AJ Foyt

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Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr. (born January 16, 1935) is an American retired auto racing driver who has raced in numerous genres of motorsports.

His open wheel racing includes United States Automobile Club Champ cars, sprint cars, and midget cars.

He raced stock cars in NASCAR and USAC.

He won several major sports car racing events.

He holds the USAC career wins record with 159 victories, and the American championship racing career wins record with 67.He is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 (which he won four times), the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Foyt won the International Race of Champions all-star racing series in 1976 and 1977.

In the NASCAR stock car circuit, he won the 1964 Firecracker 400 and the 1972 Daytona 500.

Foyt survived three major crashes that caused serious injuries, and narrowly escaped a fourth.

Foyt's success has led to induction in numerous motorsports halls of fame. In the mid-sixties, Foyt become a team owner, fielding cars for himself and other drivers.

Since retiring from active race driving, he has owned A. J. Foyt Enterprises, which has fielded teams in the CART, IRL, and NASCAR. Foyt was the owner namesake of a Chevrolet Dealership in Houston Texas roughly mid to late 1960s to mid 1980s located at 10306 South Post Oak Houston TX 77081.

This was located about a mile just south of the Meyerland Shopping Plaza off the Southeast corner of I 610 South Loop.

The location is not too far from where Meyer Speedway was located on South Main.

He was also the namesake of a A J Foyt Cycles, now Team Mancuso Powersports, located at 9650 North Fwy, Houston, TX 77037.

Early life

Foyt was born in Houston, Texas, to Anthony (Tony) Foyt Sr. and Emma Evelyn Monk Foyt. His father was an auto mechanic who owned and raced midget race cars as a hobby. Foyt's father built A. J. a toy racer with a lawnmower engine when he was five years old. Tony recalled that when he and his wife left an eleven-year-old A. J. home to attend a race, they returned to find the boy had done considerable damage to the home driving the family's other race car in the yard, and had caused the car's engine to catch on fire. While angry, the older Foyt did accept the likelihood of A. J. having a future as a driver. A. J. attended Pershing and Hamilton middle schools and Lamar, San Jacinto and St. Thomas Catholic high schools, but he dropped out to become a mechanic and spend more time concentrating on racing. When he obtained a driver's license, Foyt purchased a used Oldsmobile and practiced the mechanical skills he had learned working on his father's cars on it. He also began street racing with the car until discovered by his father.

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Driving career

Foyt began racing midgets in 1953 in a car owned and maintained by his father. He started his USAC career in a midget car at the 1956 Night in Anderson, Indiana. In 1957, his first midget car victory was at a 100 lap event in Kansas City, finishing seventh in the season points standings. He went from midget cars to race in sprint cars and Championship Cars after the 1957 season. He appeared in midget car shows on occasion. He won the 1960 and 1961 Turkey Night Grand Prix, the first two years that it was held at Ascot Park. He won the 1961 Hut Hundred after starting last and placing seventh in National Midget points this year. He was a winner of the 1970 Astro Grand Prix, an event he championed in Houston, Texas. He ended his career with 20 midget car feature wins. Foyt continued to appear in small, local events as a way of thanking promoters who had aided him in his climb up the ladder.

Foyt claimed the Australian Speed Grand Prix in 1975 and 1976 at the Liverpool International Speedway in Sydney, where the speedway had an asphalt surface. (Mores in Australia are called Speedcars.)

Foyt began his sprint car career in 1956, while driving the Les Vaughn Offy with the International Motor Contest Association at the age 21. Foyt disqualified a field of 42 drivers at the Minnesota State Fair on August 24, 1956, and the next day, he won his first sprint car race, racing away with the IMCA's Starlight at Salem, Indiana, defeating Bob Cleberg in a race long contest. Foyt was on the radar for USAC car owners, and he migrated from the IMCA to USAC later that season. In 1960, Foyt won 28 USAC National sprint car feature races and the USAC Eastern Championship. Foyt continued to race sprint cars long after being named one of the top drivers at the Indy 500.

He made his Indy debut in 1958, but he spun out of the competition on lap 148. In 1961, he became the first competitor to successfully defend his points championship and win the Indianapolis 500 race. Foyt made a pit stop for fuel, but the race ended with a refueling malfunction, but he returned to the track with no fuel to finish. Eddie Sachs, who was unaware that Foyt's new-quicker car was light on fuel, tried to keep up, but Sachs had to pull off the lead with just three laps remaining to replace a shredded right rear tire. Foyt pitted again today, but only for enough fuel to finish. He took over the lead and defeated Sachs in just 8.28 seconds, the second fastest finish in history at the time. He competed in every season from 1957 to 1992, beginning in 374 races and finishing in the top ten 201 times with 67 victories. Foyt competed in Italy in the Trophy of the Two Worlds on the banking at Monza in 1958.

