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A.J. Foyt: Team Owner

Twenty-five years ago, a headline read: “A.J. Foyt, The Toughest S.O.B. in Sports.” Last December, the headline in a national online publication read: “10 Reasons Why A.J. Foyt Is Still America’s Toughest S.O.B.”

Throughout his career, A.J. Foyt has been described as tough— mesquite tough—for his exploits on the track, and more recently, his off-track wars with health issues.

Battling back from a crippling staph infection which required a replacement of his artificial right knee last year, the 81-year-old Texan appears to be on the road to recovery.

“I’m really looking forward to being back at the races, especially the 100th Indianapolis 500,” said Indy’s first four-time winner, adding with a grin, “Because I never thought I’d live long enough to see it! Seriously though, it’s been a struggle lately because every time I get to feeling healthy, something else happens. You can’t let stuff like that get you down and I won’t.”

During his most recent recuperation which saw Foyt miss seven of 16 races in 2015, he leaned hard on his son Larry, who was named President of A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Inc. in December 2014. That November, A.J. had undergone triple coronary artery bypass surgery – just two weeks after announcing his team would expand to two cars with young Jack Hawksworth wheeling the No. 41 ABC Supply Honda.

As president, Larry was responsible for integrating the new second car team personnel into the existing No. 14 team. The 2015 season proved to be extremely challenging, fraught with growing pains. While problems rarely repeated themselves, new ones arose. After lessons learned, plus a change in management with the hire of Team Director George Klotz and an increase in the engineering staff, both Foyts expect strong results this year.

“I think we’ll be more competitive this year because we made a lot of changes within the team, got some more engineers but kept the same drivers,” A.J. said. “We know more what the drivers want and they know what we expect, so all that put together makes for a stronger team.

“We’re developing some new shocks so we’ve spent time in the shaker rig and will get some time in the wind tunnel which is important with the new aero kit this year. The on track testing has been going well. We’re working on the little stuff which might be enough of a gain to get us over the hump.”

Foyt believes his team has the capability to become one that contends for wins on a consistent basis. And why wouldn’t he?

Foyt’s career is a treasure trove of memorable records and incredible feats. His record of achievement may never be equaled and certainly won’t be in his lifetime. Major victories, including the Indy 500 in IndyCar, the Daytona 500 in NASCAR, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in sports cars, set him apart from all other race drivers.

Winner of a record 67 Indy car races and seven national IndyCar Series titles as a driver, Foyt is often viewed as an intimidating personality by drivers, all of whom are now two generations removed from the motorsports legend. It is an assessment he disputes.

“I don’t ask my drivers to do all that I have done, the times are different nowadays,” Foyt says. “But I do expect them to give me 100 percent. That’s what I like about Takuma Sato. That, and he’s fast and he wants to win. That’s the name of the game. When I was running, that was all I wanted to do--win, and that’s the reason I probably won as much as I did. I never did want to settle for second or third, and that’s what I like about him. I think Jack Hawksworth is just as focused on winning races.”

Sato took just 52 starts to become the first Japanese driver to score an IndyCar victory. He had won pole positions at Iowa and Edmonton in 2011, his second year in the series. He finished off his 2013 season with Foyt by winning the pole in the inaugural Grand Prix of Houston. The following year he won two more poles, bringing his career total to five. This past year, Sato made his 100th IndyCar Series start at Mid-Ohio and posted his season-best finish of second at Detroit in race 2. Hawksworth posted his season-best finish of seventh twice in the Detroit doubleheader in his first season with the team.

With Sato onboard, Larry’s role increased as his father’s health prevented him from attending races the past three seasons. Sato, in his fourth season driving the No. 14 ABC Supply Honda, became the longest tenured-driver in the team’s history--a testament to Larry’s cool-headed management style as much as to Sato’s talent and expertise behind the wheel.

A.J. has seen a lot of changes in his celebrated career, which began in 1953 on the small dirt tracks around Houston, Texas. He soon turned it into a globetrotting romp of racetracks throughout North America and in Europe, Australia and Asia.

However, the Texan’s most memorable races took place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he became the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 (‘61, ‘64, ‘67, ‘77). Including the 2016 Indy 500, Foyt will have competed in 59 straight Indy 500s—including driving in a record 35 consecutive races. He holds the IndyCar Series records for most career victories (67), most national championships (7) and most triumphs in one season (10). He is the only driver to win these crown jewels of motorsports: the Indy 500, the Daytona 500 (’72) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (’67).

