Indy 500 '77 - Jackie Stewart interviews AJ Foyt

[gman326]

There is no tarnish on AJ Foyt, period!

Lets see, winner of the Indy 500(X's 4), the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, just to list a few. Some need to remember, it is better to remain silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

[motoracinerd]

He never drove in F1...I wonder why?? Anyway, I think that is the one thing that somewhat tarnishes his legacy.

[AJ1964]

@motoracinerd Tell me how?

He was racing in the States each week. At the time F1 was not so big, and he could make more money in US by racing Indycars, Stockcars, sprintcars and sportscars. Have you read a book where AJ tells why he wasn't interested in F1? Besides that F1 is more like rich kids having fun than a real racing.

[motoracinerd]

@AJ1964 - No, I haven't read his book...I was just wondering why he hadn't. And I'd have to disagree about F1 not being so big. Jim Clark, Graham Hill, and Jackie Stewart weren't just rich kids having fun...Clark is recognized as one of the best drivers of all time...we've seen Clark and Foyt go at it in USAC cars in Indy...I'm just saying it would've been interesting to see how well Foyt would've done battling Clark in an F1 car as well.

[motoracinerd]

@motoracinerd...I think he didn't race in F1 cause he wasn't that great on road courses...he only had 3 wins, in 25 starts on road courses in the USAC division...compared to Andretti's 10 wins, in 28 starts. He's probably the greatest all around driver on an oval...it didn't matter what he drove, stock car, indy car, midget...he could beat anybody, but his numbers on road courses dont impress me much. I think that's what kind of hurts his legacy.

[jpdever513]

@motoracinerd Not that great on road courses!? Ok, now you're just trolling. The man won Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona endurance races. Le Mans for chrissakes! Just him and Dan Gurney, switching off for 24 hours, and they whipped the field. And he had never raced on the Le Mans circuit prior to that race, and he had only 10 minutes of practice to get ready! The guy was just as gifted a racer as they come, the course didn't matter.

[LoneKook]

@jpdever513 Well said. Foyt is not my favorite race driver, but all in all I would have to hand it to him for being able to win in anything they put him in, more than any other American driver I can think of.

[pattheiceman]

@motoracinerd Could you see A.J. Foyt taking team orders? LOL!

[vintagesupermodified]

@motoracinerd Formula 1 didn't have dirt! Had they ran midgets,sprints, champ dirt cars, AJ would have been over there more. They didn't, so he didn't bother. Been a fan all my life and I still fail to understand how F1 is supposed to be the 'pinnacle' of racing. Indy's biggest downfall has been trying to imitate F1. Take that one to the bank.

[jpdever513]

@motoracinerd Foyt had offers to race F1, but do you want to know why he didn't? He thought it was a sham. He knew about team orders, and about drivers conceding spots on the track to teammates for points, and he refused to race in the series. It was beneath him. Rest assured, if he had run F1, he would have won consistently. Just look at what Mario Andretti did, and if anyone is Andretti's better, it's Foyt.

[altfactor]

@motoracinerd Had A.J. Foyt raced a few seasons in Formula 1, I think he might have won at least one F1 championship.

BTW, this was not televised live. It was taped, edited to two hours (one hour and 40 minutes without commercials) and broadcast, and shown in prime-time that evening, about eight or nine hours after the fact.

I remember listening to the race on radio, and then watching the tape on TV that evening.

It was tradition at my home in the 1970's to do that every year.

[altfactor]

The reason Jim McKay and Jackie Stewart were "still in the commentary booth" was becaue most of their call of the race was recorded as the edited tape was being broadcast.

Their descriptions of the start, the first few laps, the last few laps, and the finish were recorded as they happened. The reason it was done that way was because the middle of the race was edited, and had McKay and Stewart called the whole race as it happened, their commentary might have sounded disjointed at times.

[wahoowahoo777]

@AJ1964 i find it amazing for u to say that f1 is all about the cars. if u have 70 vids on racing in general, u should know that all racing is about both the driver's and the cars both.

[soundspur]

Respect to AJ FOYT. A Great racer who dominated Indy and Indy cars. However his incursion into F1 wasn't great . From a European perspective the greatest American driver is/was MARIO ANDRETTI because he did it at home: Indy cars AND in F1 Grand Prix. He won the WORLD DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP in 1978 in the superb JohnPlayer Special Wedge shaped Lotus-Ford: now THAT is an achievement. Unfortunately his son Michael didn't do so well in F1 but that's the way it goes. Some drivers don't adapt to F1.

[McLarenMercedes]

@soundspur

Well, he had Ayrton Senna as team mate, that made things even more difficult. Not to mention he commuted to and from the races and the few tests from across the ocean. That made it next to impossible.

[coach777777]

@WhoLueYou You're a douche and obviously know little to nothing about AJ Foyt, much less anything else. AJ is one of the best racing drivers ever born. F1 literally doesn't exist in the US, that's why none of us drive in it.

