Watkins Glen
By A.J. Foyt
photo credit: Ron McQueeney


Feast or famine. That’s the way it is with my ABC Supply team at Watkins Glen International. It was the second year in a row that we left hungry.


Sometimes, actually most times, when you don’t roll off the truck fast, it turns out to be a long weekend. We weren’t fast and with just an hour-long practice on Friday, we didn’t have much time to figure out which direction to go for the next day’s practice and qualifying.


The direction we chose meant the guys were at the track until 10pm changing the ABC Supply car over to a different set-up. They didn’t complain, they just got it done. On Saturday, it appeared that it was the right direction because Vitor Meira was happier with the car. But then with about 20 minutes to go in the practice, we lost the fuel pump so we had all of 40 minutes to dial in the car.


To replace the fuel pump, they had to pull the engine. Since we were scheduled to get a new one anyway, they installed the new engine before qualifying. It was a little tight on time to swap out an engine but we made it out in time for our group session.


In qualifying, Vitor was ninth out of 12 in his group which put him on the inside of row nine or 17th. We made more changes to the car for the race.


After the morning warm-up on race day, Vitor was pretty confident about the car and figured he could get another top 10 finish. The weather was really hot so it was going to be tough on the drivers but since we have one of the toughest drivers in the IZOD IndyCar Series, that works to our advantage!


He started out the race pretty good and had picked up three positions by lap 15, helped by Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon racing too close together—Helio had to pit to replace a left rear tire and Dixon needed a new front wing. Then came a full course yellow on lap 16 for Dan Wheldon’s spin.


Vitor, now running 14th, pitted the next lap with practically the whole field. Then we had a problem with the new fuel probe. This weekend the teams started using a probe which wouldn’t allow the cars to leave the pits if the fuel was still plugged in. Vitor only took on seven gallons so we told him he had to pit again.


That was tough because at that point you feel like you’ve lost the race. When he pitted a second time, the race had gone green so he lost half a lap and was back in 23rd position. But he also only got seven gallons again so then we changed the probe. When he pitted on lap 31 under green, we did get the full load of fuel in.


A full course yellow came out on lap 40 for Simona De Silvestro’s accident. We had a short discussion about whether or not to put on black (primary) Firestones or use the softer alternate red-rimmed tire. We chose the reds and Vitor said afterwards, he knew it was the wrong decision by his second lap. We made it worse by not adding even more front wing which we did on the third stop. We thought if he could live with it, he might pick up a position because he didn’t need as much fuel as the others.


He did pick up a position but then as the car began to push, he had to give it back. A lot of teams had trouble with the tires causing the cars to have big problems with pushing, or since we were at a road course, I should say understeer.


At the end of the race, we gained a couple spots when people ran out of fuel but our 19th place finish was disappointing for everyone here at A.J. Foyt Racing. We’re back in that 13th spot in the points too.


It’s tough to come back from a weekend like this but everyone in racing has them. The good news is that we didn’t crash a car so we can focus totally on the next race which happens to be in Toronto, Canada.


I like Toronto—they have knowledgeable race fans there and some great restaurants.


I’m planning to come away from that city satisfied—on track and off.