“It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve been racing Indy cars for nearly 60 years,” said Foyt. “I’ve had so many good memories, and some not-so-good, but I wouldn’t trade any of it.”

Winning has been the hallmark of Foyt’s career: winning in Indy cars, NASCAR, USAC stock cars, midgets, sprints, IMSA sports cars and, of course, Le Mans. He won 14 national titles and 172 major races in his driving career, which spanned four decades and three continents: North America, Europe and Australia. He has won in five countries—U.S.A., France, New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain—and in 15 of the 19 states in which he competed as a driver.

Yet it was through his adversities that A.J.’s qualities burned brightest. His determination and toughness set him apart from his competition and led to a career that made him auto racing’s most inspiring champion.

Over the years, Foyt proved he was physically and mentally tough. The equipment that he drove did not have the safety features of today’s cars and gear. Foyt battled back from career-threatening accidents to race—and win—again.

He broke his back at Riverside in 1965 and again at Daytona in 1982, sustained burns on his face and hands at Phoenix in 1966, was run over by his own race car, breaking his ankle at DuQuoin in 1972. He nearly lost his right arm in 1981 at Michigan, and in 1990, he nearly lost a leg—he still limps from the effects of his crash at Road America.

“I knew people wanted me to retire, heck my own family wanted me to,” he said of that 1990 accident. “But I didn’t want to go out on crutches. I was determined to walk to my race car without crutches.”

At 56, Foyt limped to his car, without crutches, and qualified second for the 1991 Indianapolis 500! He was eliminated early when debris from another accident broke his car’s suspension, but not before he had shown his own brand of toughness before 400,000 race fans, and millions of TV viewers.

After finishing ninth in his 35th straight 500 in 1992, the motorsports icon retired from driving Indy cars in 1993 on Pole Day (May 15) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His decision was abrupt as it was final.

“When I won Indy the first time back in ’61, I had a chance to meet Ray Harroun who won the first Indy in 1911,” Foyt revealed. “I asked him when he knew when to quit. He said, ‘It’ll come to you, you’ll just know.’ And he was right.”

In the past decade, Foyt has faced his most serious health issues which include: systemic shock from an attack of killer bees (2005), left knee replacement (2006), nearly drowning in an enclosed bulldozer he dumped into a pond (2007), multiple stent implant cardiac surgery (2011), staph infection (2012), back surgery, hip replacement and right knee replacement (2013), triple bypass surgery (2014), staph infection and second right knee replacement (2015), spinal stenosis-triggered sciatica (2016).

Foyt’s triple bypass surgery in November 2014 followed by serious post-operative complications, led to a nearly month-long hospital stay, and for the first time, a week-long induced sedation as doctors worked to get him back on track. Another two-week stay in the hospital in December due to more, but non-life threatening, complications set a personal record for Foyt, whose previous hospital stays (due to race-related injuries) were three weeks or less.

“I’ve had a lot of accidents and have always recovered pretty fast,” said Foyt, adding, “but this was altogether different from an accident, because it was a health problem. All during my career I never had any health problems, so I didn’t realize how serious they can be or how lucky you are when you’re healthy.”

Throughout his storied career, Foyt has defied the odds to emerge triumphant. His accolades include being named the Driver of the Year in 1975, inaugural inductions into the National Motorsports Hall of Fame (Novi, Michigan), the Sprint Car Hall of Fame and the Miami Project/Sports Legend in Auto Racing (1986). He won the American Sportscasters Association Sports Legend Award in 1993. He was named to NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers and voted Driver of the Century by a panel of experts and the Associated Press. In 2000, he was named to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, and more recently, he was voted into the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame.

As a team owner, Foyt has won the national Indy car title five times: 1967, 1975, 1979, 1996 (with driver Scott Sharp) and 1998 (with driver Kenny Brack). It was also with Brack that Foyt won the 1999 Indy 500 for his fifth visit to the Brickyard’s victory circle.

As Foyt campaigns throughout the 2016 season, he and his ABC Supply Racing team will be working hard to add yet another milestone to a career defined by them.

“I’ve had a lot of accidents and have always recovered pretty fast,” said Foyt, adding, “But this was altogether different from an accident because it was a health problem. All during my career I never had any health problems so I don’t think I realized how serious they can be or how lucky you are when you’re healthy. This deal really caught me off guard but it’s going to take time. My doctors told me it wasn’t something I’d recover from real quick and I didn’t want to accept that—and still don’t—but it’s taking me a lot longer than I thought. I’m not one of those guys that can just lay around and take it easy but that’s exactly about what I had to do.

