Driving Home a Point : Foyt Has a Message for Those Who Think They Are Bigger Than Indy

He has not won a race as a driver since June, 1981, and has never won one as a car owner. He last won the Indianapolis 500 in 1977. But when he strolls out of Gasoline Alley on his way to the pits, a great sound comes swelling out of the stands: “A.J.! A.J.! A.J.!”

A.J. Foyt--Super Tex--is the Arnold Palmer of motor racing, a man whose charisma and popularity seem to grow with time.

The first of the four-time winners, he is the most recognizable and revered person here for the 80th running of the Indianapolis 500. He is easy to spot because where he is, the biggest crowd will be, milling about for a glance or perhaps a picture or an autograph.

After 35 years in the cockpit at Indy, Foyt is not driving anymore, but he is passionate about the Indianapolis 500 and its future as the heart of the new Indy Racing League, the organization formed by his close friend, Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George.

The formation of the IRL has caused a split in Indy car racing, and the established Championship Auto Racing Teams--CART--has chosen to go its own way, to the extent of having its own race next Sunday, the U.S. 500 at the Michigan International Speedway.

Foyt, long a critic of CART, has no truck with the Indy car regulars who will be in Michigan on Sunday instead of here.

“Not one of those drivers would be there if they weren’t under contract with their owners,” he said, warming up to the

subject. “It’s like the Kentucky Derby. You can’t replace tradition, regardless of megabucks or what.

“I think all of them are jealous and so hurt that they’re not here. They should be here.”

Then, reacting to criticism by some CART drivers about conditions at Indianapolis, he said:

“I hate to hear what Michael [Andretti] and them say. He’s like his daddy [Mario]. He’s been a crybaby all his life. And I’m not telling you all something you don’t know. I tell them to their face ‘cause that’s the way it is.

“They’re just jealous. It’s like [car owner and CART founder] Roger Penske, big Roger Penske. Where in the hell was Roger Penske made? Right here at this race track. He damn sure didn’t make this place, like A.J. Foyt didn’t or Wilbur Shaw or whoever. I’m sick and tired of hearing that crap and I’ll tell you why.

“You don’t know me [from] winning Daytona three times, you don’t know me [from] winning LeMans, you don’t know me [from] winning Ontario, you don’t know me [from] winning Pocono four times, do you? Or Nassau and all the sports car races? You know me from one place. That’s right here.

“When these people start saying they made Indianapolis, they got a bad problem ‘cause they’re forgetting where they came from and what made their name. And that’s what I’m getting disgusted about. Like Roger Penske. You would not know Roger Penske if it wouldn’t be for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Like him and [Bobby] Rahal, they said, ‘Fine, we’re not going to Indianapolis.’ Well, who gives a crap? They [Penske drivers Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi] weren’t here last year and [Rahal] wasn’t here the year before [because they failed to qualify]. But the damn race went on pretty damn good.”

*

Foyt is here this year with three young drivers--Davey Hamilton of Boise, Ida.; Scott Sharp of San Ramon, Calif., and Marco Greco of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

“Any one of ‘em could win the race,” Foyt said with characteristic bravado.

Hamilton, a graduate of West Coast supermodified, sprint car and midget races, will drive Foyt’s legendary No. 14 and will start in the fourth row.

“Davey’s a good all-around race driver. That’s what I like about him,” Foyt said. “He’s won a lot of races in other cars so he knows how to win, and he’s already proven he can run fast at Indy.

“He understands that the car’s got to do the work. That’s what I keep preaching to my guys, and they know they’d better listen too.”

Hamilton is a rookie because he crashed last year after driving at speeds that would easily have qualified. A wheel broke on a practice lap, sending Hamilton’s car into the fourth-turn wall. He suffered a broken ankle.

Ten days later, he tried to qualify, broken ankle and all, and was up to speed after three laps when engine problems ended the run.

“I liked what I saw, and when I decided I needed a driver I felt like Davey was the man,” Foyt said.

Sharp and Greco, both with experience in the 500, will start farther back because each blew an engine while practicing the first day of time trials and had to qualify on the second day.

“We’d hoped to sit on the front row. Now we’re thinking about winning the race,” Foyt said. “That’s the biggest thing.

“The way Scott’s been running, he’s got a hell of a chance. He ran some 235s and ain’t but a couple of guys running better than that. He wanted to let it out a little more but I had to rein him in.

“It’s like playing poker out there. You just don’t show everything you’ve got ‘cause a lot of times you do and it’s hard to back it up.”

Sharp might have ended Foyt’s losing streak in the second IRL race, at Phoenix, but for a lapse by Foyt himself. He called Scott and teammate Mike Groff into the pits when the pits were closed, resulting in a one-lap penalty for each.

“We should have been first because we were outrunning everybody and had the field lapped,” Foyt said. “When the yellow came out, [Sharp] told me the pits ain’t open. I told him to come in anyway. Then they penalized me a lap.

“It’s like Bobby Knight says, ‘We’re always right and those damn officials are wrong.’ ”

Sharp this year will try something only Foyt has accomplished--winning the Indy 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans in the same year. Asked if he felt that he might be the next A.J., Sharp said:

“Hardly. I wasn’t even born when he won LeMans [with co-driver Dan Gurney in 1967], and I was only nine when he last won the 500. But quite frankly, whenever I’m around A.J., I’m in awe. There is only one A.J. and I can’t imagine anyone ever being as good as he was.”

* LINES DRAWN: There are two sides of the Indy-car story, and they are quite different. A1.