Disappointing Day for Foyt Family

Disappointment ran deep in the Foyt garage after both A.J. IV and Larry Foyt failed to finish in the 88th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Their early exits netted them the final two places, 33rd and 32nd.

Due to inclement weather, the race took two hours to get started. However, Foyt IV's race appeared to end after just 10 laps when he brushed the wall in turn four and never made it through turn one. He spun (due to the damage sustained in the previous corner) and backed into the wall hard. He emerged unhurt.

"First, I hit the wall coming out of Turn 4," the 20-year-old explained. "I thought everything was OK, but when I got into (Turn) 1, I found out it wasn't. It was pretty stupid on my part."

A rain delay after 27 laps gave Team Conseco time to fix the No. 14 Dallara/Toyota with parts from the back-up car. They worked feverishly to replace the nose, right front suspension, entire rear suspension, rear wing and both sidepods.

Foyt IV re-entered the race 17 laps down. He started even further back from the pack because he ducked into the pits to top off his fuel as the race restarted. However, as he tried to feel the car out after the major overhaul, the leaders were quickly upon him.

"We could not really get anything going out there," said Foyt IV. "I was in the way every lap. I couldn't really get comfortable in the car, so there's no sense in staying out there in everybody's way. So we decided to quit. It wasn't my safety. It didn't have anything to do with that. It was a matter of being in everybody's way and also trying to put a car together. My crew did a great job, but you need more time to prepare a car than that."

Foyt IV was credited with an additional 16 laps, giving him a total of 26 for the day.

Larry didn't fare much better in his first Indy 500 start. The rookie struggled with the car's handling from the beginning of the race. On lap 55, he was in traffic when he was pushed up into the marbles and slid into the wall in turn two. His G-Force/Dallara car was not repairable.

"I just got up in the marbles," said Larry. "My car was bad all day and they got under me in (Turn) 2, and that took me into the fence. We just missed on our race set-up. I was fighting to hang on every lap."

Fortunately for both Foyts they walked away from their accidents as did the seven other drivers with similar fates.

It was a day that built character into the lives of the two young drivers with a classic last name in motorsports. Moments after emerging from the infield medical center, both young Foyts gave interviews in which they took the blame for their separate crashes which essentially ended their chances for a strong finish in a race that means everything to their family. And they knew the toughest interview was yet to come from the family patriarch, A.J. Foyt.

"It was just one of those days," said A.J. Foyt. "We were the first ones to start the craziness but we weren't the only ones. The weather didn't help out either, it's been crazy all month. I'm pretty mad at my drivers because they pushed too hard instead of waiting till we could get the cars right for them. They knew what they did wrong. But I am proud of my team in the way they got the Conseco car back together so quickly. They did a helluva job!"

Nine cars (six of which were driven by rookies) crashed during the race that was shortened to 180 laps or 450 miles due to rain. The race took 5 hours, 2 minutes, 33.2395 seconds to complete which included the 1:47 rain delay after 27 laps.

Buddy Rice, who won the pole two weeks earlier, earned his first Indianapolis 500 victory in a Cinderella-like drive for Team Rahal. Rice joined the team this year as a substitute for 1999 Indy 500 winner (in A.J.'s car) Kenny Brack who is still recovering from injuries sustained last October at Texas Motor Speedway.

The next race for the Indy Racing League is ‘under the lights' at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 12th.
 

Jacob and Co. Teams Up With Race Driver Larry Foyt

INDIANAPOLIS May 17, 2004--Time flies has a new meaning around the Foyt Racing team at Indianapolis. Larry Foyt has teamed up with Jacob and Co. which designs unique watches including the one Foyt is sporting these days.

Foyt's black and silver helmet incorporates the watch-face of the Jacob and Co. Five Time Zone Watch as part of the agreement. The timepiece features a main dial set to local time and four smaller dials showing the time in Tokyo, Paris, New York and Los Angeles.

"We are excited to be part of the Foyt Racing team and Larry Foyt's first Indy 500," said Jay Albaum, national sales manager of Jacob and Co. "Jacob and Co. is on the cutting edge of the watch industry and Indy car racing is certainly on the cutting edge of motorsports, so it's a natural fit."

The 27-year-old Houstonian qualified Saturday afternoon for his first Indianapolis 500 driving for his father A.J. Foyt who became Indy's first four-time winner.

"I am having the time of my life this month," said young Foyt. "Teaming up with a really cool watchmaker like Jacob and Co. and being able to share my experience of my first Indy 500 with them, is terrific.

"Last month my dad's team was racing in Japan and I'm sure the Five Time Zone Watch would have eliminated those 3 a.m. phone calls back home!," Foyt said.
Foyt will compete in the Indy 500 on Sunday, May 30th starting at 12 noon "New York" time.

For more information on Jacob and Co., please check out the web site, http://www.jacobandco.com .