"It was a very busy weekend, probably the busiest weekend of the season for me so far. Harrah's sponsored the Winston Cup race and they had quite a few guests. There were a lot of appearances for me between their hospitality tents and suites. We ran a second car that weekend with David Starr, which was the first time we'd done that this year. In fact, I qualified 26th and Starr qualified 25th. We didn't have a bad car but I got a lap down early. The race was pretty uneventful. We ended up finishing 22nd. Right after the Busch race, I flew by charter jet to the Harrah's Casino in Shreveport, La. Harrah's was entertaining over 400 guests there. I spent several hours there and flew back that evening. The next day, I visited more hospitality suites. I stood by my dad as he gave the command, "Gentlemen, start your engines" for the Harrah's 500."
Notes & Quotes:
On
Texas: "I'm
very excited about running at Texas. I have always enjoyed racing in front
of my family and friends and I have a good feeling going into this race.
There will be a lot going on because Harrah's is also sponsoring the
Winston Cup race, the Harrah's 500. But if there's any pressure, it'll
come from my wanting to do a good job for my team because we've had a
rough couple of weeks."
Texas Motor
Speedway
is the first track this year that Larry has not tested beforehand in his No.14
Harrah's Monte Carlo. However, he did test his father's Indy car there in
1999. Young Foyt earned his Indy car license at that test wherein he ran speeds
in excess of 212 mph. He notes, "I'm sure that the groove is going to be
different from the one I ran in the Indy car, but my dad told me a couple of
years ago that if you can't figure out the line you're supposed to take in
two or three laps, then you don't need to be a race driver. I'm just hoping
that practice doesn't rain out."
About
Bristol, Tenn.,
Foyt said, "That was the toughest race I've ever been in. You are so busy
and running so close, you really have to be up on the wheel. We went into it
thinking ‘survival,' and we managed to avoid all the wrecks that happened in
front of us, but we got hit from behind." Foyt was hit in the rear hard enough
to send him spinning into the inside retaining wall after he had moved from 37th
to the top 15. The car was too heavily damaged to continue, he placed 33rd.
Afterwards the errant driver, who explained he didn't have brakes, apologized
to Foyt.
Larry
will be busy in
Texas. Following his race Saturday, he will join Harrah's guests who will
be flown by a DC-9 charter to the Harrah's property in Shreveport, La.
where there will be a party for 400 guests that evening. Larry will fly back
later that evening so he can visit Harrah's hospitality tent and suite
Sunday morning. Then he will join his father A.J. Foyt at the starting line
where A.J. will give the command, Gentlemen Start Your Engines. It is the
first time A.J. has done so at a NASCAR Winston Cup race.
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