For most of his life, A.J. Foyt has been the man giving the orders; not taking orders. And that may be one reason why he has struggled in his recovery from triple-bypass heart surgery on Nov. 12.
Foyt has been recovering from complications from that surgery at his home near Houston, Texas while his son, Larry, remains in charge of A.J. Foyt Racing’s IndyCar team in Waller, Texas. The 80-year-old Foyt visited the team’s shop on his birthday on Jan. 16 and has slowly made progress.
He hopes to return to the track by the Indianapolis 500 on May 24.
“I’m doing a lot better; every day I’m doing a little bit more,” Foyt said. “I’m getting more of my strength back and I’m eating better than I was when this first happened. I feel with all of the problems I had I’m looking pretty good.”
Foyt has even tested himself and his strength against doctor’s orders but that has always been Foyt’s way.
“I’ve been on my bulldozer a couple times,” Foyt admitted. “Nothing to brag about, I was very weak and very tired but I have done some stuff with it. I probably should keep that quiet because I’m not sure the doctor would enjoy hearing that.”
The first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 has lost 50 pounds since his surgery. His heart treatment has kept him from leaving Houston but Foyt hinted that he may take a “day trip” to watch his two-driver Verizon IndyCar Series teams test.
“I may sneak out to a test where I can come and go in the same day,” Foyt revealed. “But that’s a call I’ll make based on how I feel that day. I think the new cars look pretty nice. The engineers are going to have their hands full with all of the trick stuff they came up with on the new aero kit. I’m anxious to hear the feedback from testing.”
Larry Foyt was named President of A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Inc. last month, a title that makes his role official with the organization since his father became seriously ill in 2012 and again in 2014.
"I really enjoy the business side of racing,” Larry Foyt said. “I think all of my past experience has helped me get to this point--whether it was at TCU (Texas Christian University) as a student, or managing our stock car team while I competed in NASCAR. My time behind the wheel has helped me relate to the drivers and understand their needs as well.”
After a career as an IndyCar and NASCAR driver, Larry Foyt joined the IndyCar team in the fall of 2006 as the Team Director; each year he has assumed an increasing amount of responsibility.
Foyt’s team is running a one day test at NOLA Motorsports Park outside of New Orleans on March 14, and then travelling to Barber Motorsports Park outside of Birmingham for the Verizon IndyCar Series two-day Open Test March 16-17.
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