Foyt Drives to 14th Place Finish in Klein Tools/Canadian Club Car
JOLIET, Ill. (Sept. 10, 2006) - A.J. Foyt IV, driving in place of the injured Dario Franchitti, finished 14th in the Klein Tools/Canadian Club car at the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300, the final race of the 2006 IndyCar Series season.Less than 20 laps into the race, Foyt, who started 11th, took advantage of an early caution flag to move into the lead by deciding to stay out on the race track when all other cars came in to make pit stops. It was the first time in Foyt's IndyCar Series career that he led in a race. The Klein Tools/Canadian Club team's first pit stop came laps later under green-flag conditions and shuffled Foyt near the back of the field. As the race unfolded, Foyt gained a couple of positions to finish 14th.
Franchitti, who started 13 of the 14 IndyCar Series events, finished eighth in the driver championship. Dan Wheldon won the race and finished in a tie with Sam Hornish Jr. for the IndyCar Series championship. However, Wheldon lost the championship on the first tie-break scenario, overall victories. Scott Dixon, Hornish, Helio Castroneves and Ed Carpenter rounded out the top five.
The entire 2007 IndyCar Series schedule will be released at a later date. However, several important dates have been released including the third annual Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday, April 1. The 91st running of the Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 27, and the Bombardier Learjet 500k from Texas Motor Speedway will take place on Saturday, June 9.
A.J. Foyt IV, #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
"I'm not extremely happy with the result today. We knew it was going to be tough out here today but I
thought the Klein Tools/Canadian Club team did pretty well considering it was my first time in the car. This
came together so quick but I think it turned out all right. You always want to do better and you always want to
win but sometimes that's not possible. I had a lot fun today. It seemed like I was by myself a lot but I wish I was
in some more traffic, racing for positions."
John Anderson, Team Manager, #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
"I think A.J. did a great job in the Klein Tools/Canadian Club car today. In order to really drive these
cars well, you need to be in the car for a full season. A.J. went out today and set his fastest race lap on the
second-to-last lap of the race. To me, that speaks volumes on the amount of effort and skill he put into the
weekend and getting ready to drive. He was very consistent and drove a great race."
2006 Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 Results Pos. Name Laps Pos. Name Laps 1 Dan Wheldon 200 11 Kosuke Matsuura 199 2 Scott Dixon 200 12 Danica Patrick 199 3 Sam Hornish Jr. 200 13 Buddy Rice 199 4 Helio Castroneves 200 14 AJ Foyt IV 198 5 Ed Carpenter 199 15 Bryan Herta 198 6 Vitor Meira 199 16 Sarah Fisher 198 7 Tony Kanaan 199 17 Jeff Bucknum 198 8 Jeff Simmons 199 18 Marco Andretti 198 9 Scott Sharp 199 19 Marty Roth 160 10 Tomas Scheckter 199