A. J. Foyt IV

Infobox racing driver
name = Anthony Joseph Foyt IV


pixels =
caption = AJ Foyt IV at Homestead Miami Speedway in 2007
related to = A. J. Foyt (grandfather)
Larry Foyt (uncle)
nationality = flagicon|USA American
date of birth = Birth date and age|1984|05|25
place of birth = Louisville, Kentucky
current series = IRL IndyCar Series
first year = 2003
current team = Vision Racing
car number = 2
former teams = A. J. Foyt Enterprises (47 starts)
Andretti Green Racing (1 start)
starts = 82
wins = 0
poles = 0
fastest laps =
best finish = 3rd
year = 2007
prev series = NASCAR Nationwide Series
Firestone Indy Lights Series
prev series years = 2005-2006
2002
titles = Firestone Indy Lights Series
title years = 2002
awards =
award years =

Anthony Joseph Foyt IV (born May 25, 1984 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American race car driver who has competed in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series and briefly in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, then called the Busch Series.

Biography

A. J. Foyt IV was born in Louisville, Kentucky but lists his hometown as Hockley, Texas, where his grandfather racing legend A. J. Foyt, who guided him through much of his career, resides. He is almost always seen wearing a Texas Longhorns cap around the paddock area.

Foyt appeared in The Dukes of Hazzard film [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1894863/ A.J. Foyt IV] , IMDB.com] that debuted in 2005 and is an avid Texas Longhorns fan. In March 2007, He was charged with DUI stemming from an incident in December of the previous year. [ [http://www.speedtv.com/articles/indycar/auto/35790/ Foyt IV Charged with DUI] , Racer Magazine, March 6, 2007]

Early career in IndyCar

Foyt raced karts for many years before moving to formula race cars in 2001. In 2002, A.J. moved to his grandfather's team, A. J. Foyt Enterprises, in the Infiniti Pro Series and won the championship with four wins in seven events. In 2003, he moved up to Foyt Enterprises' IRL IndyCar Series team, finishing 21st in the final standings. Foyt IV currently holds the record for the youngest driver to race in the Indy 500. His rookie race in 2003 occurred on his 19th birthday. He took the record from Josele Garza who was slightly over 2 months older for his first start in 1981. [Mittman, Dick, [http://www.indy500.com/news/story.php?story_id=1162 Young Foyt Feeling Comfortable In Big Saddle At Indy] , IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com, April 21, 2003] He continued to struggle in IndyCars, finishing 18th in the 2004 points and 20th in 2005. In the 2005 Indianapolis 500 Foyt was involved in an accident with a top Champ Car driver, Bruno Junqueira, who suffered a broken back. [Shaw, Kate, [http://www.rfmsports.com/Editorials/Bruno.lives.050530.html Bruno Junqueira recovering from surgery after Indy 500 crash] , rfm sports, May 30, 2005] The season did not improve as the team switched from Toyota to Chevrolet power mid-season [http://www.champcarstats.com/drivers/FoytAJIV.htm A. J. Foyt IV] , ChampCarStats.com] and Foyt was replaced for the late-season road course events by Jeff Bucknum. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_km3610/is_200508/ai_n14911579 Bucknum to replace Foyt at Infineon.] , Crash.net, August 2005]

NASCAR

In October 2005, Foyt announced that at the end of the 2005 season, he would leave Foyt Enterprises and drive in the NASCAR Busch Series for the #38 Akins Motorsports team and was signed as a developmental driver for Evernham Motorsports. He ran several events in the #38 late in 2005, but failed to produce results. In 2006, he was scheduled to run the entire Busch Series schedule in the #38 and be a competitor for the Rookie of the Year award. [ [http://www.foytracing.com/AJFoytIV/2005_reports/AJIV_rr_california.html Race Report: California Speedway] , FoytRacing.com, October 4, 2005] However, early in the 2006 season, Akins was purchased by Braun Racing, which switched the #38 from Dodge to Chevrolet bodies. Foyt had an exclusive contract with Dodge that prevented him from continuing with the team. [Rodman, Dave, [http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/bg/04/21/afoyt.revernham.moving.on/index.html Evernham looking to put Foyt back behind wheel] , NASCAR.com, April 21, 2006] After a week off, Ray Evernham found him a ride with FitzBradshaw Racing, but he failed to qualify for his first race with the team and has not attempted a NASCAR race since.