[McLarenMercedes]

@coach777777

That is also why CART/IndyCar used to be the most popular racing series in the US, but as soon as a lot foreigners came in and won a load of races starting with Emerson Fittipaldi, then Nigel Mansell, later Alex Zanardi who never amounted to nothing in F1 before and after, the American public lost interest and all viewers switched to NASCAR instead.

So I suppose the IndyCar series don't really exist either do they? Not compared to NASCAR.

What about Mario Andretti?

[McLarenMercedes]

@coach777777

Some people argue the totally dominating Sebastian Loeb, with his 7 straight WRC titles, is one of the best drivers ever. Maybe in his discipline (which btw, is way tougher than most circuit racing, especially those around ovals) but that doesn't say how he would be in others.

Same goes for Foyt. Mario Andretti at least proved himself in F1, although he was given preferable treatment by Lotus in 1978 and didn't do too well against Reutemann in '79.

[AJ1964]

@McLarenMercedes Foyt has been succesful in many racing divisions. He has won Le Mans, Daytona, NASCAR, Sportcars, sprintcars, dirtcars, Indycars, USAC stockcars, dirt stockcars. There are many which have dominated in their series like Senna, Schumacher, Loeb, Petty, Earnhardt, Johnson, but have done nothing in other divisions. Foyt is a rare exception. BTW Foyt>Andretti.

[uhfnutbar1]

lol w tf Indy dick head Indy not f1

[uhfnutbar1]

w tg AJ Foyt and hay Jackie how are you

[WhoLueYou]

AJ Foyt sucks. If you haven't proven yourself in Formula one, then you suck because Formula one is the pinnacle of motorsport. You Americans can say Foyt is great but around the world no one knows or cares about him. To be world famous you have to prove yourself in Formula one.

[wahoowahoo777]

@WhoLueYou let's c u do what he did if he sucks

[coach777777]

As a Houstonian, AJ was the hero of every kid in those days, right after the NASA astronauts...

[BIILLETT]

AJ IS DA MAN!!!!!!!!!

[daveth121864]

Any guy who wins 4 Indy 500s, (#4 with a car that he and his Dad built) LeMans and Daytona, and does incredible things like bring a dirt track car to an Indy car race withh zero set up time and finish 2nd (like he did at Milwaukee) deserves to be in the top 2 or 3 drivers ever. 

It's those crazy accomplishments like the last one that show just how great a driver and engineer he was. He had an incredible feel for the car -- like Fangio.

[brucelokcy]

Legends from both sides of Atlantic......

[seikenflyer]

I respect indycar history and the 500 but if you wanna call yourself the world greatest you have to win at least one F1 world championship.

[PeterMayer]

he is not the greatest. One of the best at times. But not THE greatest.

[quarqill]

Jim McKay and Chris Schenkel,two broadcast legends will be missed.

[BSNFabricating]

Super Tex will rule forever!!

[freefalling4us]

The best driver EVER!!!

[BMWizardofOz]

yes Jackie is :)

[freefalling4us]

NOT Jackie Stewart....A.J.!!!

[BMWizardofOz]

I know you meant AJ, but Jackie is just a the bigger international legend :P

A.J. Foyt rarely was running in international motorsports, so it´s harder for me to judge if he was one of the greatest ever for me.

[freefalling4us]

Did you know that he was part of a driving team that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

[AJ1964]

He actually did most of the driving. Gurney was sleeping all the time. The team consisted of just two drivers unlike today they have 3, 4 or even more. That was his only start in that race. One start, one win, easy.

[BMWizardofOz]

yes

that´s one of the reasons I said rarely.

I don´t want to make A,J. bad or something, he surely was a great driver, but for me he is just not in my greatest drivers ever list, but that´s why everyone can have his own.

I surely have some in my list, that you maybe wouldn´t count to it, too. Like e.g. Hans J. Stuck.

[AJ1964]

AJ Foyt owns IndyCar racing (67 wins, 7 championships). Ayrton Senna owns F1 (some say Schumacher, I don't agree). Richard Petty owns NASCAR. What does Hans Stuck own? Besides that AJ Foyt was a winner in NASCAR, Le Mans, Sportscars, basically he won in every racing he competed. Thats exceptional.

[BMWizardofOz]

for me there is no one owning F1. there are many greats like Senna, Prost, Stewart, Fangio, Clark...

Stuck was just great in everything (except F1 where he was a bit too big, but he was still fast). He was world sportscar champion, german touring car champion, german racing champion, 2 times Le Mans winner, 3 times Sebring winner.

He won the 1st 24h of Nürburbrgring in 70 and is still racing there (next year with his 2 sons).

He also got some class wins in IMSA and ALMS.

[AJ1964]

my greatest drivers ever list

f1: Clark, Senna, Prost

indy: Foyt, Andretti, Unser, Mears

NASCAR: Petty, Earnhardt

rallying: Vatanen, Kankkunen, Auriol, Sainz

Overall its a shootout between Foyt and Senna. Foyt wins, but maybe just because the career of Senna was cut short.

Don't know much about sportscar racing.

[BMWizardofOz]

I think it´s hard to compare and single out too much.

for me it would be like

F1: Clark, Stewart, Fangio, Senna, Prost, Schumacher (Scheckter, Cevert, G. Villeneuve and some more being also great, but less succesful)

Sportscars/Proto: Ickx, Bellof, Stuck, Redman, Haywood...

