European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 31, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday March 312007 Page 33 still driven after All these years a j Foyt remains fire Dup about racing in his 50th season by Mike Harris the associated press he Hast driven a race car in years but time has not cooled a fonts competitive fire a bit last saturday at Homestead a hours before the Start of the season opening indy car series race and the beginning of fonts 50th season in racing super Tex sat in his teams transporter watching a sports car race on to Knock him off the track Foyt bellowed at the set As the Sec on place car made a move to take the Lead hell he backed off Foyt said grinning and shaking his head in mock despair id have never done that no he probably would not have Anthony Joseph Foyt or rarely backs off on the Racetrack or off and that probably Why he had an inordinate amount of Suc Cess both in racing and in Busi Ness his list of on track feats is extraordinary among them Foyt was the first Driver to win the Indianapolis 500 four times he also won the 1972 Daytona 500 and co drove with fellow legend Dan Gurney to Vic tory in the 1967 24 hours of be mans he and longtime rival Mario Andretti were named the associated press co Drivers of the Cen Tury by an elite panel of judges in 2000 As great As Andretti was probably the Only reason Foyt didst rate the Honor by himself was because he chose to avoid formula one where Andretti won a championship i had offers to drive Over there Foyt said referring to Al Paul Kizzle above and Terry above the legacy continues As a Foyt in competes in indy car As his Grandfather a Foyt or celebrates his 50th year in racing the elder Foyt was the first to win the Indianapolis 500 four times i ran Over there a few times in sports places like Silver Stone and be mans and i just never liked racing outside the United states i always Felt it was the people of the United states who made a Foyt and that who i wanted to run in front of and i didst care for the food was the biggest thing i still dont Andretti said of Foyt he could have won in anything he drove in those Days we didst Al ways get along but if you beat him you knew you had beaten the Best the 72yearold Foyt who sits on several boards of directors owns car dealerships and other businesses in his native Texas and is a wealthy Man has fallen on hard times at the Racetrack in recent years weve been kind of asleep for a while he said shrugging there have been Only two wins in open wheel racing since 1999 and a venture into Nastars pre Mier Stock car series with son Larry and several other Drivers from 2000 through 2003 ended with one top five and six top 10s but Hes not ready to retire to his ranch i still enjoy it said Foyt who has a plan for keeping a Foyt enterprises on track even after Hes gone my other sons one of them runs our lexus Dealership and one enjoys the ranch and Hunting and All that Foyt said but i want someone to continue racing so i have put Larry in the position to really help and manage the Deal everything is looking pretty Good and Hes doing a great Job i didst say that he had to quit Rac ing Hes kind of backed off a Little bit but he is going to run a few Lascar craftsman truck races and then step into the team 100 percent in still there every Day too but Larry is doing a lot of foot work for me which makes it a lot easier Foyt who acknowledges that after 14 years out of the cockpit he still misses racing id be a Damn liar if i said i didst said he cant understand what All the fuss is about 50 years in the sport he loves whats so Damn big about 50 years he said it just Means youre old but he does take some Pride in that longevity hell people said i want sup posed to live to be Over 22 be cause it was so dangerous when i started but a lot of them Are gone and in still Here Foyt chortled Foyt has absolutely no doubt about where his Success came from the Indianapolis 500 he said i know the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 Are big today but i still think Indianapolis is the biggest race in the world its like the Kentucky Derby youve got some great great horse races but youve Only got one Kentucky Derby and youve Only got one Indianapolis 500 that race is what made a j Foyt whatever Ive got i owe to India Napolis Tony George founder of the in Tycar series and scion of the fam ily that owns the Indianapolis motor Speedway said the track also owes a lot to Foyt were coming up on the 100th anniversary of the Speedway and were going to celebrate the 100th running of the 500 in another 10 years George said in All of its history a Foyt is probably in the top five if not the top three if not the top two of the people who have defined what that event is All about but theres a lot More to a than just Indianapolis i think its his drive his tenacity his desire to win that has made him who he is and what he is today George added and its his longevity too he started 35 consecutive indy 500s coming Back from Ca ree threatening life threatening injuries to be Back every May 11 just think that amazing Sextel cur Busch series race 6 goods 500 at Martinsville Speedway Martinsville a 3 am monday of extra last race Kyle Busch held off teammate Jeff Gordon on a restart then beat Jeff Burton in a drag race to the finish line to win the food City 500 the first car of tomorrow race last year Tony Stewart banged on Jim Mie Johnsons bumper for four laps then finally beat him out of the second turn on his Way to a Victory the Victory was stewarts first in 20 races Driver to watch stewarts Upan Down season continued last week with a 35thplace Fin ish after starting fourth Stewart fell to 12th in the Driver stand Ings however he won this race last season and has three to four finishes in his past four races at Martinsville Driver standings after 5 of 36 races Jeff gordon791 2 Jeff Burton 788 3 Jimmie johnson716 4 Matt kenseth697 5 Kevin harvick647 6 Kyle busch639 7 Mark Martin 629 8 Clint bowyer621 9 Denny Hamlin 606 10 Carl Edwards 598 11 David Stremme 587 12 Tony Stewart 575 13 Elliott sadler543 14 Bobby labonte525 15 Ujj yeley522 16 gregbffffe521 17 Dale Earnhardt jr512 17 Jamie mcmurray512 19 Juan montoya510 20 Kurt busch497 Andy racing last race Carl Edwards held off hard charging teammate Mart Kenseth Over the final dozen laps to win the Sharpie mini 300 at Bristol motor Speedway next race Pepsi 300 april 7 Lebanon Tenn craftsman trucks this week Kroger 250 at Martinsville a last race Mike Skinner bumped past Clint Bowyer to take the Lead on a restart seven laps from the finish and raced away to his second straight Victory on March 16 in the american commercial lines 200 Todd Bod me last Springs Winner at Atlanta followed Skinner past Bowyer to grab second place on Lap 124 of the 130lap event but the Leader was just too Strong pulling away to a rive length Victory last Yean David Starr held the Lead through eight restarts Over the final 121 laps to win the Kroger 250 fast facts will try to become the first Driver in series history to have two three race winning streaks his first came in 1996 when he won at Tucson Denver and to Peka he also won at Martinsville that year next race Oreilly Auto parts 250 april 28 Kansas City Kan this week grand prix of st Petersburg at st Petersburg Fla delayed 2 pm monday or last race Dan Wheldon fought off an Early Challenge from Sam Hornish or and easily overcame a bad pit Stop to drive away with his third straight win at Homestead Miami Speedway its the first time in the 12year history of the indy car series that a Driver has won three straight races at the same track last year hello Castr Neves turned his Luck around by winning the grand prix of st Petersburg when Scott Dixons fuel strategy came up just Short next race indy Japan 300 april 21 Suzuka formula one last race Kimi Raikkonen won in his first race for Ferrari dominating the sea so opening australian grand prix on March 18 for his 10th formula one Victory Raikkonen started from pole position and led almost throughout the race to Edge world Champion Fernando Alonso who was making his Mclaren debut race malaysian grand prix april 8 Kuala Bumpur standings for other series on Page 32 for More coverage