A. J. Foyt IV

Anthony Joseph Foyt IV (born May 25, 1984) is an American professional football scout and former racing driver. He is a scouting assistant for the Indianapolis Colts, and drove in the IndyCar Series and briefly the NASCAR Busch Series. He is the third generation of the famous Foyt family and is married to the daughter of late Colts owner Jim Irsay.

Foyt began his career racing karts. He moved up through the open wheel racing ranks, winning the 2002 Infiniti Pro Series. When Foyt made his first Indianapolis 500 race in 2003, he became the youngest driver to start in the event. He continued in IndyCar for two more years until his back was injured at the 2005 Indianapolis 500. Later that season he made several NASCAR Busch Series starts. He was scheduled to continue in the Busch Series in 2006, but the team was bought out and his contract prevented him from driving a non-Dodge car. He returned to IndyCar late that season. He has not raced since 2009, although he drove for his grandfather's A. J. Foyt Enterprises team in trials for the 2010 Indianapolis 500.

Personal life Foyt was born on May 25, 1984, in Louisville, Kentucky, but lists his hometown as Hockley, Texas, the long-time residence of his grandfather and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A. J. Foyt, who guided him through much of his career. He is the son of Nancy and thoroughbred trainer Anthony Joseph Foyt III. His cousin, Larry Foyt, also raced cars. He spent much of his early years working with some horses trained by his father at the horse stables of Churchill Downs before his family relocated to Texas when he was six years old. Foyt is a June 2002 graduate of Waller High School.

Foyt appeared in the 2005 film, The Dukes of Hazzard, and is an avid Texas Longhorns fan. He married Indianapolis Colts vice-president Casey Irsay, daughter of late team owner Jim Irsay, in July 2009. They have five children.

Early career in IndyCar Foyt began racing Junior Dragsters as a nine-year-old after a family friend and his uncle purchased a dragster for him and won two championships with it. Foyt was later signed to drive for the team in the newly formed Infiniti Pro Series in mid-year. Foyt won the championship with four wins and four pole positions in seven events.

After passing his rookie test at Texas Motor Speedway on October 31, 2002, allowing him to obtain an Indy Racing League (IRL) racing license, Foyt progressed to Foyt Enterprises' IRL IndyCar Series team for the 2003 season, finishing 21st in the final standings.

Foyt continued to struggle in the IndyCar Series, finishing 18th overall in the 2004 season points and falling to twentieth in the 2005 series. In the 2005 Indianapolis 500 Foyt was involved in an accident with Champ Car World Series driver Bruno Junqueira, who sustained a fractured back. The season did not improve as the team switched from Toyota to Chevrolet power mid-season and Foyt was replaced for the late-season road course events by Jeff Bucknum.

NASCAR In October 2005, Foyt announced that at the end of the 2005 season, he would leave Foyt Enterprises and drive in the NASCAR Busch Series for the No. 38 Akins Motorsports team and was signed as a developmental driver for Evernham Motorsports. He competed in the final four rounds of the 2005 Busch Series in the No. 38 car, and finished outside the top twenty in all of them. However, early in the 2006 season, Akins was purchased by Braun Racing, which switched the No. 38 from a Dodge to a Chevrolet. Foyt had an exclusive contract with Dodge that prevented him from continuing with the team. After seven races, he was released by the team due to poor performances, Atkins merging with Braun and changing manufacturers to Chevrolet. Ray Evernham found Foyt employment driving FitzBradshaw Racing's No. 14 car, but Foyt failed to qualify for his first race at Richmond International Raceway with the team and has not attempted a NASCAR race since. thumb

2007 In January 2007, Foyt 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.

On August 5, 2007, during the Firestone Indy 400, Foyt was involved in a seven-car accident in which Dario Franchitti's vehicle was sent airborne and then came down on Foyt's car. While Foyt was uninjured, Franchitti's car left visible tire marks on Foyt's helmet. Foyt's crew was able to repair the car and get him back on the track where he completed enough laps to finish eighth. The following week at the Meijer Indy 300, Foyt's crew gave him great pit stops which allowed him to take to lead with ten laps remaining. Even though Foyt was passed a few laps later by Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon, he managed to hold on the rest of the way and drive to a career-best 3rd-place finish, the first Top-5 finish of his career. It was also the best finish in Vision Racing's team history, tying Tomas Scheckter's third-place finish at the Milwaukee Mile in 2006.

2008

Foyt returned to be one of Vision Racing's drivers in the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona. He returned to the Vision team for the 2008 IndyCar Series driving the No. 2 car that was formerly driven by Tomas Scheckter.

On March 28, Foyt seemed to have earned a career best start for an IndyCar Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the 2008 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 with the third best qualifying time. His Vision Racing teammate, Ed Carpenter also earned a career best start with the second best qualifying time. He was helped with some drivers ahead of him racing in the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Foyt had contact with the wall, forcing him to retire from the race early, with a 15th-place finish.

The following week at Kansas Speedway, Foyt and his teammate Ed Carpenter shared the third row, with Foyt qualifying fifth. It was his best career start and second top-10 start in a row. In the RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300, Foyt had his chances of a high finish end as his car was caught in the pits when an accident involving Buddy Rice occurred. Foyt would drive to an eighth-place finish. Foyt's best finish of the season came in the Iowa Corn Indy 250 in June at the Iowa Speedway where he finished fifth. Foyt finished the season 19th in the points standings. He returned to the Foyt-Greer Racing team for the 2009 Indianapolis 500, driving the No. 41 vehicle. Foyt finished 16th on the lead lap as his teammate Vítor Meira was injured in a late-race crash. Paul Tracy was drafted as the substitute driver for Meira at the next race, but Foyt stepped into the car for his home race at Texas Motor Speedway. Ryan Hunter-Reay drove the car for the rest of the season and Texas would be Foyt's last race of 2009. Jaques Lazier was drafted in on short notice to qualify the car but was not fast enough to make the field.

Post-racing career Foyt has been employed by the Indianapolis Colts since 2010 as a scouting assistant, and married Casey Irsay, the daughter of late owner Jim Irsay. He also went into partnership with his cousin Larry Foyt in the wine business following the conclusion of his racing career, opening the Foyt Wine Collective in May 2015, with locations in Speedway, Indiana, Fredericksburg, Texas and Sonoma County, California with the support of A. J. Foyt.

IRL IndyCar Series Source:

1 Run on same day. 2 Non-points paying, exhibition race. 3 Foyt was entered, practiced, and made a qualifying attempt on Pole Day, but failed to make the top 24. On Bump Day, he quit the team and was replaced by Jaques Lazier.

Indy 500 results Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team 2003 Dallara Toyota 23 18 Foyt 2004 Dallara Toyota 21 33 Foyt 2005 Dallara Toyota 28 28 Foyt 2007 Dallara Honda 18 14 Vision 2008 Dallara Honda 31 21 Vision 2009 Dallara Honda 25 16 Foyt 2010 Dallara Honda DNQ Foyt

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led; small number denotes finishing position.)

Busch Series NASCAR Busch Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Pts Ref 2005 Akins Motorsports 38 Dodge DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL NSH BRI TEX PHO TAL DAR RCH CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA PPR GTY IRP GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM TEX PHO HOM 87th 241 2006 Braun-Akins Racing DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL BRI TEX NSH PHO TAL 74th 400 FitzBradshaw Racing 14 Dodge RCH DAR CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA MAR GTY IRP GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM TEX PHO HOM