The 1964 Indianapolis 500 was widely predicted to be dominated by Ford-powered entries. Early in the month of May, Ford officials and Foyt (who had a stock car deal with Ford at the time) began discussing the possibility of Foyt taking over Foyt's third Team Lotus-Ford, a team reserve vehicle. Foyt wanted to use the car for the entire month, but Lotus team founder Colin Chapman was reluctant to promise him the reserve car in the event that anything happened to team members Jim Clark and Dan Gurney's cars.

So discussions came to an end, and Foyt stayed with his trusted, well-sorted Offenhauser-engined roadster. Foyt claimed ten of 14 races en route to his championship, including the Indy 500, in the 1964 season. Foyt was left alone at the front of the field as the two fastest Lotus-Fords, driven by Jim Clark and Bobby Marshman, crashed out of the competition with mechanical failures, and Parnelli Jones was ruled out as a result of a pit stop, and Parnelli Jones was disqualified after his fuel tank burst during a pit stop, and he cruised home to win his second Indianapolis 500. The race is renowned for the fiery second-lap crash that claimed the lives of Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs. Foyt did not know of the fate of his two buddies until he reached victory lane, and he was handed a newspaper with a headline announcing the tragedy.

Foyt's rear-engined Lotus pavement car was not on time in August 1965, at the Milwaukee 200-mile (320 km) Championship Car race. So Foyt unloaded the Offenhauser-engined dirt track car, who had won the 100-mile (160 km) race at Springfield the day before. He sprayed the mud off the vehicle, installed pavement tires, and a set-up for the one-kilometer (1.6 km) oval. Foyt was allowed to run two extra warm-up laps during qualifying because he had no time for practice. He qualified the car on the pole, led the race for 18 out of 200 laps, but he later had to stop for a new rear tire and finish second, to Gordon Johncock, who was driving a rear-engined Gerhardt-Offy Indy car.

Parnelli Jones' STP-Paxton Turbocar was expected to easily defeat the field of piston engines in the 1967 Indianapolis 500. Jones raced the track, but Foyt inherited the lead with three laps remaining. Foyt had a sense of apprehension and slowed down as he went through turn four on the 200th lap. Carl Williams spun out as he approached turn four, causing a five-car front-stretch accident right in front of Foyt just a few hundred yards ahead of him. Foyt threaded his way through the wreckage and safely took the checkered flag, despite traveling at a speed of no more than 100 mph. On the 18th lap of the first day, the race took two days to complete when torrential rain interrupted the run.

Foyt ran out of fuel and had to make a pit stop in the 1977 Indianapolis 500. Gordon Johncock had to make up around 32 seconds on him. Foyt could have jumped 1.5 to two seconds per lap by increasing his turbo boost, which could have resulted in the engine's death. After Foyt's final pit stops, Johncock's own engine died just as Foyt had been shutting down to within eight seconds, and Foyt led to the victory.

Foyt was involved in a car crash in 1981 and barely lost an arm. It took him a long time to get back to full fitness; the Indy 500 followed him in third place.

Foyt has won the Indianapolis 500 four times, in 1961, 1964, 1967, and 1977. He is the first driver to do so. The feat has since been surpassed by Al Unser (1970, 1971, 1978, 1991); Rick Mears (1979, 1984, 1991); and Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2005, and 20021). Twelve of his 67 championship car racing victories were won at Trenton Speedway. Foyt has won the Indycar Series seven times, a record that still holds. Foyt qualified for the Indy 500 for the 35th time in a row.

Foyt started on the front row in the 1982 Indianapolis 500, but on the speed laps, he was blasted by a turbulent accident when 2nd-year driver Kevin Cogan suddenly spun out for no apparent reason. Seven cars were involved in the accident, including Foyt and Mario Andretti, who were unable to continue. Foyt was ecstatic with Cogan, yelling "That damn Coogan" on live radio, and Foyt yelled, "I don't know, he just ran right across my Goddamn left front" when asked by Chris Economaki in a TV interview, and he yelled, "I don't know." "Who are you talking about?" says economist Joseph Coveney.

Cogan!"

Foyt repaired his car during the red flag and led the first quarter of the contest but then came out due to the accident's persistent injuries.

