Texas
By A.J. Foyt


To me, the most important race on the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule after the Indy 500 is the race at Texas Motor Speedway. My ABC Supply team knows that and so does my driver Vitor Meira.


Pressure? You bet.


If Indy is a disappointment, then a good run at Texas can give us a little redemption.


Vitor gave the ABC Supply car a helluva run in the Firestone 550K and we got our first top-10 there since my grandson A.j. Foyt IV finished 10th back in 2004. Still I was disappointed in the result. Vitor should have finished better than 10th because he had a good car underneath him and he drove the wheels off it.


But my crew fell short and they knew it. After every pit stop, Vitor had to come from behind and pass cars he had already passed. It wasn’t a lot of positions --two or three at the most--but it’s still tough to swallow because I know they can do better. They have done better most of this year. But I have to make some changes and we’ll do it before our race in Iowa.


But back to Texas. It was hot, I mean really hot. I don’t remember a day quite that hot at that track—it was over 100 degrees during the day. Fortunately we raced at night.


Qualifying didn’t go so well but we figured out that Vitor was in too high of a gear. For some reason the indicator lights prompted him to go higher than he should have so we are looking into that. He started 19th but at Texas, the starting position isn’t as critical as it is on some other tracks because you can pass if you have a good car. After the final practice session Friday evening, Vitor told us he had a good car.


He showed us Saturday night. He dropped back at the start but then started picking off cars and had gotten as high as 14th. When he pitted, he was 16th because he said midway through the run, the car picked up a push. So we put a turn of front wing in it.


Unfortunately, we had to put a turn of front wing in it every stop—but I think nearly everyone was in the same boat. We did some air pressure adjustments too but it wasn’t enough as the night wore on. The No. 14 was great on new tires and in the fourth stint Vitor got as high as seventh before the push kicked in and he faded back to ninth.


While we were lucky the first three stops were under yellow (minimizing the penalty of a slower than usual stop), the final one was under green. He came in ninth and went out in 12th. But Vitor never gave up his fight and he picked up a couple spots to finish tenth. It was his ninth top-10 in 10 starts at Texas. Clearly he knows how to get around that track.


We have this weekend off and before we head to Iowa, we are stopping in at ABC Supply’s headquarters in Beloit, Wisconsin next Thursday. They are hosting their Founders’ Celebration Company Picnic and we are going to visit with the employees and eat some burgers and hot dogs. We’ve been to the company picnics before and it is always a good time. The folks at ABC Supply know how to throw a good party!


Then it’s on to Iowa where we’ve finished in the top five and not finished at all—kind of a mixed bag at the shortest oval track on the circuit. It will be our first time there with Vitor whose best finish there is ninth. Tune in on Father’s Day, June 20th at 1:30pm ET to see how we do.


I think a win at Iowa Speedway would be a nice present! Hey Son, are you listening?