Nashville
By A.J. Foyt



Nashville Superspeedway has never been a great track for my race team but I always go in there thinking things will be different. This year they finally were. Both Darren Manning and I missed last year’s Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville: Darren didn’t race in the IndyCar Series last year and I was still recovering from knee replacement surgery.


This year the weekend started out terrible on the concrete 1.33 mile banked oval. We never found a good combination on the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda that suited Darren in practice. It was feeling like the same old Nashville to me—frustrating. We were at the bottom of the grid in both practices. So, after throwing everything at that car but the kitchen sink, we decided to do that for qualifying.


It worked. We qualified 18th – okay, last -- but Darren said the car felt good for the first time that day. He just didn’t push it hard because it was a totally different set-up and he didn’t want to crash in qualifying.


I respect that. And my crew appreciates that.


The next day we sat around for most of the afternoon because there isn’t a final practice on the ovals anymore and it was a night race. I was busy explaining to David Luck, the president of ABC Supply, why we were so far back. He had been with Firestone for 27 years before he went to ABC so he understands racing which was and is helpful.


That night, we lined up on the grid in 17th because another car didn’t pass inspection. About ten minutes we were to fire up the engines, it began raining. It turned into a monsoon and the cars were taken back to the garage. Then the rain stopped, the officials had the track nearly dry and we were going to go racing in about 30 minutes. Then It rained again--hard. That was it for the night. Come back tomorrow.


The race started on Sunday just after 12 noon. Nashville is a difficult track to pass cars on; it’s a one-groove track—that became obvious when Tony Kanaan crashed on lap 35 trying to lap a slower car. Everyone pitted then and that was a key stop for us. We didn’t have to make any changes to the car and the crew got us out in just under eight seconds.


We picked up five spots!


Now we were in 12th and Darren was pursuing 11th place Tomas Scheckter when a lapped car caused a
Bottleneck coming off turn four. Darren was there and he made a great move on the low side to sail past Scheckter and Vitor Meira for 10th.


Our next two stops were under green but the crew came through and Darren maintained his field position. I thought we were going to finish on the lead lap for the first time ever when he moved into ninth but he came on a lapped car going into turn one. They didn’t see him and he was forced to the apron. Leader and eventual winner Scott Dixon motored by as Darren had all he could do to keep it off the wall. The marbles (or rubber buildup) had gotten on his hot tires and the car was skating for several laps.


Then the yellow came out again. I warned Darren that Meira and Scheckter would be hot on his tail so he better have a good restart. He had a great one. He stuck the No.14’s nose under the gearbox of Dixon’s No.9 and the two of them pulled away. He finished ninth which was our third top-10 in the last four races.


It was a good race all the way around. Darren drove a really smart race, my engineer Len Paskus and I finally found a good set-up and the crew came through with fast pit stops. I told everyone on the radio that this was the best race we ran all year and I meant it.


David Luck wasn’t able to stay for the race on Sunday but he saw it on TV and called with congratulations. We’ll see many of the ABC Supply employees when we go to the Company picnic in Beloit, WI Thursday afternoon. Darren and I are relieved that we won’t have to apologize for our race. It was quite an improvement over last year when the car was parked after 36 laps due to handling.


We keep making gains this season. When we have mistakes, we do things differently so we don’t make the same mistakes and slowly we are starting to see results. Now we have to start focusing on getting top fives which we hope to do at Mid-Ohio’s road course in Lexington this weekend. Darren is really strong on the road courses so this is one of our best shots for a top-five or a win.


I have another reason to look forward to the race. Cindy Bodkin, who the crew calls The Cookie Lady because of the great cookies she makes for us, lives nearby the track. She promised to make homemade ice cream! Now anyone who knows me, knows that I love ice cream. I’m partial to Bluebell--made in Texas of course. If Cindy’s ice cream is anything like her cookies, Bluebell sales may suffer.


The Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio will be televised on ESPN Sunday starting at 1:30 pm eastern time. I hope you’ll tune in.