Indy 500 Time Is Foyt Time

With May comes the Indianapolis 500, and with the 500 comes the irrepressible A.J. Foyt.

Now 71, Foyt is almost synonymous with the legendary race. This will be the 48th consecutive year he has gone to Indianapolis in search of victory, the first 35 years as a driver and the last 13 as a team owner.

The son of a Houston auto mechanic, Foyt was the first driver to win the Indy 500 four times, in 1961, 1964, 1967 and 1977. He also excelled at other forms of racing, on oval tracks and road courses, winning the Daytona 500 in a stock car and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a prototype sports car with Dan Gurney.

At Indianapolis, he also led in nine other races and ran 4,909 laps, or 12,272.5 miles, in his 35 races. He drove in NASCAR’s inaugural Brickyard 400 race at 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But since 1977, Foyt has returned to the speedway’s victory lane once, in 1999, when his driver Kenny Brack won.

His entries in this year’s 90th Indy 500 include Felipe Giaffone and his son, Larry Foyt. They will face a challenge from such teams as Penske, Ganassi, Andretti Green and Rahal Letterman.

Even so, the elder Foyt remains Foyt: tough, determined, intense and opinionated. Candor, and an unwillingness to suffer fools, have always been part of his personality.

That was apparent again this week when “Super Tex” held a news conference in advance of this weekend’s qualifying trials for the Indianapolis 500 on May 28. Here are some excerpts:

* On Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. leaving retirement to drive in the Indy 500: “I think they’re kidding themselves. I hope they do good. But you know, to do good -- I don’t care what it’s in, playing golf, riding horses, riding bicycles -- you got to do it all the time.

“If you don’t do it every day and stay up on it, you just get behind. It’s very easy for you to make a mistake.”

* On his team’s poor showing in the Indy 500 the last two years: “We’ve kind of had our [butt] kicked pretty well. I don’t like that. I’m working hard to get us back on top. A lot of times when you get down, you want to fight harder to get back.”

* On the possibility of the Indy Racing League, which sanctions the Indy 500, merging with the other major U.S. open-wheel series, the Champ Car World Series: “I think it’s a lot of hot air myself. I can’t see where the IRL would benefit by them coming together.

“All your big teams, all your big drivers are over here at the present time. They’ve got a good deal going.”

* On whether he ever lost the urge to race: “It never leaves you; it hasn’t left me yet.... I could probably play with them today. I feel like I could run with 90% of them, yes. You’ve just got to realize that time passes you by.”

* On his love for the Indy 500: “I still got the same drive. It just hurts knowing what you used to do, and you’re not driving, you’ve got to depend on other people.

“I don’t think I’ve ever given up my drive here. When that happens, you won’t see A.J. back here again.”

Last Laps

* Sebastien Bourdais, who dominated Champ Car’s season opener in Long Beach last month, leads the field for the series’ second race Saturday night on a road course in Houston.

* The inaugural Los Angeles Concours d’Elegance, featuring hundreds of vintage and exotic passenger vehicles and race cars, is scheduled for May 21 at the Rose Bowl and adjacent Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena.

Tickets are $25 until Monday and $30 at the gate. Proceeds benefit the Assistance League of Southern California.

* A new season of speedway motorcycle racing on Saturday nights is underway at remodeled Costa Mesa Speedway, which has upgraded seating, lighting and concession facilities.

Gates open at 6 p.m.; racing starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, with discounts for children and seniors.

* Sprint car racing is on tap Saturday night at two area tracks.

The sixth annual Sokola Classic for USAC/CRA sprinters, named for the late Gary Sokola, is scheduled at Perris Auto Speedway, and VRA sprinters will be running for the fifth week at Ventura Raceway.

Super-late models headline the program at Irwindale Speedway.

* Scott Geoffrion, twice runner-up in the National Hot Rod Assn.’s pro-stock drag-racing series in the early 1990s, died of an apparent heart attack at 40, the NHRA said.

Geoffrion, of San Clemente, won nine times and reached the final round 28 times in more than 200 races from 1987 through 2004. He won his first race in 1993, when he defeated pro-stock legend Bob Glidden.