AJ Foyt
Arguably the greatest oval-track open-wheel race-car driver in history, Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr., born on January 16, 1935 in Houston, Texas, is a true icon in the global realm of motorsports.
The first four-time (1961, 1964, 1967 & 1977) winner of the Indianapolis 500 and the only driver to win the race in front-engined and rear-engined cars, Foyt began racing at age six with a scaled-down No. 8 Midget built by his father Tony Sr. in exhibitions against adult drivers.
But Foyt’s professional career began in 1953 with Modified stock cars and Midgets. He then traveled the county – sleeping in his tow vehicle and washing in gas stations to save money on hotels – in his quest to get to Indianapolis. And after showing his skills in USAC Midgets (20 career victories) and USAC Sprint Cars (28 career victories), he got his first United States Auto Club Championship ride in August 1957 and made his first Indy 500 start in 1958.
Foyt’s first Championship win was at the Ted Horn Memorial 100 on September 5, 1960, in the pearl, red and black No. 5 Bignotti-Bowes Offy on the one-mile dirt track at DuQuoin, Illinois. He eventually won 67 Championship races – the most by any driver – with his last coming on June 21, 1981, at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway’s 500 while driving his pole-winning Coyote orange and white No. 14 A.J. Foyt Enterprises/Gilmore-Valvoline March 81C 04/Cosworth.
Named Driver of the 20th Century by the Associated Press, Foyt won seven (1960, 1961, 1963-1964, 1967, 1975 & 1979) USAC National Championships and 10 of 13 races in 1964, a percentage still unmatched. And when Ford pull out of racing in 1970, he was given the entire inventory of four-cam V-8 Indy engines – including patterns, tooling and $200,000 worth of spare parts – and these units were developed, sold and raced as Foyt V-8s through 1977.
The highly-popular “Super Tex” – who at times of competitive frustration was quite demonstrative – also won the 1960 USAC Eastern Sprint Car and 1972 USAC Championship Dirt Car titles. And in recognition of his outstanding oval-track career, the IZOD IndyCar Series presents the A.J. Foyt Trophy to its highest-scoring driver in oval-track championship points.
In major Stock Car competition, Foyt won 41 races and three (1968 & 1978-1979) USAC titles. He also won nine NASCAR Cup Series races – including 1964’s Firecracker 400 in Ray Nichels’ No. 47 Dodge at Daytona International Speedway and the 1972 Daytona 500 in the famed No. 21 Wood Brothers Mercury – and was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers.
Foyt’s résumé includes his record-setting 1967 victory – with co-driver Dan Gurney – in the red No. 1 Ford GT-40 in the 24 Hours of LeMans in France; the first by American drivers in an American car. And that makes Foyt the only driver to have won the Indy 500, Daytona 500 and the world’s most famous Sports Car race. And his six other Sports Car wins include four Porsche IMSA GT victories – two (1983 & 1985) Daytona 24 Hours, the 1983 Paul Revere 250 and 1985’s 12 Hours of Sebring on the road course at the old World War II airbase in Florida.
A two-time (1976-1977) champion of the International Race of Champions, Foyt was also physically and mentally tough and he recovered from several major injuries – including shattered legs in September 1999 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin – to race again.
However, after competing in his record 35th-straight Indy 500 in 1992, Foyt retired from driving Indy Cars on May 15, 1993 – Pole Day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – after taking one last emotional ride in his signature No. 14 around the place that he held in such high regard.
But A.J. Foyt, who owned his own cars since the mid-1960s, remained a team owner and – in addition to owner-driver titles in 1967, 1975 & 1979 – he won Championships in 1996 with Scott Sharp and in 1998 with Kenny Brack. And Brack made him a five-time Indy 500 winner in 1999 while driving the Coyote orange and white Power Team No. 14 Oldsmobile/Dallara.
Arguably the greatest oval-track open-wheel race-car driver in history, Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr., born on January 16, 1935 in Houston, Texas, is a true icon in the global realm of motorsports.
The first four-time (1961, 1964, 1967 & 1977) winner of the Indianapolis 500 and the only driver to win the race in front-engined and rear-engined cars, Foyt began racing at age six with a scaled-down No. 8 Midget built by his father Tony Sr. in exhibitions against adult drivers.
But Foyt’s professional career began in 1953 with Modified stock cars and Midgets. He then traveled the county – sleeping in his tow vehicle and washing in gas stations to save money on hotels – in his quest to get to Indianapolis. And after showing his skills in USAC Midgets (20 career victories) and USAC Sprint Cars (28 career victories), he got his first United States Auto Club Championship ride in August 1957 and made his first Indy 500 start in 1958.
Foyt’s first Championship win was at the Ted Horn Memorial 100 on September 5, 1960, in the pearl, red and black No. 5 Bignotti-Bowes Offy on the one-mile dirt track at DuQuoin, Illinois. He eventually won 67 Championship races – the most by any driver – with his last coming on June 21, 1981, at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway’s 500 while driving his pole-winning Coyote orange and white No. 14 A.J. Foyt Enterprises/Gilmore-Valvoline March 81C 04/Cosworth.
Named Driver of the 20th Century by the Associated Press, Foyt won seven (1960, 1961, 1963-1964, 1967, 1975 & 1979) USAC National Championships and 10 of 13 races in 1964, a percentage still unmatched. And when Ford pull out of racing in 1970, he was given the entire inventory of four-cam V-8 Indy engines – including patterns, tooling and $200,000 worth of spare parts – and these units were developed, sold and raced as Foyt V-8s through 1977.
The highly-popular “Super Tex” – who at times of competitive frustration was quite demonstrative – also won the 1960 USAC Eastern Sprint Car and 1972 USAC Championship Dirt Car titles. And in recognition of his outstanding oval-track career, the IZOD IndyCar Series presents the A.J. Foyt Trophy to its highest-scoring driver in oval-track championship points.
In major Stock Car competition, Foyt won 41 races and three (1968 & 1978-1979) USAC titles. He also won nine NASCAR Cup Series races – including 1964’s Firecracker 400 in Ray Nichels’ No. 47 Dodge at Daytona International Speedway and the 1972 Daytona 500 in the famed No. 21 Wood Brothers Mercury – and was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers.
Foyt’s résumé includes his record-setting 1967 victory – with co-driver Dan Gurney – in the red No. 1 Ford GT-40 in the 24 Hours of LeMans in France; the first by American drivers in an American car. And that makes Foyt the only driver to have won the Indy 500, Daytona 500 and the world’s most famous Sports Car race. And his six other Sports Car wins include four Porsche IMSA GT victories – two (1983 & 1985) Daytona 24 Hours, the 1983 Paul Revere 250 and 1985’s 12 Hours of Sebring on the road course at the old World War II airbase in Florida.
A two-time (1976-1977) champion of the International Race of Champions, Foyt was also physically and mentally tough and he recovered from several major injuries – including shattered legs in September 1999 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin – to race again.
However, after competing in his record 35th-straight Indy 500 in 1992, Foyt retired from driving Indy Cars on May 15, 1993 – Pole Day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – after taking one last emotional ride in his signature No. 14 around the place that he held in such high regard.
But A.J. Foyt, who owned his own cars since the mid-1960s, remained a team owner and – in addition to owner-driver titles in 1967, 1975 & 1979 – he won Championships in 1996 with Scott Sharp and in 1998 with Kenny Brack. And Brack made him a five-time Indy 500 winner in 1999 while driving the Coyote orange and white Power Team No. 14 Oldsmobile/Dallara.
