Race Report
Long day at
Pikes Peak
Pikes
Peak International Raceway is on the southern outskirts of
Colorado Springs. It is a beautiful one-mile track in a
beautiful part of the country--the Rocky Mountains form an
impressive backdrop.
Scenery aside, I was excited about going back to Pikes Peak and
so was my crew chief Jon Wolfe. We had a good qualifying run
there last year – we started 10th. Although we had problems with
the car's handling in last year's race, we were confident we
would run stronger this year because of the strides we had made
in our short track program.
Unfortunately, the Harrah's Chevrolet that we brought this year
was a different car (the other one was being repaired from my
unfortunate accident at Kentucky). It was Chassis 18 and we are
still trying to find Chassis 18's sweet spot. We struggled with
a loose-handling race car from the moment we rolled it off the
transporter.
It seemed no matter what we changed it didn't help. The No. 14
car was still loose. So we qualified a very disappointing 28th.
Well, Wolfie really went to work on it and made even bigger
changes, I mean wholesale changes like A-arms (front suspension)
and truck arms (rear suspension).
Those changes made a difference -- too much of a difference, as
it turned out. In the race, the car was very tight (the opposite
of loose). That car just wouldn't turn in the middle of the
corner, which meant the harder I drove it in, the more the front
end pushed towards the outside wall. I could see it was going to
be a long race.
As long as that afternoon was, we didn't get very far. We ended
up where we started – 28th.
This week I head to New Orleans to do a "Meals on Wheels"
delivery and press conference as part of Harrah's awareness
campaign. Afterwards, I will meet the employees at the Harrah's
Casino there and do a couple of autograph sessions. I enjoy
meeting people but I am continually surprised at how much they
know about me and how my season is going.
From New Orleans I travel to Indy on Thursday for some meetings
with my sponsor, Harrah's. Friday is practice for the Winston
Cup teams including my dad's Conseco team, and I will catch a
little of that action. On Saturday, I head to Indianapolis
Raceway Park which is a 5/8-mile short track located about 10
miles from the Speedway. We practice and qualify during the day
and race that night.
It will be a long day and if we win, an even
longer night! Let's hope so...
Notes & Quotes: NetZero 250 at Pikes Peak
Int'l Raceway
Light Schedule...The past few weeks, Larry Foyt has been
very busy both on track and off because he has raced in
markets containing Harrah's Casinos. This weekend Foyt's
duties will be limited to driving the No. 14 Harrah's
Chevrolet. "I really enjoy working the Harrah's program at the
casinos--I'm having a pretty good year on the tables-- and I
enjoy doing the Wheels on Meals events, but it will be nice
just to be a race driver this weekend."
Larry Foyt on Pikes Peak: "I like Pikes Peak a lot.
I've raced there in my F-2000 car, tested my dad's Indy car
there and qualified 10th in the Busch car last year. There's a
world of difference between the Indy car and the stock car.
The Indy car is very responsive, light, has lots of horsepower
and lots of downforce. It feels really good even though you're
going much faster. The stock car is heavy and it slides around
a lot. You really have to work to get it to turn in the
corners. I think with the notes we got last year, we'll be
even better in the race this year."
Crew chief Jon Wolfe: "We're really looking forward to
going back to Pikes Peak. We qualified 10th there last year
but the motor broke (bad batch of valve springs). [On
competing at high altitude] It had no bearing on the motor's
performance and I didn't see where it affected the crew's
performance either. [On sightseeing in area] My sightseeing
consists of lying in a motel room looking at notes."
Gateway Race Recap: Foyt qualified 19th but started
41st because he was late to the Driver's Meeting (he was
unaware of the changed schedule). He made his way through the
field in early stages to 20th, pitted under green only to be
locked down two laps when the yellow came out shortly after.
He never got his laps back and finished 23rd.
Foyt is 19th in the NASCAR Busch Series standings; he
has earned $365,650 to date.
Pikes Peak 2001: The race set-up was not quite as
strong as the qualifying set-up. Foyt fought a loose race car
the whole day which ended early when the engine had a valve
spring break. He placed 34th.
