Lazier
started 15th in the race based on his practice time because qualifying
was rained out. He missed the final practice on Sunday morning due to
problems in the fuel system which the team repaired. Unfortunately,
the loss of track time proved costly in determining the race set-up.
"I couldn't ask for a better Father's Day than this because last year
at this time I was in a back brace," said Lazier. "As far as the
weekend, we had been chasing a fuel pressure problem which I think we
fixed but we lost a lot of track time and it hurt us on the set-up
today. The car was evil loose, so we decided to park it."
Foyt IV finished 22nd while Lazier finished 21st after completing 91
laps. Scott Dixon won his second race of the year. He was followed by
Tony Kanaan, Gil DeFerran and Dario Franchitti. Defending IRL champion
Sam Hornish finished fifth for his best performance of the year.
Driving the No. 14 Futaba/Delphi Dallara, Ed Carpenter started and
finished fourth in the rain-shortened Pikes Peak 100 on Saturday.
Carpenter had gotten as high as third but the car started pushing
early in the race.
"In the morning warm-up, we had a push so we took some downforce out
of the Futaba car," Carpenter said. "Then the wind picked up this
afternoon in the race and we needed that downforce back but we didn't
have it. It was pushing pretty bad so I just tried to run different
lines to compensate for it and run the best times we could. We
finished fourth with a fourth place car today."
The result moved Carpenter to fourth in the Infiniti Pro Series
standings.
Team Conseco plans to test with Foyt IV this Wednesday at Richmond
(VA) Int'l Raceway in preparation for the SunTrust Indy Challenge to
be held Saturday night, June 28. That race will be televised live on
ESPN starting at 8 pm eastern time. The team also plans to test at
Kentucky Speedway this Friday.
NOTES & QUOTES: HONDA INDY 225
A.J. Foyt IV: Conseco No. 14 Dallara/Toyota/Firestone
Jaques Lazier: No. 5 Dallara/Toyota/Firestone
Infiniti Pro Series Pikes Peak 100
Ed Carpenter: No. 14 Futaba Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone
A.J. Foyt IV will make his first start at Pikes Peak International
Raceway in the No. 14 Conseco Dallara/Infiniti this weekend. The
19-year-old rookie's first time on the track will be in practice
because he didn't get a chance to test at PPIR. His grandfather's team
won the race in 1998 with Kenny Brack driving. Following that victory
the two-car team has had two top-10 starts (6th and 9th in 2000) and
four top-10 finishes (7th and 10th in 1999, 6th in 2000 and 9th in
2002).
Jaques Lazier will make his second start in the No. 5 Dallara/Toyota
at his hometown track this weekend. The Colorado native who currently
lives in Alta Loma, Calif. subbed for injured Airton Dare at Texas
last weekend. Lazier had started last (no qualifying time) and worked
his way up to 11th before fuel pressure problems forced his early
exit. He was credited with 19th place. In four previous starts at PPIR,
Lazier has two top-10 finishes with his best finish of 9th coming in
2000. He last competed at the track in 2001 when he started 12th and
finished 17th.
Airton Dare moved from Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis to a nearby
rehabilitation center Wednesday following surgery on his right hand to
repair minor fractures earlier this week. His right foot was not
operated on. "They said what showed up on the initial x-rays turned
out to be an old injury," Dare said. "Since it wasn't bothering me,
they decided to leave it alone. I was happy to hear that." Last Sunday
Dare had been transported to Indy from Dallas Parkland Memorial
Hospital where he'd had surgery on his right upper arm and right
thigh. Dare was injured in a crash when the right front suspension
failed in practice at Texas Motor Speedway June 5th. Dare is expected
to make a full recovery which could take up to 3 months.
Ed Carpenter, coming off his Freedom 100 victory at Indianapolis, is
making his first start at PPIR in the Infiniti Pro Series. Carpenter's
first career victory vaulted him to fifth in the Pro Series standings.
The 22-year-old is no stranger to PPIR having raced there since 1999.
Carpenter finished third in a USAC Midget race in 2000 behind winner
Ryan Newman and runner-up Michael Lewis. The last two years there,
Carpenter competed in USAC Silver Crown Series.
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