By Dick Mittman
allstate400atthebrickyard.com
Sunday, August 3, 2003
Stewart and Foyt. Names that stir passions among fans at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
In the 10th annual Brickyard 400 NASCAR Winston Cup Series race on Aug. 3, a Stewart and Foyt participated together for the first time on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Tony Stewart, the reigning Winston Cup champion, was fastest most of the day. Rookie Larry Foyt, son of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A. J. Foyt Jr., was slowest most of the day.
But after the checkered flag waved over Kevin Harvick, young Foyt accepted congratulations in the garage area and a thwarted and disheartened Stewart skipped out on media interviews.
Good reasons for both.
Stewart, who wants to win at the Speedway so badly he falls into a deep funk when he doesn't, seemed to have this race wired. Columbus, Ind., native Stewart led 60 laps, 27 more than any other driver, and was more than 10 seconds ahead at one point. Yet on the final pit stop he got a poor set of tires, had to make another stop and wound up 12th.
Larry Foyt, on the other hand, came back from a crash in qualifying to race in his backup car. Stewart lapped him on the 29th circuit of the storied 2.5-mile oval. Still, he never got in trouble, the car improved late in the race, and he finished 32nd after starting 43rd and last, completing 156 of the 160 laps.
And how's this for irony: His famous father's final race at the Speedway came in the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994. A.J. Foyt started 40th and finished 30th, completing - you guessed it - 156 laps.
The senior Foyt, whose temperament is a carbon copy of Stewart's, split early, too. He wanted to beat the traffic.
Joe Gibbs, the affable owner of Stewart's No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet, stepped forward to greet the media in place of Stewart. Winner of two NFL Super Bowls as coach of the Washington Redskins, Gibbs knew the team had blown another chance to win this stock car racing bowl game.
"I think we had a great car, and that's what makes all of us feel worse," he said. "You feel like you have a great car, come here, and things don't work out for you. I think everybody out there can sympathize with somebody or a team that probably picks one place you want to win, have all those things happen to you and you wind up losing the race."
He said the team made a second late pit stop because it felt it couldn't win the race the way the car was handling.
Then he talked about Stewart.
"I don't think he normally likes to speak a lot," he said. "None of us do. It's where everybody knew what happened, and you've just got to try and get as far away from it as you can.
"I think different people have a different way of dealing with real severe disappointment. I think at times Tony has, at other times he hasn't. I think if you pick someplace where there's going to be a lot of emotion involved (for him), it's here. Sometimes also the best thing to do is get away from it as far as you can and not get caught up in something like we have had in the past.
"I think if there's one place he's raced - he's raced a million places his whole life - this is the one place he wants to try and win, and we put a lot effort into it. He had a great car, and it didn't work out for us. I think you can only imagine if it's the most important thing in your occupation to try to do, to come close it hurts. Today wasn't our day."
Later, chief mechanic Greg Zipadelli said the car was too slow. He then got testy with a follow-up question by a media member and walked away. But he stopped a few feet away and did a TV interview and said the crew had put on a set of tires that were a "little loose."
Young Foyt, whose father made him graduate from college before allowing him to go racing full time, stood beside his Harrah's Dodge that carries the famed No. 14 as well-wishers stopped by. A.J. Foyt had added yet another chapter to his Speedway book of accomplishments by become the first driver ever to get his grandson, A.J. "Anthony" Foyt IV, and his son, Larry, into two different races at the track in the same year.
Anthony Foyt completed 189 laps and finished 18th in the Indianapolis 500 on May 25, his 19th birthday. Larry turned 26 last Feb. 22.
"That's pretty cool," Larry Foyt said. "Harrah's, my sponsor, has been great. They let me fly up race morning (from Charlotte) and watch Anthony start the '500.' It meant a lot to me. He flew up today and watched me start this race, so it's pretty neat. We've always been real close, more like brothers. So it means a lot to both of us."
Larry Foyt wasn't bragging about his day's showing and admitted the team had struggled. He said the backup car he drove was last raced in March at Darlington. But he said the car improved as the race progressed, and his goal is to return and be more competitive.
"I feel I'm a 1,000 percent better driver now than when the year started, and I just think I'll keep getting better," he said.
Larry not only wants to return to the Brickyard but also join Anthony in the Indianapolis 500. Larry said he and his father have talked about it, possibly next year.
"It's something I definitely want to do," he said. "I haven't forgotten about it. I'm really happy full time in stock cars, but I think the Indy 500 is where I want to be a race driver. It's something I'd definitely like to get a shot at."
Stewart and Foyt: Indianapolis is not just another racetrack to them.
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