“I’d say it was one of the hardest things I’ve been through but the leg injuries were pretty hard. I’ve been through two or three things that have been pretty hard so I think this ranks right up at the top with all of them. Being older hurts too but it’s something I’ve got to deal with and do the best I can.”

Foyt has leaned hard on his son Larry to focus on restructuring their ABC Supply Racing team which will field two cars for the both the 2015 and 2016 seasons. A week before Foyt was hospitalized with chest pains Nov. 7th, he and Larry held a media luncheon in their team’s headquarters Oct. 29th to announce their plans and introduce Jack Hawksworth as Takuma Sato’s teammate.

Foyt is happy with the team’s expansion, and agreed with his son’s decision to push for it.

“Larry and I talk every day to discuss the second team,” said Foyt. “I had to leave all of the hiring up to him. He analyzed it all and we agreed on everything. I think he’s done a great job with it being the first time he’s had to put everything together. He stepped up to the plate big time.

“It’s hard to compete with these guys that are running 3 or 4 cars—we had to expand to a two-car team,” Foyt explained. “When they go out and practice they get three or four times the information back when we just had the one car. I think you can do a great job with two cars and it’s something we had to step up to do to be competitive. We have two drivers that are very competitive and they can help each other.”

Larry has also been the project manager on the race shop renovation of the nearly 43,000 sq. ft. building in Speedway, Ind. which Foyt bought last October.

“It’s been a busy winter,” said Larry who was named President of A.J. Foyt Enterprises during the off season. “It meant some trips up to Indianapolis but it’s exciting for us to have a presence so close to the Speedway. A.J. was looking at the purchase as more of an investment rather than moving the team up there. It’s going to be a great spot for us to work after Indianapolis and before we go to Detroit. And there’s a stretch in the Midwest between Mid-Ohio and Pocono where we’ll be based out of there for a couple weeks. It’s great to have that option. In the old days you used to be able to work out of the Speedway but with the different events there now, you don’t have that opportunity now.”

In addition to the race shop, part of the large building will be leased out and one section will be used to open up a retail center for Foyt Family Wines.

“Anthony (A.J. Foyt IV) and I are opening up a wine tasting room which is really going to pay homage to A.J.,” Larry explained. “It will feature some of his artifacts from his racing career. It’ll be a cool place where fans can see a lot of his history, taste some wines, and just have a good time.”

Indeed Foyt’s career is a treasure trove of memorable records and incredible feats. His record of achievement may never be equaled and certainly won’t be in his lifetime. Major victories, including the Indy 500 in INDYCAR, the Daytona 500 in NASCAR, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in sports cars, set him apart from all other race drivers.

Winner of a record 67 IndyCar races and seven national IndyCar Series titles as a driver, Foyt is often viewed as an intimidating personality by drivers, all of whom are now two generations removed from the 80-year-old icon. It is an assessment he disputes.

“I don’t ask my drivers to do all that I have done, the times are different nowadays,” Foyt says. “But I do expect them to give me 100 percent. That’s what I like about Takuma Sato. That, and he’s fast and he wants to win. That’s the name of the game. When I was running, that was all I wanted to do was win, and that’s the reason I probably won as much as I did. I never did want to settle for second or third and that’s what I like about him. I think Jack Hawksworth is just as focused on winning races.”

While the 2014 season did not meet Foyt’s expectations, he took solace in the fact that invariably, the no. 14 ABC Supply Honda showed speed. Sato won poles at the season opener in St. Petersburg and again at Detroit. He finished seventh in St. Pete and was driving a great race in Detroit–leading laps—before being slowed by one backmarker and taken out by another.

At Indy, Sato finished ninth in the inaugural Grand Prix and was running strong in the Indy 500 when debris from Scott Dixon’s accident lodged in Sato’s car, necessitating a pit stop which dropped him from fifth to 19th in the final laps of the race. In a mid-season stretch, he qualified in the top-10 in four of seven races but didn’t finish higher than 18th. However, in the final five races, he posted three top-10s including two top-fives. He secured personal and team best finishes in California with a fourth at Sonoma and a sixth at Fontana.

Sato kicked off the 2013 season by qualifying second in the season opener in St. Petersburg. Two races later, he won the prestigious Long Beach Grand Prix. Finishing a hard fought second in the following race in Brazil, Sato and team entered the Indy 500 as the series point leader.

“I was so happy because they did a great job and Takuma drove a helluva race,” Foyt said of the Long Beach race which he watched from his home in Houston due to scheduled back surgery. “Larry did a great job, and Don [Halliday, chief engineer] and the whole team just did a fantastic job. We’ve had the support of ABC for quite a while now and it’s terrific to finally get that ABC car in the winner’s circle. I’ve been in victory lane a lot myself and I know what that’s like and I’m so glad to see them there. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there with everybody but I’m glad it shows they can win without me.”

