A. J. Foyt IV

Foyt was born on May 25, 1984, in Louisville, Kentucky,^[1] but lists his hometown as Hockley, Texas,^[2] the long-time residence of his grandfather and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A. J. Foyt, who guided him through much of his career. He is the son of Nancy and thoroughbred trainer Anthony Joseph Foyt III. His cousin, Larry Foyt, also raced cars.^[3] He spent much of his early years working with some horses trained by his father at the horse stables of Churchill Downs before his family relocated to Texas when he was six years old.^[4][5] Foyt is a June 2002 graduate of Waller High School.^[6][7]

Foyt appeared in the 2005 film, The Dukes of Hazzard,^[8] and is an avid Texas Longhorns fan.^[9] He married Indianapolis Colts vice-president Casey Irsay, daughter of team owner Jim Irsay, in July 2009. They have three children.^[10]

Foyt began racing Junior Dragsters as a nine-year-old after a family friend and his uncle purchased a dragster for him and won two championships with it.^[5][6] He progressed to racing karts on paved road courses and dirt tracks where he remained for the following six years,^[3][5] before going on to drive formula race cars in 2001. In 2001, he won six of nine SCCA events to claim the Southwest Regional championship. He finished third in SCCA's national point championships and was the series' Rookie of the Year.^[2] That same year, he competed at the World Karting Association's Dirt World Championships at Daytona Beach, Florida and finished second in the Briggs Heavy feature event. Foyt competed in his first USAC Silver Crown event that August.^[2] In early 2002, he worked for his grandfather's team A. J. Foyt Enterprises in its race shop and as a pit lane crew member for driver Airton Daré.^[11] Foyt was later signed to drive for the team in the newly formed Infiniti Pro Series in mid-year. Foyt won the championship with four wins and four pole positions in seven events.^[2][12]

After passing his rookie test at Texas Motor Speedway on October 31, 2002, allowing him to obtain an Indy Racing League (IRL) racing license,^[1][13] he progressed to Foyt Enterprises' IRL IndyCar Series team for the 2003 season, finishing 21st in the final standings.^[2] Foyt 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.^[14]

He continued to struggle in the IndyCar Series, finishing 18th overall in the 2004 season points and falling to 20th in the 2005 series. In the 2005 Indianapolis 500 Foyt was involved in an accident with Champ Car World Series driver Bruno Junqueira, who sustained a fractured back. The season did not improve as the team switched from Toyota to Chevrolet power mid-season^[15] and Foyt was replaced for the late-season road course events by Jeff Bucknum.^[16]

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 No. 38 Akins Motorsports team and was signed as a developmental driver for Evernham Motorsports. He competed in the final four rounds of the 2005 Busch Series in the No. 38 car, and finished outside the top twenty in all of them.^[17] After the season, he moved from Texas to Charlotte, North Carolina, and was scheduled to run the entire Busch Series schedule in the No. 38 and be a competitor for the Rookie of the Year award.^[18] However, early in the 2006 season, Akins was purchased by Braun Racing, which switched the No. 38 from a Dodge to a Chevrolet. Foyt had an exclusive contract with Dodge that prevented him from continuing with the team.^[19] After seven races,^[20] he was released by the team due to poor performances, Atkins merging with Braun and changing manufacturers to Chevrolet.^[21] Ray Evernham found Foyt employment driving FitzBradshaw Racing's No. 14 car,^[22] but Foyt failed to qualify for his first race at Richmond International Raceway with the team and has not attempted a NASCAR race since.^[23]

On September 5, 2006, Foyt was tapped by the 2005 IndyCar Championship team, Andretti Green Racing, to replace injured regular AGR driver Dario Franchitti. Foyt drove the No. 27 Dallara Honda in the IRL season's final event at Chicagoland Speedway and finished 14th.^[24]

 

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.^[25]

On August 5, 2007, during the Firestone Indy 400, Foyt was involved in a seven-car accident in which Dario Franchitti's vehicle 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.^[26] Foyt's crew was able to repair the car and get him back on the track where he completed enough laps to finish eighth. The following week at the Meijer Indy 300, Foyt's crew gave him great pit stops which allowed him to take to lead with ten 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 third-place finish at the Milwaukee Mile in 2006.^[27]

 

Foyt returned to be one of Vision Racing's drivers in the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona.^[28] He returned to the Vision team for the 2008 IndyCar Series driving the No. 2 car that was formerly driven by Tomas Scheckter.^[29]

On March 28, Foyt seemed to have earned a career best start for an IndyCar Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the 2008 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 with the third best qualifying time.^[30] His Vision Racing teammate, Ed Carpenter also earned a career best start with the 2nd best qualifying time.^[30] However, both cars failed technical inspection, meaning they had to start at the rear of the field.^[30] Foyt drove his No. 2 entry from the last position (25th) to a ninth-place finish in the race.^[2][15]

Two races 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.^[31] He was helped with some drivers ahead of him racing in the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Foyt had contact with the wall, forcing him to retire from the race early, with a 15th-place finish.^[32]

The following week at Kansas Speedway, Foyt and his teammate Ed Carpenter 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 his chances of a high finish end as his car was caught in the pits when an accident involving Buddy Rice occurred.^[33] Foyt would drive to an eighth-place finish. Foyt's best finish of the season came in the Iowa Corn Indy 250 in June at the Iowa Speedway where he finished fifth. Foyt finished the season 19th in the points standings.^[15]

Vision Racing was unable to secure sponsorship to run a second car in 2009, leaving Foyt out of a ride.^[34] He returned to the Foyt-Greer Racing team for the 2009 Indianapolis 500, driving the No. 41 vehicle.^[35] Foyt finished 16th on the lead lap as his teammate Vítor Meira was injured in a late-race crash.^[36] Paul Tracy was drafted as the substitute driver for Meira at the next race, but Foyt stepped into the car for his home race at Texas Motor Speedway.^[37] Ryan Hunter-Reay drove the car for the rest of the season and Texas would be Foyt's last race of 2009.^[15]

In 2010, he was again entered in a second Foyt Enterprises car for the Indy 500. After the morning practice session on the final day of qualifying A. J. Foyt IV and his grandfather got in an argument regarding the car's setup resulting in the younger A. J. quitting the team.^[38] Jaques Lazier was drafted in on short notice to qualify the car but was not fast enough to make the field.^[39]

Foyt has been employed by the Indianapolis Colts since 2010 as a scouting assistant.^[40][41] He also went into partnership with his cousin Larry Foyt in the wine business following the conclusion of his racing career,^[42][43] opening the Foyt Wine Vault in Speedway, Indiana, in May 2015 with the support of A. J. Foyt.^[43]

(key)

Source:^[45]

¹ Run on same day.

² Non-points paying, exhibition race.

³ Foyt was entered, practiced, and made a qualifying attempt on Pole Day, but failed to make the top 24. On Bump Day, he quit the team and was replaced by Jaques Lazier.

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led; small number denotes finishing position.)

 

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