Rally: for me missing in your list: Röhrl (he just didn´t want to become too succesful, but was maybe the most gifted driver I have ever seen)

I don´t know much about oval racing

[freefalling4us]

and at one time, correct me if I am wrong, didn't he drive an Oldsmobile on a closed circuit at a lap speed of olmost 260 mph?

[PeterMayer]

Show me the stat and or link that said Gurney was sleeping all the time. Please...

[AJ1964]

Its from VHS video: Champion for Life (AJ Foyt).

[xSoccerxCorex]

never bothered with F1 because he felt that the cars, even in that era, had too much "brains" put into them. so he rarely did that because he didn't think they were that important. but, there are few men who win Le Mans in their first and only try, and win it in record time.

[BMWizardofOz]

yes because there are many drivers like e.g. Bob Wollek who are far less lucky. It surely wasn´t Wollek´s bad driving that kept him from winning in one of his 30 tries.

Later this unlucky guy got hit by an old lady while cycling home from Sebring.

[LitterboxDiorama]

That year, the Plaid-shirted tean got ousted by the Checkerboard-shirted team in a blue collared shootout

[1more4theroad]

A great 'as broadcast' post!  Had to laugh at Gabriel Shocks credit at the end.... I had Gabriel Striders on my Firebird! Can almost hear Roger Miller....'"King of the road..."

[courtdar]

thought jackie was interviewing AJ

[MrJoshua360]

A.J Foyt is the best for ever

[ynp1978]

I was 14 in 1977 and Foyts 4th Indy win stands as one of the three most exciting moments in a lifetime of watching sports. The other two? the 1974 USC vs Notre Dame game and the 1980 Olympic hockey game between the US and the USSR. In my den I have a wonderful painting by Doug Wilkens of Foyt taking the checkered flag in that 77 race. Foyts record of 67 Indy car victories will never be touched.

[v10mclaren]

"you can never be a winner if your gonna be a quitter"

great quote

[e521soediv]

damn 1977 television graphics

[LolaJudd]

Terry Borcheller is one of my heroes

[GOCUBBY]

has Jackie Stewart passed on?

[translator300]

No, he is still alive as of Feb 2007

[quarqill]

Jackie is alive and well and helping his son run his racing business.

[Bennowomble]

Why did he never race F1? because he could never compete with Clark, Hill, Stewart true legends.

[AJ1964]

Foyt is greater than Clark, Hill, Stewart ever was. He was too busy racing in States (Indycar, Nascar, sportscars, sprintcars). He also didn't like Grand Prix racing, because it was more battle of manufacturers than drivers, he didn't like follow the leader show. He was a true racer by heart.

He is the only driver in world ever who has won Indy 500, Daytona 500 and Lemans 24 hour race.

[fatriani]

its really hard to go from f1 to america and vice versa. remember when three time world champ Nelson Piquet ended his career at Indianapolis after his qual. accident? because it made him too scared to drive again

[PeterMayer]

Yeah, but they've had more success over here than visa-versa.

[PeterMayer]

Not quite. Look at the 67 LeMans field. Not to shabby... Go to WikiPedia and see.

[jbsrknu]

FOYT---The greatest ever---A man of pride and a real American hero.

[justjesper]

Another American hero.

Sorry to say this, but the word Hero is used so much in America, that no one can name the heroes any more.

Every one who has died in a stupid war, a firefighter who walked the wrong way... ect. ect.

What is a hero to day... some one who died,

We will all be heroes :-D :-)

[jbsrknu]

We all pick our heroes as we see fit---you like dead ones---I like AJ---Thats the American way--freedom of choice!

[justjesper]

No it's a total misunderstanding, I'm saying that Hero is not a good word any more.

[jbsrknu]

interesting---you've decided to yank the word "hero" from Webster's huh?--your a very talented person!...Seriously though, I think I know where your going with this no heroes thing but I also believe it's perhaps motivated by political correctiveness???---Thats where we part ways no matter where you derive your opinion of No Heroes from...I prersonally think heroes are a very important part of American culture..and yes, I have white, black, amd even Native American heroes.

[brattsveen]

I love watching this!

[foyter11x]

im related to aj foyt

[IllinoisHighwayMan]

How are you related to him?

[foyter11x]

i dont know what like i'm his 3rd cousin or something

[1more4theroad]

1961, 1964, 1967 & 1977. The subject of a grade school class report, AJ will forever be the best driver to me! It was so good to be at the Indy this year to watch him take a lap in the 1977 Olds Pace Car, reliving the victory lap from the win of this video clip.

[Gojirazilla]

AJ Foyt was the greatest American race driver who never raced formula one. A true American. A great driver

[DocGorilla]

AJ Foyt was the greatest American race driver who never raced.

[DocGorilla]

AJ Foyt was the greatest American race driver who EVER raced.

[sb318aj]

I was there. I wore out a patch of gravel pacing back and forth the last 10 laps. My first of 11 Indys and no doubt the