Cheever Group Revives A.J. Foyt's Coyote Chassis Brand


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Jan. 3, 2008 – Featuring a brand name made legendary by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt, Jr., Coyote Cars, LLC, a race car manufacturing company owned by fellow Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever, Jr., has unveiled its first offering in the form of a Grand-Am Daytona Prototype chassis. Coyote Cars CC/08/1 will make its official competition debut at the Rolex 24 At Daytona season-opener Jan. 26-27 for the Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.


After obtaining the Daytona Prototype license from race car manufacturer Fabcar in September 2007, the Cheever Group deployed the personnel and resources resulting in the CC/08/1 design. The new entry was configured in record time and features a complete revision of the previous technical design yielding a new body shape and a car that is lighter without sacrificing strength. In marketing the new race car the Cheever Group, which additionally holds race teams and motorsports IT business interests, looked into auto racing history to bring back the Coyote name.


In describing the inspiration for the Coyote name revival, Cheever Group founder and CEO Eddie Cheever, Jr. stated: “We did this in honor of the great success A.J. achieved in his driving career, much of it behind the wheel of race cars bearing the Coyote name. It’s a great racing heritage, and I sincerely admire his achievements both as a driver and as a manufacturer.”


And though Foyt has no personal business stake in Cheever’s Coyote Cars venture, he does have a supportive interest in seeing the Coyote name brought back to life.


“I respect Eddie Cheever; he was a good Formula One driver and an Indy 500 champion,” Foyt said. “Normally I don’t do things like this but he (Cheever) wants to make the Coyote name come back to the way it was when I was building cars and winning races. It went dormant since I retired from driving so I’m looking forward to him building a good car.”


The Grand American Road Racing Association operates and sanctions the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. The 15-race 2008 Rolex Series delivers professional sports car racing to key markets throughout North America in addition to being televised in the United States and Canada on SPEED and distributed globally through ESPN International.