Sato took just 52 starts to become the first Japanese driver to score an IndyCar victory. He had won pole positions at Iowa and Edmonton (in 2011), his second year in the series. He finished off his 2013 season with Foyt by winning the pole in the inaugural Grand Prix of Houston, bringing his career total to three.

“A.J. has achieved so many wins in every type of car, at every type of circuit, and in every type of situation,” Sato said when he joined the team in 2013. “That experience can only help in trying to win races this year.  I think with A.J. and the team helping me this year, we can be very successful.”

It was an assessment that proved prophetic as the team’s visit to victory lane in Long Beach was its first since Kansas in 2002. Their last pole dated even further back: the 1998 Indianapolis 500.

The Houston pole was a poignant moment because it was Foyt’s first race back since the race at Texas Motor Speedway in mid-June.

Foyt had missed 11 of 19 races, undergoing back surgery in April and then left hip replacement surgery in July.

“It was hard, naturally you always want to be there but there comes a time that you can’t be there,” Foyt said. “Believe me, I would rather have been at the races instead of hurting in bed at home.

“I got my right knee replaced at the end of 2013 [December] because I was having so much trouble with my leg. Even though it was in the middle of the holidays, I got it done so I could be healed up and be strong at the start of this racing season.

“It’s hell getting old!” he concluded.

Foyt had known for a while that he couldn’t keep up the pace he had maintained since he began owning his own team at the end of the ’65 season. In October 2006, he appointed his youngest son Larry to be the Team Director. Young Foyt watched and learned before he started making constructive changes to the race team. He gained his father’s trust in the process.

In 2012, Larry made the most significant changes to the team since becoming its team director. He hired chief engineer Don Halliday, whose experience as a race car designer proved invaluable. Foyt also hired Raul Prados, a ‘rookie’ IndyCar engineer whose technical skills were honed on the European GP2 circuit, the feeder series to Formula 1.

The timing couldn’t have been better as A.J. dealt with several health issues in the 2011-2012 off season—repairing a torn rotator cuff and removing bone spurs in the area around his artificial left knee. A serious staph infection developed after the knee surgery which required two more surgeries to correct.

“I’m so glad that I had Larry handling the day-to-day operations,” said Foyt, who spent nearly two weeks in the hospital in January, 2012. “Each year he has taken on more responsibility and when I couldn’t be in the shop, he handled everything. I’m really proud of him.”

The team enjoyed some success with driver Mike Conway at the wheel—notably a podium finish in Toronto—but the results didn’t reflect just how competitive the team was in 2012. More changes were made over that winter which led them to their most successful season in terms of winning since 2002.

Foyt has seen a lot of changes in his celebrated career which began in 1953 on the small dirt tracks around Houston, Texas. He soon turned it into a globetrotting romp of racetracks throughout North America and in Europe, Australia and Asia. However, the Texan’s most memorable races took place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway where he became the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.

Foyt has competed in 57 straight Indy 500s--including driving in a record 35 consecutive races! He holds the Indy Car Series records for most career victories (67), most national championships (7), and most triumphs in one season (10). He is the only driver to win these crown jewels of motorsports: the Indy 500, the Daytona 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve been racing Indy cars for over 57 years,” said Foyt. “I’ve had so many good memories, and some not-so-good, but I wouldn’t trade any of it.”

Winning has been the hallmark of Foyt’s career: winning in Indy cars, NASCAR, USAC stock cars, midgets, sprints, IMSA sports cars and of course, Le Mans. He won 14 national titles and 172 major races in his driving career, which spanned four decades and three continents: North America, Europe and Australia. He has won in five countries—U.S.A., France, New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain—and in 15 of the 19 states in which he competed as a driver.

Yet it was through his adversities that A.J.’s qualities burned brightest. His determination and toughness set him apart from his competition and led to a career that made him auto racing’s most inspiring champion.

Over the years, Foyt proved he was physically and mentally tough. The equipment used at that time did not have the safety features of today’s cars and gear. Foyt battled back from career-threatening accidents to race—and win--again.

He has broken his back (1965), sustained burns on his face and hands (1966) and even been run over by his own race car breaking his leg (1972). It didn’t stop there. He nearly lost his right arm in 1981 and, in 1990, he nearly lost a leg--he still limps from the effects of his crash at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

“I knew people wanted me to retire, heck my own family wanted me to,” he said. “But I didn’t want to go out on crutches. I was determined to walk to my race car without crutches.”

