A.J. Foyt still drawing big crowds on or off the track in Indianapolis
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — As the sun sets on a perfect, late summer evening, A.J. Foyt sits inside his wine vault in Speedway, Indiana.
He's getting regular updates on the expanding line that snakes around tables, through the bar, out the front door, down Main Street and around the corner for two blocks. Yes, fans have come here to get the first book of a two-volume set author Art Garner believes is the most definitive biography of arguably America's greatest racer.
Mostly, though, they want to mingle with Super Tex — even in October and especially as the first of the four four-time Indianapolis 500 winners nears his 90th birthday in January.
For Foyt this area, this street, where he used to eat during the month of May, are as close to home as any place he's been outside his Houston ranch, and he's as eager to recount the good, old days with fans as they are to see him.
“I met A.J. the first time two weeks before he won in ‘61,” said 69-year-old Bill Evans, who made the short trek across town to be first in line. “I’m shaking. There's only one A.J. Foyt.”
Foyt's accustomed to seeing fans like this wherever he goes in Indy.
In May, race month, fans often crowd around the team's garage just to sneak a peek of Foyt, snap a photo with him or have him sign an old photo.
On this night, it's not so different.
Naturally, fans dressed the part, wearing orange No. 14 T-shirts, jackets bearing old team names such as A.J. Foyt Copenhagen Racing or Gilmore Racing Team Coyote, Indianapolis Motor Speedway overalls and checkered flag clothing.
And they've come from Speedway to Houston just to see this death-defying star.
“There's an old friend of mine in real estate, Colt Haack. His office is probably two blocks from my race shop at home (in Houston),” Foyt said. “He called me and said, 'I'm going to come up there to get my book signed.' I said Colt, 'You're right down the street from me.' He said, ‘I want to join a crowd.’ So he flew in from Houston and I guess a lot of people came in through Chicago and all over the land."
How revered is Foyt?
One of the team's two drivers, Santino Ferrucci, also lined up for an autograph and when fans asked the 26-year-old to sign their books, Ferrucci would do it on one condition — a different page from his boss.
Foyt's Southern drawl and salt-of-the-earth personality make him a perfect fit for this project, “A.J. Foyt — Volume 1: Survivor, Champion, Legend,” which Garner believes captures Foyt as a natural storyteller.
While Foyt has had dozens of books written about him, even some he didn't want, this is different because Garner had permission to speak with Foyt's late aunt, a cousin, even Foyt's late wife, Lucy. Foyt previously tried to keep his family out of the public sphere.
And in the four to five years Garner spent researching and conducting interviews, he found details and stories that were enlightening to the Foyts.
“I'm sure I'm going to learn stuff when I read it,” said 47-year-old Larry Foyt, A.J.'s adopted son and president of A.J. Foyt Racing. “Even to this day, as much as I've been around him, a story will come up sometimes that I haven't heard. Not so much anymore, but every once in a while."
Garner's favorite account was provided by the late Al Unser, Indy's second four-time winner, who hadn't met Foyt before coming to the 2.5-mile Brickyard in 1965.
Things changed quickly that May.
“A.J. walks in the garage and says ‘Hey, I’ve got a car, are you interested in driving?'” Garner recounts. “Al said, ‘I’m almost at the end of the line here, I failed to qualify.' So Al says yeah and follows him back to the garage. George Bignotti, the crew chief, wants to get rid of Al and A.J. says, ‘No, I want him in the car.’ So A.J. gets on his hands and knees, draws a map of the track and says ‘All right, back off here, hit the accelerator here, do this, do that’ while on his hands and knees.”
Unser didn't keep the diagram.
But fortunately for Foyt fans, this isn't the final word on his life.
The first volume only covers Foyt through the year he won his final Indy 500, 1977. The second volume covers the rest of his life and is tentatively scheduled for release in May 2026.
If Foyt is still signing autographs when that book comes out, it's a good bet the fans will line up for hours in Speedway all over again, and Foyt has pretty good idea why he has such a tight bond with them all these years later.
“When I was racing, I wasn't one of these guys doing that,” Foyt said, referring to public appearances. “The only thing I wanted to do, I raced hard. Nothing else mattered to me. When I was racing, my mind was just on winning. I think that's what people realize is that when I was racing, I gave it 100, 200%, and I think they appreciated that.”
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