Return to IndyCar

2006

On September 5, 2006, Foyt was tabbed by the 2005 IndyCar Championship team, Andretti Green Racing, to replace injured regular AGR driver Dario Franchitti. Foyt drove the #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara Honda in the IRL season's final event at Chicagoland Speedway and finished 14th. [Margolis, Bob, [http://sports.yahoo.com/irl/news?slug=bm-familiarfaces051307&prov=yhoo&type=lgns Glad to be back] , Yahoo! Sports, May 13, 2007]

2007

In January 2007, Foyt signed with Vision Racing to return to the IRL for the 2007 season as well as drive with the team in the 2007 24 Hours of Daytona. [ [http://www.fastmachines.com/archives/irl/004062.php Foyt the Fourth Official at Vision Racing] , January 18, 2007]

On August 5, 2007, during the Firestone Indy 400, Foyt was involved in a spectacular seven-car crash in which Dario Franchitti's car was sent airborne and then came down on Foyt's car. While Foyt was uninjured, Franchitti's car left visible tire marks on Foyt's helmet. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=1&id=2962434 Franchitti OK after car flips sideways, turns upside down during Indy 400 wreck] , Associated Press via ESPN.com, August 6, 2007] Foyt's crew was able to repair the car and get him back on the track where he completed enough laps to secure an 8th place finish. The following week at the Meijer Indy 300, Foyt's crew gave him great pit stops which allowed him to take to lead with 10 laps remaining. Even though Foyt was passed a few laps later by Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon, he managed to hold on the rest of the way and drive to a career-best 3rd place finish, the first Top-5 finish of his career. It was also the best finish in Vision Racing's team history, tying Tomas Scheckter's 3rd place finish at the Milwaukee Mile in 2006. [ [http://www.visionracing.com/news/index.cfm?cid=3634 Foyt leads 13 laps and takes third as Vision Racing finishes all three cars in top-10 at Kentucky] , Vision Racing, August 11, 2007]

2008

Foyt returned to be one of Vision Racing's drivers in the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona, [Dagys, John. [http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=278091 World's best flock to Daytona for 24-Hour] Motorsport.com, January 21, 2008] but the team struggled again as they did the previous year. He returned to the Vision team for the 2008 IndyCar Series season driving the #2 car that was formerly driven by Tomas Scheckter.

On March 28th, Foyt seemed to have earned a career best start for an IndyCar Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 with the 3rd best qualifying time. His Vision Racing teammate, Ed Carpenter also earned a career best start with the 2nd best qualifying time. However, both cars failed technical inspection, meaning they would have to start at the rear of the field. Foyt drove his No. 2 entry from the last position (25th) to a ninth place finish the following day in the race.

On April 6th, Foyt earned a career best finish in three tries on the Streets of St. Petersburg with an 11th place finish in the rain soaked Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Two weeks later at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, Foyt had his first top-10 start of the season for the Indy Japan 300 when qualifying was rained out. The starting grid was based on driver points standings. Of the drivers there, Foyt was eighth in the championship points standings. He was helped with some drivers ahead of him racing in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Foyt had a competitive car, but contact with the wall forced him to retire from the race early. He finished 15th.

The following week at Kansas Speedway, Foyt and his teammate, Ed Carpenter seemed poised for the team's first podium finish of the season. The teammates shared the third row, with Foyt qualifying 5th. It was his best career start and second top-10 start in a row. In the RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300, Foyt had a car capable of getting a podium finish, as did his teammate. However, poor timing ended their chances when both cars were caught in the pits when an accident involving Buddy Rice occurred. Both drivers lost a lap, but were able to get the wave around back to the tail end of the lead lap. Foyt would drive to an eighth place finish.

Motorsports Career Results

American Open-Wheel

() (Races in bold indicate pole position)

=IndyCar [ [http://www.indycar.com/stats/driver_stats.php?statYear=2007&driver_id=94&showCareer=1 A.J. Foyt IV Career Stats] , IndyCar.com] =

References

External links

* [http://www.foytracing.com/aj4/index.html A.J.'s official website.]
* [http://www.indycar.com/stats/driver_stats.php?driver_id=94&statYear=2007&showCareer=1 A.J. Foyt IV Career IndyCar Statistics]