In a 1990 CART race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin Foyt's car plowed straight across a dirt embankment, seriously injuring his legs and feet. He returned from multiple surgeries and months of physiotherapy for the 1991 Indianapolis 500 and finished second. He had announced his resignation before the race, but after being caught up in an early crash, he changed his mind. He got off to a 35th straight start at the 1992 Indianapolis 500 and escaped all of the day's disasters to finish ninth.

Foyt won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1967, his first and only attempt; Foyt drove a Ford GT40 Mk IV, partnered with Dan Gurney and entered by Carroll Shelby's crew. He had angered the French fans and journalists by remarking that the notoriously fast and risky tree-lined route was "nothin' but a little old country road" prior to the competition. In addition, he reportedly only got ten laps of pre-race training. Foyt was forced to double-stint and ended up driving nearly 18 hours of the 24-hour race after Gurney overslept and skipped a driver change in the middle of the night. Foyt also won the 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Daytona in 1985, making him one of only 12 competitors to complete the endurance race's "triple crown."

In 1968, 1978, and 1979, he was the best in USAC's stock car. In 1963 and 1969, he came second, and in 1970, third. His 1964 victory at the Billy Vukovich Memorial 200 at Hanford Speedway in California was one of his victories in USAC stock car racing. At Milwaukee, Texas World Speedway, and Michigan International Speedway, he was also a multiple winner in USAC stockers.

Foyt, a veteran who had been racing for eight years before attempting to do NASCAR racing, only needed ten races to win his first title. Richard Petty ruled the 1964 Firecracker 400 until he was forced to leave due to engine failures. Foyt exchanged the lead with Bobby Isaac for the final 50 laps of the summer race at the Daytona International Speedway. Foyt won the race after beating Isaac on the final lap.

Foyt qualified and ran in the front of the pack for the majority of the day with Dan Gurney and Parnelli Jones in the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside in January 1965. Parnelli retired due to mechanical problems, leaving Gurney and Foyt to take the lead. Foyt spun late in the run, due to the lateness of his rivalry with Gurney. His car was refired, and he charged through the field in an attempt to recover lost positions. Foyt's brakes failed to capture leader Gurney after racing hard to turn nine at the end of Riverside's mile-long, downhill back straight. Foyt converted the vehicle into the infield at a faster rate, plunged into a lower area, and slammed into a sandy embankment, violently ending with a tumbling end several times. Foyt was dead at the time of the horrific accident, but Parnelli Jones, the track doctor at Riverside International Raceway, revived him after seeing traffic. Foyt suffered severe chest pains, a fractured back, and a fractured ankle. No. he flipping video no. 1 — Video of him flipping No. In the closing scene of the film Red Line 7000, the 00 Ford, owned by Holman Moody, is seen.

Foyt ran out of gas near the end of the 1971 Daytona 500, and Petty defeated him for the win. Foyt had the car to beat in the 1972 Daytona 500, but this time, the car met in a strong way. During the competition, only three drivers led. Foyt finished fifth in 1979 at the Daytona 500, but Foyt finished in third place behind Darrell Waltrip and Richard Petty, who later won the competition. During the show, Foyt walked up to Petty after the checkers to congratulate him, he was dubbed "a true gentleman."

Foyt took the Ontario Motor Speedway for Wood Brothers Racing in 1971 and 1972. The track was shaped like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 1978, he won his first NASCAR title; his last victory in a NASCAR competition was in the first of Daytona's 125-mile qualifying heats, driving a self-fielded superspeedway Buick.

Foyt was barred from NASC for six months and fined $5,000 as a result of a string of events during the Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in 1988. Les Richter, NASCAR's vice president of competition, investigated the case and suspended the ban. However, his fine was increased to $7,500.

The 1994 Brickyard 400, Foyt's last NASCAR Winston Cup Series appearance, was the inaugural running of the campaign. Foyt finished 30th, four laps behind winner Jeff Gordon. Foyt participated in the marathon again in 1995 and 1996, but she failed to qualify both times. His attempt was stymied in 1995 as rain knocked out second round time trials.

Foyt retired from racing three times in the early days of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, with a best finish of 18th in the 1995 GM Goodwrench/Delco Battery 200, a championship for which he finished ninth.

Foyt has a long track record at the Indianapolis 500, the first to date four drivers to win a record four times, the most consecutive and career starts (35), most races led (13), and most competitive laps and miles during a career (4,909 laps, 12,272.5 miles). Foyt took the second fastest finish in Indianapolis history at the time in 1991. Foyt and Ray Harroun (who won the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911) appeared on a segment of the television show I've Got a Secret shortly after, revealing their respective victories 50 years apart.

Foyt is not only the second-oldest living winner of the Indianapolis 500 (only Parnelli Jones is older), but also the oldest with the oldest victory (1961).

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