A. J. Foyt Enterprises
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A.J. Foyt Enterprises is a racing team in the Indy Racing League that can trace its lineage to cars owned, driven, and sometimes built by A.J. Foyt himself in the 1960's. When Foyt retired from racing, he continued his team, often preferring American and Brazilian talent and often having a flair for a seat-of-the-pants race preparation style, usually opting to forgo a race engineer. Foyt Enterprises won IRL titles in 1996 with Scott Sharp and 1998 with Kenny Brack. However, as the 2002 influx of former CART teams into the IRL occurred, Foyt Enterprises was not prepared to compete. Coupled with the choice to field a car for A.J's inexperienced grandson A.J. Foyt IV and inadequate Chevrolet and Toyota engines, this led to very poor performances for the team from 2003 to 2005. In 2006 the team hoped to resurrect itself with experienced driver Felipe Giaffone and a more level playing ground brought by a spec engine. However, after a strong start to the season, the team struggled after the Indianapolis 500 and parted ways with Giaffone after the 8th race. Jeff Bucknum was brought in to fill the seat for the rest of the year.
For 2007 Foyt has annoucned that Larry Foyt will take over as team manager with Darren Manning signed to drive the car. In addition, it has also been confirmed that Larry Foyt will compete in the Indy 500.
Foyt also fielded a NASCAR team from 1973 to 2004.
Contents |
[edit] Drivers who have driven for Foyt Enterprises
[edit] CART
- Jeff Andretti (1992)
- John Andretti (1993-1994)
- Jon Beekhuis (1992)
- Brian Bonner (1992)
- Pancho Carter (1992)
- Eddie Cheever (1994-1995)
- Ross Cheever (1992)
- Fredrik Ekblom (1995)
- Gregor Foitek (1992)
- Stan Fox (1987-1988)
- A.J. Foyt (1979-1992)
- Chip Ganassi (1985)
- Robby Gordon (1993)
- Mike Groff (1991-1992)
- Bryan Herta (1994)
- Davy Jones (1987, 1994)
- Bernard Jourdain (1991)
- Rocky Moran (1988-1989)
- Johnny Rutherford (1984, 1988)
- Scott Sharp (1995)
- George Snider (1980, 1983-1987, 1992)
- Sammy Swindell (1986)
- Brian Till (1995)
- Al Unser (1991)
[edit] IRL
- Donnie Beechler (2001-2002)
- Billy Boat (1997-1999)
- Kenny Brack (1998-1999)
- Jeff Bucknum (2005-2006)
- Robbie Buhl (1999)
- Airton Dare (2002-2003)
- Paul Durant (1997)
- A.J. Foyt IV (2003-2005)
- Larry Foyt (2004-2006)
- Felipe Giaffone (2005-2006)
- Robby Gordon (2001)
- Marco Greco (1996)
- Mike Groff (1996)
- Davey Hamilton (1996-1997)
- Shigeaki Hattori (2003)
- Richie Hearn (2002)
- Greg Ray (1998, 2001-2002)
- Eliseo Salazar (2000-2001)
- Scott Sharp (1996-1997)
- Jeff Ward (2000)
[edit] NASCAR
- John Andretti (2004)
- Mike Bliss (2000)
- Mike Chase (1991)
- Stacy Compton (2002)
- A.J. Foyt (1973-1990, 1994)
- Larry Foyt (2003-2004)
- Ron Hornaday (2001)
- Ron Hutcherson (1978)
- P.J. Jones (2002)
- Tracy Leslie (1989)
- Rick Mast (2000)
- Johnny Rutherford (1977)
- Dick Trickle (2000)
- Mike Wallace (2002)
- Don Whittington (1980)