Japan
By A.J. Foyt


We came away from Japan this year having run our best race ever at Twin Ring Motegi since we began running there in 2003.


Ever since we’ve been going, rain has been a factor but never as much as it was this year. On Friday, rain washed out practice and qualifying so the field was lined up according to the team owner’s standings in the points. Darren Manning started 12th (we were actually 18th in points, but six cars ahead of him were from the former Champ Car ranks who were running at Long Beach, Calif. the same weekend).


Fortunately, in the one day of practice we did get, Darren was pretty happy with the ABC Supply car. We made a couple more changes before the race and then we sat around and waited. And waited.


The Indy Japan 300 was supposed to run on Saturday but the track had these weeper holes which were constantly leaking water onto the track. They worked on the track until 3 pm which was the latest they could start the race because the track doesn’t have lights. They called it and then it really started to rain.


The officials postponed the race to the next day. I couldn’t stay for the rain date because I had business back in Houston so I left my son Larry Foyt in charge. I think he did a great job with the team. He and Mike Colliver, the chief engineer, handled the race strategy. They played it a little conservative, probably because I wasn’t there and they didn’t want to have to listen to me if they screwed up.


Darren ran in the top ten the entire race which was his best oval track showing in the No. 14 car since he began running it last year. For most of the race, he was running in the top six despite not having much luck with the timing of the yellow flags.


The first caution came out while we were coming into the pit so they waved him through. He came back in when the pits were opened. He came out last but he was still on the lead lap and he had gained several spots because some guys had pitted before the yellow.


Our next two pit stops were good but the yellow came out the lap after we pitted on lap 140, so we lost a lap. To gain it back, we had to stay out (and couldn’t top off our fuel like Danica Patrick and Helio Castroneves did) for the wave-around since we were ahead of the lead car. When the race restarted, we were ninth.


If I’d I been there, I think my guys might have stretched the fuel that stint (and we wouldn’t have been caught by that yellow). But I know the last thing they wanted was to run Darren out of fuel and out of a top-ten finish. I might have gambled but they knew how bad I’d have been on them if they had gambled and lost , so I can’t blame them for their decisions. They did a good job.


Darren passed Hunter-Reay on the restart but Reay got back by. Darren ran good and when he had to dash into the pits for fuel, he was running sixth. Patrick passed him (and everyone else) because she didn’t have to pit for fuel. When it all shook out Darren ended up eighth.


Castroneves was on the same fuel strategy as Patrick but he didn’t stick to the numbers as good as she did because when it came time to go, she drove right past him. Her crew made a great call and she did what she needed to win. They worked together and that’s what it takes to win races. It may not have been how she thought she would win her first race, but a win is a win and it feels good. I take my hat off to her.


It might sound strange coming from me, but we’re glad to come out of Japan with a top-ten finish. It gives our team some momentum going into Kansas this week which is an important race because it comes just before our most important race, the Indy 500.


This weekend if we want to gamble, we’ll let ‘em roll.