At 56, Foyt limped to his car, without crutches, and qualified second for the 1991 Indianapolis 500! He was eliminated early when debris from another accident broke his car’s suspension but not before he had shown his own brand of toughness before 400,000 race fans.

After competing in his 35th straight 500 in 1992 (finished 9th), he retired from driving Indy cars in 1993 on Pole Day (May 15) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His decision was abrupt as it was final.

“When I won Indy the first time back in ‘61, I had a chance to meet Ray Harroun who won the first Indy in 1911,” Foyt revealed. ‘I asked him when he knew when to quit. He said, ‘It’ll come to you, you’ll just know.’ And he was right.”

Throughout his storied career, Foyt has defied the odds to emerge triumphant. His accolades include being named the Driver of the Year in 1975, inaugural inductions into the National Motorsports Hall of Fame (Novi, Mich.), the Sprint Car Hall of Fame, and the Miami Project/Sports Legend in Auto Racing (1986). He won the American Sportscasters Association Sports Legend Award in 1993. He was named to NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers and voted Driver of the Century by a panel of experts and the Associated Press. In 2000, he was named to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and more recently, he was voted into the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame.

As a team owner, Foyt has won the national Indy car title five times: 1967, 1975, 1979, 1996 (with driver Scott Sharp) and 1998 (with driver Kenny Brack).  It was also with Brack that Foyt won the 1999 Indy 500 for his fifth visit to the Brickyard’s victory circle.

As Foyt campaigns throughout the 2015 season, he and his ABC Supply Racing team will be working hard to add yet another milestone to a career defined by them.

Career Timeline

1953

Wins first midget race at Playland Park in Houston, Texas

1957

Wins first USAC midget race on May 12 in Kansas City, Mo.

Competes in first Indy car race on August 17 in Springfield, Ill.

1958

Competes in first Indianapolis 500

1959

Wins first USAC sprint car race on September 13 in Salem, Ind.

1960

Wins first Indy car race on September 5 in DuQuoin, Ill.

Wins first national Indy car championship

Wins USAC sprint car championship, eastern division

1961

Wins first Indy 500

Wins four Indy car races

Wins second national Indy car title

1962

Wins first USAC stock car race on February 25 at Ascot Park in Gardena, Calif.

1963

Wins third national Indy car title

Wins first sports car race at Nassau in Bahamas

Competes in first NASCAR Grand National race at Riverside, Calif.

1964

Wins second Indy 500

Wins fourth national Indy car title

Wins record 10 Indy car races (in 13 starts)

Wins first NASCAR race on July 4 at Daytona Beach, Fla.

1965

Sustains broken back and foot in NASCAR race on January 17 at Riverside, Calif.

Wins record 10 pole positions in Indy cars

1966

Sustains severe burns in Indy car practice in June at Milwaukee, Wis.

1967

Wins third Indy 500

Wins fifth national Indy car title

Wins 24 Hours of LeMans with co-driver Dan Gurney driving the Ford GT-40

1968

Wins first USAC stock car championship

1972

Wins Daytona  500 in February at Daytona Beach, Fla.

Wins USAC dirt car championship

Sustains burns and broken leg in dirt car race at DuQuoin, Ill.

1976

Wins sixth national Indy car title

1977

Wins record fourth Indy 500

1978

Wins second USAC stock car championship

1979

Wins record seventh national  Indy car title

Wins third USAC stock car championship

1981

Sustains serious arm injury in Indy car race in July at Michigan

1983

Wins 24 Hours of Daytona sports car race in February at Daytona Beach, FLA.

1985

Wins second 24 Hours of Daytona

Wins 12 Hours of Sebring sports car race in March at Sebring, Fla

1987

Qualifies for record 30 consecutive Indianapolis 500 races

1990

Sustains serious leg injuries in Indy car race in September at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

1991

Qualifies in middle of front row for Indianapolis 500 for eighth front row start

1992

Qualifies for record 35 consecutive Indianapolis 500 races

1993

Retires from driving Indy cars on May 15, pole day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

1994

Competes in final NASCAR Winston Cup race: the inaugural Brickyard 400 on August 6 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

1995

Competes in first NASCAR Truck Series race at Phoenix International Raceway

1996

Wins first Indy Racing League title with driver Scott Sharp

1998

Wins second Indy Racing League title with driver Kenny Brack

1999

Wins Indianapolis 500 with driver Kenny Brack

2002

Wins Indy car race (with Airton Dare) and Infiniti Pro Series race (with A.J. Foyt IV) on same day at Kansas Speedway

2004

Fields son Larry Foyt and grandson A.J. Foyt IV in Indy 500

2007

Celebrates 50th Anniversary in Indy Car racing; competes in 50th straight Indianapolis 500

2011

Honorary Pace Car Driver for 100th Anniversary of Indianapolis 500.

