A. J. Foyt IV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anthony Joseph "A.J." Foyt IV (born May 25, 1984 in Hockley, Texas) is an American race car driver. He is the grandson of racing legend A. J. Foyt, who guided him through much of his career.
Contents |
[edit] Early career in IndyCar
A.J. raced karts for many years before moving to formula race cars in 2001. In 2002, A.J. moved to his grandfather's team, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, in the Infiniti Pro Series and won the championship with four wins in seven events. In 2003, A.J. moved up to Foyt Enterprises' IRL IndyCar Series team, finishing 21st in the final standings. A.J. had a dismal run in IndyCars, finishing 18th in the 2004 points and 20th in 2005. In the 2005 Indianapolis 500 Foyt was involved in an accident with a top Champ Car driver, Bruno Junqueira. The crash broke Junqueira's back and blame was placed mainly on Foyt.[1]
[edit] NASCAR
In October 2005, A.J. announced that at the end of the 2005 season, he would leave Foyt Enterprises and drive in the NASCAR Busch Series for the #38 Akins Motorsports team and was signed as a developmental driver for Evernham Motorsports. He ran several events in the #38 late in 2005, but failed to produce results. In 2006, A.J. was scheduled to run the entire Busch Series schedule in the #38 and be a competitor for the Rookie of the Year award. However, early in the 2006, Akins was absorbed by Braun Racing, which switched the #38 from Dodge to Chevrolet bodies. Foyt had an exclusive contract with Dodge that prevented him from continuing with the team. After a week off, Ray Evernham found him a ride with FitzBradshaw Racing, but Anthony failed to qualify for his first race with the team and has not attempted a race since. He was removed from Evernham's development program in September 2006.
[edit] Return to IndyCar
On September 5th, 2006, Foyt was tabbed by the 2005 IndyCar Championship team, Andretti Green Racing, to replace injured regular AGR driver Dario Franchitti. Foyt drove the #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara Honda in the IRL season's final event at Chicagoland Speedway and finished 14th. In January, 2007 he 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[2]. In March 2007, Foyt IV was charged with DUI stemming from an incident in December of the previous year.[3]
[edit] Indy 500 results
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Dallara | Toyota | 23rd | 18th |
| 2004 | Dallara | Toyota | 21st | 33rd |
| 2005 | Dallara | Toyota | 28th | 28th |
[edit] Trivia
- A.J. Foyt IV 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.
- A.J. Foyt IV is the first member of the Foyt racing family to hire an agent, despite advice from his grandfather not to.
