Kansas & Kentucky
By A.J. Foyt


I didn’t go to the race in Kansas this past weekend because I was committed to going to the Kentucky Derby so I turned the racing operation over to my son Larry Foyt. Larry is our team director and handles the day-to-day stuff so I think he was glad for another chance to be in charge at the races. He’s done it for me in the past when I couldn’t be at certain events usually due to my problems with my legs.


Vitor Meira qualified the ABC Supply Indy car in sixth position at Kansas Speedway for our best qualifying run there since 2002. Larry and the gang were off to a good start. They did a good job of setting the car up back at the shop because Vitor said it was quick right off the truck. Our new chief engineer Jeff Britton has really fit in well with our team and I like working with him. He gets along great with Vitor and Larry which isn’t saying much because they’re nice guys, but he gets along great with me which says a helluva lot. Just ask my ex-chief engineers.


I watched the race on TV from my club room at the Derby and the beginning of it was going well because Vitor had passed Helio Castroneves (who got him on the start) for fourth. Then before the first pit stop Helio passed Vitor on the track. Vitor never got that high again. The car didn’t have enough downforce for the race. He could run fast when he was alone and the Firestone tires were new but longer into the run, he would lose grip and positions. Once traffic became an issue because he was lapping cars slower than him, things just got worse.


Jeff did all he could from the pits but there’s not a whole lot you can do in that situation. The way it looked on TV’s running grid, we seemed to have problems in the pits. But I found out that the stops went fine, it was just that pit lane was really crowded—even when we stopped under green. Vitor had to keep low leaving his pitbox every time and he had a couple close calls at the merge point at the end of pit lane. He used good judgment and was able to get back by some of them on the restarts. He had really good restarts.


He finished the race in tenth and moved up to ninth in the IZOD IndyCar Series points. That is the best position we’ve been in heading to Indy in nearly 10 years. And for his first race back on an oval since Indy of last year, he did a good job. Everyone on the ABC Supply crew did a good job.


I didn’t do so well at the Derby. I made some money the day before but my picks for the Derby are still running I think. And I had to place a lot of bets for my friends and their picks were as bad as mine.


I did learn one thing and it had nothing to do with horses. I took a group out to dinner at a really nice restaurant in downtown Louisville. There were eight of us and we ate well so when the tab came it seemed a little heavy to me. Ok it was sticker shock but I didn’t want to raise a fuss with my friends there. I just added the $200 tip and called it a night.


Now I knew we’d be eating there the next night – I’d had reservations for all three nights because it was close to my hotel, so I asked about it the next night. Well I found out that the tip was included in the total which I didn’t see. They had it listed as a service fee in the middle of the dinner orders and the tip line was left blank.


Sneaky. Very sneaky.

On top of the 20% tip that the restaurant automatically included because there were eight of us, the waiter got an extra 20%! Hell I even tipped on the tip! So the lesson is read that fine print at the bottom of the menu and read your bill even closer.


Well, we’re heading to Indy next week. It will be different because instead of two weeks of preparation/track time, we’ll only have one week. That week will be solid running from noon to six from when the track opens May 15th through qualifying the following weekend. Vitor will be in a brand new Dallara and A.J. IV will be in one that has been raced only at Indy and Texas.


Here’s hoping it doesn’t rain!


Check out AJ Foyt Racing on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with the daily happenings in Indy. I’ll let you know how things are going after we qualify with Vitor and my grandson A.J. Foyt IV. I’m looking for our best finishes there since we won in ’99—that year we finished first, third and sixth.


Winner and runner-up has a nice ring to it.