Comments on: Happy Birthday, A.J. Foyt

By: Foyt rival | Bestmoneyonlinesolutions

Foyt rival | Bestmoneyonlinesolutions — Sat, 28 May 2011 01:55:53 +0000

[...] Happy Birthday, A.J. Foyt « OilpressureNowadays, people see AJ Foyt as the caricature that he has become – a comical, foul-mouthed fat man who runs a below average race team, beats up other drivers and smashes laptop computers. But I saw the man race when he was in his prime. [...]

By: JohnMc

JohnMc — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:43:21 +0000

That is not the position of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or the Indianapolis 500 who each year honors it’s past.

By: JamesO

JamesO — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:30:58 +0000

I was being facetious, but it does seem to be Indycar’s position.

By: JohnMc

JohnMc — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:21:59 +0000

The 1996 pre-history take is absurd.

By: Drayton Sawyer

Drayton Sawyer — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:03:21 +0000

As much as I love Uncle Bobby and his drunken, loud mouth lunacy, ai voted for Mario. Mario won big car/champ car races in 4 consecutive decades, a world championship, countless sportcar races for Ferrari and in 1969 had the best all around season ever (4 pavement wins, 2 dirt wins, Pikes peak hill climb, 2 road courses and Indy). The seasons Mario and A.J. raced together Mario has a better record and percentage. But A.j. does have a Lemans victory and 2 more dirt championships than Mario so it Is very very close ( I know most people discount dirt stats, but not a midget racer like me). And as a side note Uncle Bobby is one of my favorites and is very underrated as a “racer”, U.B. was a 3 time Indy champ, 2 time national champ, national snowmobile champ, has non AMA motorcycle victories and is 13 pikes peak champ and the old dog rarely gets credit for it.

By: JamesO

JamesO — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:19:31 +0000

None of that counts because Indycar history really only begins in 1996.

I think Foyt benefits tremendously from being the dominant driver during a time when the 500 was on television, and people could see him. He’s my favorite too, but I find it very difficult to compare him to Wilbur Shaw or Mauri Rose–where you pretty much have to just look at statitstics or pour through a newspaper morgue to compare. I grew up watching him on tv, and that means more to me.

I think Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, et al, enjoy a similar benefit in baseball: they bloomed during radio, whereas people like Tris Speaker, Christy Mathewson, Cy Young, are remembered only by historians, uber-fans, or because their names grace an award.

Back to Foyt: it is frustrating to see where he is now, as opposed to where he was. It’s a bit like seeing Marlon Brando in the 70s. I think it’s another good reason to release old Indy500s on DVD or Hulu or whatever, where we could see these guys in their glory (or salad) days. You can still watch On The Waterfront and see Brando in his prime; you rarely see Foyt, or the Unsers, or even Rick Mears, from that era.

But then, anything prior to 1996 is just pre-history.

By: Dave D'Amour

Dave D'Amour — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:57:54 +0000

Great job George!

Thanks.

By: Mike Silver

Mike Silver — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:51:27 +0000

AJ is by far the best driver. Had Vukovich raced longer he would definitely be in the conversation, to. He nearly won 4 500′s in a row.

By: Paige

Paige — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:39:11 +0000

I grew up being told AJ was the best driver ever and I might have to agree for sure.

No man with a greater passion for racing. I understand why one of my current racing favorites, Tony Stewart, looks up to him so much.

By: Jim Gallo

Jim Gallo — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:08:01 +0000

I can’t think of any other driver that had as much passion and character at the same time as AJ. I doubt if those will ever be repeated. Thanks again George for some very fond memories.