FEATURE: Foyt's grandson climbing closer to major-league open-wheel racing
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
August 3, 2001
INDIANAPOLIS, - The next A.J. Foyt - literally - is rushing into the future of open-wheel auto racing.
A.J. Foyt IV, grandson of the legendary four-time Indianapolis 500 champion of the same name, already is involved in the Indy Racing Northern Light Series. He will change the left-front tire on Donnie Beechler's A.J. Foyt Racing Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone car during the Belterra Casino Indy 300 on Aug. 12 at Kentucky Speedway. It will be the sixth straight race that he has handled those duties.
In the cockpit, young Foyt won his Formula 2000 regional championship with nine poles and eight victories. Just a week ago, he won the karting Nationals in Iowa.
And on Aug. 18, according A.J. Foyt team manager Craig Baranouski, A.J. Foyt IV will make his USAC Silver Bullet Series debut on the dirt at Springfield, Ill. Forty-four years ago on Aug. 17, 1957, A.J. Foyt Jr., then 22, made his first USAC champ car start on the same Illinois State Fairgrounds track, taking the green from 16th place, finishing ninth and earning a whopping $607.
"He's definitely the next generation of Foyt racing," Baranouski said.
Foyt IV is the son of Nancy and Tony Foyt. A.J. began bragging about his grandson when the youngster was driving junior dragsters as a 9-year-old. The youngest A.J. already has driven at Indy, competing on the Indianapolis Raceway Park quarter-mile strip in a dragster.
A.J. IV became a part of the Indy Racing League when his grandfather decided to continue running Beechler - after adding to him to his stable along with primary driver Eliseo Salazar for the Indianapolis 500 - at the next race at Texas. The elder Foyt still is campaigning the two drivers and cars although he funds Beechler's operation.
"At Texas we had a deal where on yellows we would use the "B" team (including Foyt IV) on pit stops and on green stops use the "A" team," Baranouski said.
"As it turned out, every stop was under yellow with the "B" team. He's gotten really good. He practices with the guys in the shop all the time."
Foyt IV already has felt the wrath of beaten competitors. He won the pole and his first F2000 race at Texas Motor Speedway, then five more in a row.
"Some guys thought that we were cheating," Foyt IV said on the Foyt Racing Web site. "One guy was sure we were, so he protested my engine."
This caused him to miss the race as tech officials inspected his engine. It was legal.
Foyt IV returned to win two more, but then the protestor crashed into him on the first lap of the next race.
"That would be my last race because of schedule conflicts with my grandfather's Indy car team," he said. "I had been drafted to work on the pit crew."
Though missing three races, young Foyt still accumulated enough points to win the title.
Before going to Kentucky Speedway next week, A.J. Foyt Jr. will be at Indy this weekend to watch son Larry drive in the Busch race at IRP on Aug. 4 and Ron Hornaday compete in the Winston Cup Brickyard 400 on Aug. 5.
Text provided by Paul Kelly
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