2013

Wins IndyCar’s Long Beach Grand Prix and the pole position at the Houston Grand Prix, both with driver Takuma 

A.J. : Up Close & Personal

Accomplishment he’s proudest of:

“I’m proud to be the first four-time winner of Indy and also that I’ve won Daytona [500] and LeMans [24 Hour race].”

First job:

“After working for my father, I worked as a mechanic at Jim Hall Sports Cars—they had Jaguars, MGs and Triumphs. I worked six days a week for $75, started at 7:30 am and didn’t get off until 6 pm. I did a lot of valve jobs, I remember that.”

Favorite music:

"Country-western, that's the only kind of music there is."

Favorite food:

”Now I like a good steak, rib-eye. It used to be chili ‘cause that’s what I could afford years ago.”

Favorite drink:

"Iced tea"

Oldest thing in his refrigerator:

"Peanut butter"

Favorite race track:

“Indianapolis, I always enjoyed the superspeedways because I liked to go fast. Going wheel-to-wheel with someone, it’d have to be a half-mile dirt track in a sprint car, I always liked that.”

Preferred wheels:

"I enjoy driving a pick-up truck, you can use them for so many things."

Biggest fear:

“When I was driving race cars, it used to be fire. Now it’s African Killer bees.”

Biggest part of his job:

“I enjoy being with sponsors who still believe in me and being able to produce for them. Winning, I’ve been there and done that, and now I want to win for them.”

Toughest part of his job:

“Training people to do things the right way.”

Favorite color:

"I like Poppy Red [ or Coyote red]; on my personal cars it's black."

His answering machine message:

"Leave your name and number. I might return your call."

How he spends his spare time:

“Go to my ranches and be by myself, work on my bulldozer.”

What he likes most about himself:

Anything he wishes he could stop:

“Hurtin’, especially my ankles.”

Best advice his mother ever gave him:

“Stay out of trouble.”

Greatest influence on his life:

"My daddy"

Strongest childhood memory:

“When I outran the cops and lied to my daddy about it. He found out and punished me for one year where I had to report to his shop right after school and I couldn’t drive my car. Even at Christmas, my mother and grandmother pleaded with him to let me off and he wouldn’t. It really impressed me not to get in trouble anymore.”

Most thrilling experience:

“Qualifying for my first Indy 500—it’s what every driver lived for and it is still one of the biggest thrills of my career.”

What you admire in others:

“People who are just themselves, win, lose or draw. I don’t have any respect for phonies.”

Career Highlights

• First four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977); won 1999 Indy 500 with driver Kenny Brack
• Only driver to have started in 35 consecutive Indianapolis 500 mile races (1958-1992)
• Only driver to have won the Indy 500, the Daytona 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans
• Only driver to have won seven national Indy car championships
• Only driver to have won 67 Indy car races
• “Driver of the Century” by Associated Press Panel and ESPN's RPM 2Night
• Named Grand Marshal of the 50th Anniversary 24 Hour Rolex at Daytona in 2012
• Indy Racing League titles with drivers Scott Sharp (1996) and Kenny Brack (1998)
• Only driver to win 20 USAC races in one year: 1961 (10 midget, 6 sprint, 4 Indy car); won 18 USAC races in 1964 (10 Indy car, 5 sprint, 3 stock car)
• American Sportscasters Association Sports Legend in 1993
• Inaugural inductee into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1989
• Only driver to have won USAC's national Indy Car title and Stock Car championship in the same season: 1979
• Winner International Race of Champions twice: IROC III and IV in 1976 and 1977
• 14 major driving championships
• Seven NASCAR Grand National victories (now Winston Cup); nine pole positions
• Winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona twice (1983 and 1985)
• Winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1985
• Over $6,000,000 earned in his driving career
• 1975 Driver of the Year
• Record holder for most 500-mile Indy car victories: nine (four at Indy, four at Pocono, Pa. and one at Ontario, CA.)
• Record holder for best percentage for Indy car wins in one season: 77% in 1964 when he won 10 out of 13 races
• 53 Indy car pole positions
• First career start was racing midgets at Playland Park, in Houston, in 1953

Trivia

Indy Cars (A.J. as a driver)

Biggest payday: earned $252, 278 when he won Indy for the fourth time.

