RACE REPORT: Miami
 A.J.
Foyt IV finished ninth for a career best finish in the IRL's season
opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday afternoon. Dan Wheldon won
the Toyota Indy 300 easily but Sam Hornish eked out a tight
second-place finish over Tony Kanaan and Vitor Meira.
Foyt IV, who started 18th in his Toyota-powered Dallara, weathered a
couple of mishaps to garner his top-10 finish. The most spectacular
was the lap 159 restart crash which took out half of the field.
Triggered by Kosuke Matsuura going three-wide into turn one and
spinning down in front of the field, the ensuing melee saw eight cars
crash heavily. Only one driver was hurt--rookie Danica Patrick
sustained a concussion but she was released from the hospital the same
evening.
Foyt IV avoided the mishap because he made a late pitstop for fuel and
hadn't caught back up to the field by the time the green flag dropped.
The pitstop was necessary because he'd had a pit fire during a prior
refueling. A malfunction of the new fuel hose nozzle caused fuel to
spill which ignited. No one was injured but Foyt IV lost several laps
due to the incident.
 "I
guess in a sense we were lucky that everything happened the way it
did," said Foyt IV afterwards. "When the pit fire happened, I wasn't
sure what was going on but I heard my grandfather yell at me to get
out of there. Driving away, I looked back and saw the car was on fire.
It was a long lap but by the time I got back to the pits, they'd put
the pit fire out. Then they dumped water all over me and the car to
put out that fire. We got the car restarted and rejoined the field
only to find out that we needed more fuel to go to the end of the
race. The yellow came out for a grass fire on pit road which my car
probably started. It was a short yellow but I pitted for the extra
fuel and that's what put me so far behind the field on the restart.
"At that point I just wanted to finish the race," said Foyt IV. "Then
everyone up front started crashing. It was over by the time I got
there but there was debris everywhere. I was worried my car got
damaged from running over something but we were lucky again. I didn't
deserve to finish ninth because were down on power all day but I'll
take it. I feel bad for the guys who were really racing hard and
crashed; I'm glad that no one was seriously hurt."
"He did a good job out there today," said A.J. Foyt afterwards. "I
told him going in that we were overmatched against the Hondas and the
Chevies; the only hope we had was to just finish the race. It was a
much better result than we expected. We've had our share of bad luck
so it was nice to have Lady Luck on our side for once."
Foyt IV's next race is at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday,
March 19th. It will be televised live on ABC at 3 pm.
NOTES & QUOTES: IRL TOYOTA INDY 300
A.J. Foyt IV: No. 14 Dallara/Toyota/Firestone
• A.J. Foyt IV on season opener in Miami: "I'm excited to get
back to racing again. We ended last year on a high note so I hope we
can pick up where we left off."
 •
The No. 14 features historic colors in the season opener. The
chassis is pearl white which A.J. Foyt used enroute to his first
four Indy car championships in the early 60's. The sidepods are
"Foyt Red," the warm poppy color that distinguished his cars from
1967 through 1987. Foyt used a combination of those same colors in
1998-99, the years that his driver Kenny Brack won the IRL IndyCar
Series title and the 1999 Indianapolis 500. A.J. IV carried the
poppy color on several of his championship winning go-karts as well
as the F-2000 car in which he won the Southwest regional title in
2000. "We don't have a primary sponsor yet," said team owner A.J.
Foyt, "so we just figured we might as well paint the car in colors
that have meaning to our team over the years."
 •
First road course test: Foyt IV tested on a road course for the
first time on February 21st at Texas World Speedway. The team had
not participated in the IRL open test at Homestead Miami Speedway
because they didn't get the update kit in time. Said Foyt IV, "I
have a lot to learn but I really enjoyed it. A lot of the other
drivers have grown up doing road racing and they raced in CART so
they're used to it. Now you have to worry more about taking care of
your gearbox. You have to be more precise in your shifts all while
you're trying to drive hard into the corner and brake at the same
time. I might want them to throw a fender on my car for the first
road race or two, that and a steel nose."
• Texas State Bank has signed on as an associate sponsor of
the team for the year. There will be a focus on the Bombardier 500
at Texas Motor Speedway in June with hospitality and show car
appearances slated around the IndyCar Series first night race of the
season.
• Craftsman is again on board as an associate sponsor of the
No. 14 car. This will mark the 15th straight year that A.J. Foyt has
endorsed Craftsman Tools.
 •
Thrills but no spills...Through IRL IndyCar Series chaplain Bob
Hill, A.J. IV was given a behind-the-scenes-tour of NASA's Johnson
Space Center in Houston February 22nd. Foyt met several dignitaries
including one of the astronauts scheduled for the next shuttle
flight. Along with seeing the Space Station being monitored in
Mission Control, A.J. IV received training on the shuttle simulator.
All went well as he landed the shuttle on his first try. "They had
some one right there instructing me on what to do--it was pretty
cool. In fact the whole experience was really cool. I have a better
appreciation of the whole space program."
• More Thrills...Foyt's appetite for thrills wasn't satiated
though. Next week he will do a tandem sky-dive courtesy of T.J.
Horn, the co-pilot of his grandfather's jet. A corporate jet pilot,
Horn also flies planes for Skydive Houston and has arranged for A.J.
IV to dive with a professional jumpmaster.
• In 2004, Foyt IV's best start was 6th (at Chicagoland
Speedway) and his best finish was 10th at Texas Motor Speedway in
October. He finished 18th in the standings.
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