Mid-Ohio
By A.J. Foyt

Returning to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the first time in 12 years, the track seemed the same but there was a lot more asphalt in the paddock area and more classes of cars. The atmosphere seemed the same—the fans are very enthusiastic about racing. From what I could tell, there were a lot more people there this year than I remember.

The track is a twisty road course that has one or two passing zones. I’ve raced on it but the best finish we had was with Robby Gordon when he finished second in 1993. One time I tried to run it on slicks in the rain. I thought I could make it around one more lap but it came in a downpour on the backstretch and I had all I could do to make it back to the pits. I think I was going about 20 mph. Big mistake.

Darren Manning drove at Mid-Ohio in 2003 so he was familiar with the track. Plus we tested there with the No.14 ABC Supply car in June so we got a baseline set-up.

We were in the top 10 in practice on Friday but we had a fluke thing happen in Saturday morning’s practice: the shifter cable broke on the first lap. There was no more practice before qualifying. He was pretty comfortable with the car but we hadn’t run it in qualifying trim. I think if we had, Darren could have made it into the top six. As it was, he still did a good job to qualify eighth.

It turned out to be a pretty good starting spot.

Because of the track’s configuration, the race was started on the long Backstraight before turn three. Darren passed Sam Hornish for seventh when the Andretti-Green cars up front made contact. Danica Patrick went off course and Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti tangled resulting in Marco flipping over. He wasn’t hurt. Darren made some great moves to slip by it all; at the end of the first lap he was in third place.

He stayed there fighting with Scott Dixon for second a couple times until the first pit stop which went smoothly but just was not fast enough. He lost two positions on the track. Actually, he was sixth--we lost three because Tony Kanaan was out of sequence on pit stops. We were back to fifth when Kanaan pitted a couple laps later.

Darren was running fifth when Hornish spun which brought out the yellow and a bunch of pit stops, including us. We didn’t lose any spots in the pits but on the restart, Darren let the leaders get the jump on him--that almost never happens to him. He was adjusting the fuel mixture and the leaders were flat out before the restart cone. He tried to make it up but clipped a curb which allowed Patrick to get by him. He lost some track position trying to get by Scott Sharp (who hadn’t pitted) but he finally did pass him on the track.

He moved up to fifth as different fuel strategies played out but when he had to duck into the pits for a splash of fuel at the end, he finished sixth. It was his best finish on a road course this year—the other finishes being 12th at St. Pete and 9th at Watkins Glen. Judging by that pattern we should be third at Infineon and win at Detroit!

Dixon won the race for his third straight win this season. Kenny Brack was the first driver to turn the hat trick when he drove for me in 1998. He ended up winning the championship that year. Since then only Dan Wheldon did it -- in 2005 and he won the title that year.

Overall, I was happy with the weekend. We are catching them every race and it’s just a matter of working together. With each race we learn a little more so I believe by the end of the year we should be right there.

We have this coming weekend off which I’m sure my ABC Supply crew will appreciate. They are all coming home to Texas for a few days before heading back out for the Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan. That race will be televised live Sunday, August 5th at 12 noon on ESPN2.