Intro To IndyCar - A.J. Foyt Enterprises - Pt 1 - Team

Now we move into a relatively streamlined team, as opposed to the four before it.

A.J. Foyt Enterprises (also known as A.J. Foyt Racing) was founded in 1965 by A.J. Foyt. Foyt himself is probably the most prolific driver for his team. He is one of four people who have won the 500 four times - in 1961 with Bowes Racing, and then 1964 with Ansted-Thompson Racing, and then in 1967 and 1975 with Foyt. Foyt itself has won the USAC (United States Auto Club) Championship three times, in 1967, 1975 and 1979, all with A.J. at the helm. USAC is one of the sanctioning bodies of IndyCar and the competition was one of the precursors to IndyCar.

After Foyt won in 1979, he personally stopped racing consistently, and there was a dip in performance.

Other accomplishments by Foyt include winning the Daytona 500 once, 24h of LeMans once, and then the 24h of Daytona twice. A.J. set the blueprint for success across categories.

Moving into the CART era, he would run a race every so often. Never missing the 500, Foyt would enter himself and whoever could fund it - including Chip Ganassi himself in 1985. Eventually, with little success with other drivers, Foyt himself returned to the cockpit full time in 1988.

Two mostly complete seasons later, Foyt started to speckle his appearances in CART starting in 1991. Which, looking at the record, was a bit odd, because he finished strong at the 500 in both 1989 and 1990. But, per A.J. himself, he was struggling to manage a team and driving himself.

His personal final race appearance came at the 1993 500. There had been rumors since 1991, but after rookie Robby Gordon had an accident, Foyt suited up and did a goodbye lap on pole day. Handing the car over, he discussed why he was choosing to focus on the team instead of racing. This ended his illustrious 35 year career in the car, but did not stop him from being heavily involved in his team.

Gordon finished 1993 10th in the championship for Foyt, but then departed for the now defunct Walker Racing.

Following 1993, there were a few rough years for Foyt, but then came The Split.

Unlike many other teams, Foyt chose IRL over CART, and immediately saw success.

Though the 1996 IRL season was three races long, Foyt and driver Scott Sharp saw victory. Sharp split his time between the 14 and the 41 (the traditional car numbers for Foyt, along with 4). Sharp also saw the second step at the 500, and teammate Groff saw the third.

For a team that was struggling without their founder in CART, it seemed things were looking up in IRL.

Following that, the mixed 1996-1997 season saw driver Davey Hamilton (who later built up what is now Arrow McLaren) in the 14 full time and second in the championship.

Back to the traditional one year series in 1998, another victory was scored by Foyt. Another new driver to their team, Sweden's Kenny Bräck, had an incredible year, with three back to back victories, the most Foyt has ever seen. Bräck later developed driver Marcus Ericsson.

This time, the winner stuck with the team. 1999 saw Bräck drop to second; however, he did bring the 500 back to Foyt. He was the first Foyt driver to do so that was not Foyt himself, an impressive feat.

But Foyt's luck dried out. Bräck departed in 2000 for CART and Team Rahal, and Foyt when on a no-wins streak that lasted until the end of the 2002 season. Brazil's Airton Daré broke their streak in Kansas, though the win only put him in ninth in the standings.

After that, the streak returned, and went for five times that amount. Foyt's next win did not come until 2013, when Japan's Takuma Sato won at Long Beach. Even with this and Sato's second place the following year, it did little to dent the inconsistencies in the car. Sato lasted four seasons with Foyt, one of the longest relationships, before departing for Andretti in 2017.

That year, Sato won the 500.

As you can see, Foyt without himself at the helm isn't necessarily as strong of a team as those who departed racing before founding their own teams. A well respected man, Foyt's last title was in 1998, their last 500 in 1999, and their last win in general was over ten years ago in 2013. Foyt's legacy in IndyCar still looms large, and he is truly still involved due to his love of the sport.

That is something I can truly respect.

Now, moving on to the drivers of the 14 and the 4!