Smallest payday: earned $71.25. He finished 24th in Indianapolis Raceway Park 150 Indy car race. Started 13th and dropped out after 5 laps

Most lucrative season: earned $578,744

Least lucrative season: 1957 -- earned $2,171.

Most victories at paved track: 12 at Trenton (NJ) Speedway

Most victories at dirt track: 6 at Indiana State Fairgrounds

Most starts at same track: 45 at Milwaukee

First victory: 100 mile race at DuQuoin, Il. on September 5, 1960. Started 4th in Bowes Seal Fast No.5, beat Tony Bettenhausen Sr. (the original) to win $5,165 in only A.J.'s 34th start.

First lap led: Milwaukee 100 on June 5, 1960. Led laps 78-81. Started 4th in Bowes Seal Fast No.5. finished second. Earned $4,228 in his 30th start.

Clean Sweeps (win pole and race): 22

Final Indy car race: 1992 Indianapolis 500 on May 24. Started 23rd (fastest second day qualifier) and finished ninth with 195 laps. Earned $189,883 in his 35th consecutive Indy 500

All Classes

Total Major Victories: 172

Indy car 67

USAC stock car 41

USAC sprint car 28

USAC midget 20

NASCAR 7

Sports car 7

USAC Dirt Car 2

Total Championships: 14

Indy car 7

USAC stock car 3

USAC Dirt car 1

USAC sprint car (eastern division) 1

IROC III & IV 2

As solely an owner, A.J. has seven official IndyCar victories including the 1999 Indianapolis 500 (or 8 if, like A.J., you count Texas 1997), and five Infiniti Pro Series victories including the inaugural Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He has won two IndyCar titles and one Infiniti Pro Series title.

As a driver, A.J.’s career record in USAC victories is 158. He is the only dirver to have won 20 or more races in USAC’s four divisions: IndyCars, stock cars, sprint cars and midgets.

He is the only driver to have won the Indianapolis 500 in both a front-engine roadster and a rear engine monocoque.

A.J. won his third, fourth and fifth Indy 500s in orange and white cars numbered 14.

A.J. Foyt’s first race car that he owned was a modified ’38 Ford No.41. He won his first ever race in 1941 against Doc Cossey in an exhibition race at the Houston Speed Bowl. He drove the No.8 midget that his daddy built for him

"The number 14"

To honor one of motorsports greatest drivers, in 1991, both USAC and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) reserved the number 14 exclusively for A.J. Foyt as long as he remains active in Indy car racing as either a driver or owner. Upon his retirement from the sport, the number 14 will be permanently retired.

Foyt selected the number 14 to run in 1967 following a disappointing 1966 season when he placed 13th in the standings and didn't win one race. Along with winning the 1967 Indianapolis 500, Foyt won the championship, earning the number 1 which he carried in 1968. He did not return to using the number 14 until 1973, again following a rough season in 1972 when injuries put himout of action for three months. Foyt never relinquished the number again despite winning two more Indy car titles.

Asked why he chose the number 14, A.J. Foyt said it had a good heritage having been campaigned in the past by the likes of Wilbur Shaw, Tony Bettenhausen and Bill Vukovich Sr. Foyt's fondness for the number may have stemmed too from the first time he ran a number 14 Indy car at Sacramento, California in October, 1962. Having switched rides with Bobby Marshman, Foyt won the event in the Thompson-Rotary 14 which began a 10-year association with Sheraton-Thompson.

"Coyote Red"

The color scheme on A.J. Foyt's cars in the early to mid-1960's--pearlescent white with red, blue and gold leaf trim--was abandoned by Foyt after a dismal season in 1966 in which he went winless for the first time in his Indy car career since he started winning in 1960. In 1967, Foyt switched to a simple paint scheme and to the distinct orange color, which he calls Coyote Red. Officially it is "warm poppy red" and was first used by Ford on its 1965 Ford Mustangs.

Foyt won his first race using the Coyote Red No. 14--the Indianapolis 500--and went on to score four more victories that year. The Ford Mark IV sports car which Foyt co-drove with Dan Gurney to victory in the 24 Hours of LeMans of LeMans was also orange in hue.

The injuries:

A.J.'s first really serious injury came in the NASCAR stock car race at Riverside, California on January 17, 1965 when he flipped the #00 down the embankment to avoid crashing Junior Johnson and Marvin Panch. He'd turned 30 the day before. He broke his back, fractured his heel and sustained a damaged aorta.

