Indy Participants Complain About Foyt's Driving

INDIANAPOLIS May 25, 2003 ; The AP reports that A.J. Foyt IV struggled through his first Indianapolis 500, with competitors complaining about his driving.

It wasn't the greatest way to celebrate your 19th birthday.

Other drivers and teams had to deal with avoiding the much slower and inexperienced Foyt throughout Sunday's race. Runner-up Helio Castroneves even blamed him for possibly costing him the race.

Right from the beginning, things went bad for the youngest rookie on record to start an Indy 500. Communications broke down between Foyt and his pit, and his grandfather and team owner, racing great A.J. Foyt, instructed him to pit in the fifth lap to change earphones.

He lost as many as seven laps, and the new equipment didn't work much better.

"We put older ones in and they weren't too good, either," Foyt IV said. "It was a long day."

The race proved as much a struggle as May's practices on the 2 1/2-mile oval. He crashed twice in May, once last month in private testing, and barely avoided a fourth crash in qualifying May 11. His record prompted concern long before the race began.

He also struggled with his speed, at times running as much as 6 or 7 mph slower than the rest of the field. He was sometimes forced high into the turns and barely avoided a few close calls.

Foyt's grandfather, a four-time Indy winner, cautioned him to be patient, but that cost him speed.

"I don't think he had his radio, but when you're multiple laps down, you don't race people who are in it," team owner and 1985 Indy winner Bobby Rahal said. "You're courteous, and he'll learn that."

Robby McGehee said the younger Foyt "almost ran over the top of me."

McGehee dropped out after 125 laps because of steering problems. The elder Foyt said his grandson wasn't sure if he hit McGehee.

Jimmy Vasser, one of Rahal's drivers, was forced from the race after 102 laps because of engine trouble.

"We just had a lot of things happening at the wrong time -- the gear box, traffic, slow cars in the middle of the course way off the pace," Vasser said, a not-too-veiled reference directed at Foyt IV.

While running behind leader Gil de Ferran on the 170th lap, Castroneves said he had to wait to see what Foyt would do, slowing his car and downshifting. Later in the lap, Castroneves was passed by de Ferran.

Other drivers took advantage of Foyt's driving.

Sam Hornish Jr., who finished 15th, said he waited for cars to drive up on Foyt and back off. Hornish said that allowed him to pass both cars in one move.

Kelley Racing owner Tom Kelley said he heard IRL vice president Brian Barnhart radio Foyt to get closer to the pack, although none of Kelley's three drivers -- Al Unser Jr., Scott Sharp and Tony Renna -- complained about Foyt IV.

The elder Foyt said he instructed his grandson to avoid blocking other drivers and staunchly defended him.

"You have crybabies all your life and they forget they were rookies once, too," the elder Foyt said.

"He wasn't blocking. I told him to back off and let them go. He was smart enough to do that."

ENGINE TEST: Toyota was the clear winner in the battle of the engines.

Of the top seven finishers, six drove Toyotas, with the only Honda-powered car belonging to Tony Kanaan in third place.

The Chevrolets sputtered Sunday, as they have all month. Rookie Buddy Rice, driving for 1998 Indy winner Eddie Cheever Jr., was the highest-finishing Chevy in 11th place.

"Without that one little miss, we would have had a top-10 finish," Rice said. "That one little electronic gremlin caught us a little bit today."

There were few engine problems throughout May's practices, but that trend ended early in Sunday's race -- the first time this year's new engines were tested at 500 miles in racing conditions.

Six of the first eight cars knocked out had mechanical problems, and seven of the 10 Chevys did not finish. Jaques Lazier crashed.

GETTIN' DIRTY: Rookie Dan Wheldon walked away from the most spectacular crash of the day after his car spun into the wall on the fourth turn, went airborne and skidded to a stop upside down.

The accident occurred just after Hornish had tried to make a pass on Lap 187.

"I think I just picked up some dirty air and just got loose," he said. "Next thing, I'm into the wall."

Hornish said Wheldon was trying to block him, a move Barnhart had cautioned against.

"He pinched the course off," Hornish said.

CREW MEMBER OK: A pit crew member for Shinji Nakano was treated at Methodist Hospital and released in good condition after being pinned against the pit wall during a pit stops.

Doug Hardwick was struck with a tire and hurt his knee. He was taken from the track on a golf cart.

The accident occurred when Nakano came in too close to the pit wall and ran into a stack of tires, pushing one of them into Hardwick.

STILL THE ONE?: After poor attendance figures throughout the month, most of the seats were filled Sunday afternoon, a crowd that included lots of celebrities.

Besides two ex-presidents, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, other notables included Muhammad Ali, Steven Spielberg, David Letterman, singers Darryl Worley and Wynonna Judd, and Andrew Firestone, heir to the Firestone fortune.

Indy Racing League CEO Tony George, whose family owns Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said he thought the turnout proved that the perception of the race has not changed.

"The Indianapolis 500 is still the most important race in the world," George said. "Even those who follow other types of racing understand that and respect that."

HE'LL BE BACK: Cheever promised that he would drive again rather than retire.

His streak of 13 consecutive starts at Indy were the most of any active driver before Sunday.

The 45-year-old driver and team owner said he was waiting for the right time to return.

"I'm waiting for Chevy to help us get further up the grid," Cheever said. "When the cars are more competitive, I have every intention of getting in a car again."

PIT STOPS: Japan's Tora Takagi finished fifth and was the highest-finishing rookie. Six of nine rookies finished in the top 15. . . . Alex Barron was a late replacement for two-time winner Arie Luyendyk and made the most of his opportunity. By placing sixth, he was the highest-finishing American. . . . Sunday's winning margin of 0.299 seconds was the third-closest in Indy history. . . . Castroneves led the first 16 laps Sunday, then lost the lead for the first time in his three Indy starts. He led the last 54 laps in 2001 and the final 24 last year. . . . South Africa's Tomas Scheckter led 65 laps, the most of any driver for the second year in a row. He led 85 laps in 2002 and joins Frank Lockhart as the only two drivers to lead the most laps in their first two races.