Sunday will be AJ Foyt’s 65th consecutive Indianapolis 500 – three as a spectator, 35 in a row as a driver and the last 27 as a car owner. It will be the only IndyCar race he attended in 2020 and, as most of us already know, it will be the only race he makes.
At 85, he looks damn well considered when he has been through a triple bypass, a staph infection that brought sepsis, rotator cuff surgery, back surgery and replaced his right knee and left hip. That does not count two attacks with killer bees, escaping a poisonous snake and throwing a bulldozer into a lake.
The good news is that he’s as feisty and outspoken as ever and walks a bit wobbly (he will not use a cane or walker), but still walks OK. He loves Tony Canaan, he may know the name of Charlie Kimball, but probably has no indication that Dalton Kellett is from Canada or drives one of his cars.
He would never admit it, but he misses the fans at IMS because he gets even louder cheers than one when he is tracked down.
AJ agreed to sit for NBC at the Foyt Wine Vault on Main Street in Speedway and reflect on his great life and love for 16th & Georgetown.
ROBIN MILLER: You came to the Speedway in 1955 when you were 20 and were sitting in the grandstands of Turn 2. What do you remember about that race?
AJ: I grew up listening to the race on the radio with my dad on Memorial Day and that first year there were not as many grandstands as there are today, no crash-proof walls and the front was straight still brick.
RM: Did you think of yourself once in three years in the starting line?
AJ: I never dreamed I would be good enough to ever qualify at Indianapolis and that first year was a dream. You never expect it.
RM: Back in the fifties, car owners did not trust anyone under 30 to drive their cars, so how did a 23-year-old land one of the best rides with Dean Van Lines?
AJ: I think I got that ride because I won an IMCA race at Salem and they indicate if you’re crazy enough to run the high banks, you would be nice in Indy. Al Dean was a great owner and gave me my chance.
RM: Were you humbled or cocky?
AJ: I think I’ve become a little cocky.
RM: And your debut starts 12th and ends 16th after a water hose blew and you spun out. Intimidating?
AJ: Not really, but Pat O’Connor’s accident really bothered me. He had helped me on a USAC race with my drivers and then gave me advice for Indianapolis what to do and not to do, he was so helpful and such a good man. Go walk under yellow to that wreck of the first round and still see him in his car was hard to take and I thought maybe this is a little too hard for ‘A AJ
RM: When you consider that you have broken your back, splashed your feet, lost a damn near an arm, and been badly burned a few times, it is difficult to imagine how you made it to 55 let alone 85.
AJ: We all just go through so you never know when your time will come up and I know mine should be three or four times, but they were not ready for an SOB like me. I knew the chances when I fastened that belt and I was just hoping I would hook it up at the end of the day. The only thing that really bothered me was fire, because then, when you crashed, you usually caught fire and there were no fuel cells for a long time in the 60s.
RM: And of course you agreed to wear golf gloves instead of the fire safety that came in the 70s.
AJ: I had to, because I could not feel the car with those thick gloves. You have to feel the race car with your rear end and your hands – that’s the way you learn to drive.
RM: Langhorne was one of the most challenging and dangerous tracks in the world – badasses like Rodger Ward would not run there, why were you there so well?
AJ: It was very fast and a tense, treacherous track without power steering and you were always sidelined, but I liked it.
RM: When USAC took the dirt races of the championship scheme, it was the beginning of the end for that organization and cut the lifeline for dwarves and sprint drivers of that day ahead. Agree?
AJ: I think so, because back then you had to run dirt, dirt, roadways, short ovals and superspeedways so it shows the true champion. I would still love to come back from dirt racing as part of the championship, but it will never happen.
RM: You started your Indy career in a roadster with an eight-inch front-wheel drive engine at 143 mph and ended it with 223mph in a rear-engine rocket with wings and super sticky, ultra-wide tires. Which was more expensive?
AJ: It was a first half harder than the first years because the tires were as hard as concrete – if you left the rear end, you took a ride. You had to be more careful with roadsters, while the cars with rear engines made you feel more and they were easier to drive. Roadsters would not make you a mistake.
RM: So what was your favorite car?
AJ: A sprinter on a custom dirt track of half a mile, because you had a lot of horsepower and you had to master it with your right foot.
RM: You were a good mechanic who could also build motors, so what was your biggest attribute? The fact that you were brave, talented, mechanically cunning or clever?
AJ: I think all four, because you need to know a little bit about everything on the cars. I use my tires from right back to get more sidebite, but you may have no ideas today and I think there are too many rules. I think my mechanical knowledge was a great asset and helped my driving. Today, a computer tells these children what the car does and if not many of them are lost.
RM: You were the face of the Indy 500 with your four victories, great comebacks and ornery disposition. You always say that Indy made AJ Foyt and I always oppose and say, no you and Mario, Parnelli, Herk and Gurney made Indy, at least for me.
AJ: The Speedway made me, because when I won the race, the whole world knew it. It’s the biggest race there’s and I think it’s not better today than it was in the ’60s and’ 70s, it’s just different. And I also made big news at Indy by being an ass every now and then.
RM: Why is Indianapolis still so important to you?
AJ: I can not care how many years you’ve been here, but come race day you get a little touched because it’s the race every driver wants to win. It’s like the Kentucky Derby. I will come back as long as I can because I still enjoy it. I have lived my whole life to get to this race.
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