A.J.'s next injury came the following year when he was burned in practice for the June race at Milwaukee's Wisconsin State Fair Park one mile paved oval in 1966. His Lola broke a spindle and hit the wall entering turn one and burst into flames. He sustained burns on his hands, face and neck.

A.J. suffered burns and broke his leg and ankle the day after the Indianapolis 500 in 1972 at a dirt car race at DuQuoin, Ill. His car caught fire during a pitstop, started rolling and Foyt jumped out of his moving car only to be run over by it.

He fractured his right arm severely in a crash at the 1981 Michigan 500. He spent the remaining summer and fall painting fence at his 1,500 acre ranch as therapy to restore the muscle in his arm.

He broke two vertebrae in his back during practice for the 1983 NASCAR Firecracker 400 when he hit the wall. But he did run the Paul Revere 250 sports car race that night and won it.

He broke his left knee, dislocated his left tibia, crushed his left heel, dislocated his right heel and suffered compartment syndrome to both feet in an Indy car race at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on September 23rd. Foyt plowed through a dirt embankment when his brakes failed at Road America's turn one at the end of the four-mile road course's longest straightaway.

He broke his left shoulder twice: first in a crash while qualifying for the 1992 Daytona 500. He broke the same shoulder when he crashed in practice for the Phoenix Indy 200 in April.

Since retiring from driving cars, Foyt has had several medical emergencies related to operating his bull dozer. He was bit by a brown recluse spider on his neck while working the bulldozer at his ranch in Del Rio in the late 90s. He tore his rotator cuff on his right arm while stepping off a trac-hoe in October 2004 which required surgery to repair it. In August, 2005, he was attacked by a swarm of killer bees that nearly killed him when he went into systemic shock. Over 200 stingers were lodged in his head alone. In June, 2006, he underwent knee replacement surgery for his left leg. In 2007, he nearly drowned in his bulldozer when the lake’s banking gave way and the bulldozer (with Foyt inside its protective cage) went upside down into the lake.

In January 2012, he contracted a staph infection in his artificial knee after surgery to remove bone spurs. In 2013, Foyt underwent back surgery (April), a left hip replacement (July) and a right knee replacement (December). In November 2014, Foyt underwent triple by-pass heart surgery. Post-op complications resulted in his being hospitalized for over six weeks. In 2015, Foyt sustained a staph infection in his right artificial knee. The knee implant was removed and a cement spacer was installed; two months later, his new knee was put in.

Indy 500

YearCarQualifying SpeedStartFinishLapsStatus
1958Dean Van Lines143.1381216148Spun out
1959Dean Van Lines142.6481710200Running
1960Bowes Seal Fast143.466162590Clutch failure
1961Bowes Seal Fast145.90771200Running
1962Bowes Seal Fast149.07452369Accident
1962Sarkes Tarzian(relieved Elmer George laps 127-145)1720Accident
1963Sheraton-Thompson150.61583200Running
1964Sheraton-Thompson154.67251200Running
1965Sheraton-Thompson161.233115115Gearbox
1966Sheraton-Thompson161.35518260Accident
1967Sheraton-Thompson166.28941200Running
1968Sheraton-Thompson166.82182086Blown engine
1969Sheraton-Thompson170.56818181Running
1970Sheraton-Thompson-ITT170.004310195Transmission
1971ITT-Thompson174.31763200Running
1972ITT-Thompson188.996172560Engine
1973Gilmore188.927232537Connecting rod
1973Gilmore(relieved George Snider, laps 58-101)1244Gearbox
1974Gilmore191.632115142Oil line filter
1975Gilmore193.97613174Running (rain-shortened)
1976Gilmore185.26152102Running (rain-shortened)
1977Gilmore194.56341200Running
1978Gilmore-Citicorp200.122207191Running
1979Gilmore189.61362200Running
1980Gilmore185.5451214173Valve
1981Valvoline-Gilmore196.078313191Running
1982Valvoline-Gilmore203.33231995Transmission
1983Valvoline-Gilmore199.557243124Shift link
1984Gilmore-Foyt203.86126197Running
1985Copenhagen-Gilmore205.782212862Front wing
1986Copenhagen-Gilmore213.2122124135Accident
1987Copenhagen-Gilmore210.935419117Oil seal
1988Copenhagen-Gilmore209.696222654Accident
1989Copenhagen-Gilmore217.136105193Running
1990Copenhagen-Gilmore220.42586194Running
1991Copenhagen-Gilmore222.44322825Debris/suspension
1992Copenhagen Racing222.798239195Running