Time for the crossed Flag symbol, as we’ve reached
the Halfway point of this arduous story Ladies and Germs…
Otay, we’ve finally gotten to the Yank’ driver
Y’all were expecting to be on this informal list of Triple Crown Sports Car
winners. With another forgotten Great behind Him…
A.J. Foyt
Birthplace: Houston, Texas
DOB: January 16, 1935, Age: 88
Wins: Le Mans, 1967; Daytona, (2) 1983, 1985 and
Sebring 1985
Arguably known as thee “GOAT”, nee Greatest Of
All time racing driver, Anthony Joesph Foyt Jr’s feat of accomplishments in motor
racing are simply too long to attempt typing! Not to mention Y’all cannot adequately
put into words everything ‘Ol SuperTex’ has done!
We All know that Foyt became the first driver
to win the Indianapolis 500 four times between 1961-1977, for which only three
other drivers had joined A.J. in this rarefied club of Four-times winners,
i.e.; foyt, Al Unser, Rick Mears and Groan, Helio Castroneves.
Foyt is the only driver to have won the Indianapolis
500, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Daytona 500 and 24 Hours of Daytona. His tally of 67 career
IndyCar wins, seven Championships and 35 consecutive Indy 500 starts are all
records that continue to endure.
Along with being the only driver on this list to
have won races in front and rear engine Open Wheel Racing cars. Not to mention
winning the Indy 500 both as a driver and team owner…
A.J. began His racing career competing in USAC
Midgets at age 18, making His debut in 1953 before progressing to Sprint Cars
three years later. Foyt made His Indianapolis 500 debut in 1958 after His impressive
1957 USAC Sprint Car win at Salem, Indiana firmly put Him on the radar of USAC
team owners. Foyt won His first Indy 500 in 1961 and as they say, the rest was
History!
A.J. holds the record for ten wins in the 14
race 1964 USAC National Championship Trail season, along with a record 159 USAC
victories. But Hey! I said I wasn’t gonna try typing up All of His
accomplishments! As it’s funny to think that Sports Car racing was just an “Afterthought”
for Foyt. Whilst reportedly the brash Texan angered the French by telling them
that the Mulsanne Straight was nothing more than a ‘lil ‘Ol country Road…
As Foyt won His one and only outing at Circuit
de la Sarthe in the All conquering Shelby Ford GT40 Mk IV in 1967 with Dan
Gurney. And then won twice at Daytona and Sebring in the early 1980’s behind
the keyboard of those Porsche 962 Panzerwagons.
Tend to recall that the late Bob Wollek, a four
times Rolex 24 winner initially didn’t want to drive with Foyt, or didn’t think
He was that great of a driver. But Monsieur Wollek begrudgingly came to respect
Foyt’s driving prowess after the pair had won at Daytona and Sebring.
Yet for everything Y’all can say about ‘Ol
SuperTex’, my favourite three memories are of Him blaming that Damn Coogan!
Along with Foyt Hammerin’ the Shit outta an offending IndyCar’s recalcitrant Pop
Off valve with a Craftsman rachet! And pummeling the Crap outta an Engineer’s
laptop after one of His cars had run out of fuel!
Whilst obviously I’m dating myself by telling Y’all
I got to see Foyt running around at the rear of the field in His iconic black Copenhagen
IndyCar multiple times at Portland International Raceway. Along with His arch
nemesis Mario Andretti…
Al Holbert
Birthplace: Abington Township,
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
DOB: November 11, 1946
Died: September 30,1988, Age: 41
Wins: Sebring, (2) 1976, 1981; Le
Mans, (3) 1983, 1986-87 and Daytona, (2) 1986-87
Hard to believe that it’s Gory 35 years ago now
that Al Holbert perished aboard His Piper PA-60 shortly after takeoff from
nearby Columbus, Ohio after attending an IMSA Sports car race.
As a few memories instantly jump out at me
regarding Holbert. Most notably those iconic Lowenbrau Porsche 962’s, which I
still think were one of the best looking racecars!
Along with my supervisor wanting the full page
spread 11 X 34 inches? Green and white Quaker State Porsche IndyCar center-page
spread poster I used to hang upon my workspace’s overhead metal book shelve…
Not to mention I know I’ve previously scribbled
hear upon No Fenders somewheres’ about His DeKon Monza IMSA GT racecars that
Holbert won two of His five IMSA GT Championships with. Ah, here it is…
http://www.nofenders.net/2015/09/retro-forgotten-gt-champion.html
As I was unaware that Holbert had majored in
Mechanical Engineering at Lehigh University, which I suppose is part of why His
racing cars and team were so competitive. Not to mention having briefly worked for
El Capitano’, nee Roger Penske, whose “Attention to Detail” also rubbed off
upon the ultra competitive Sports Car racer.
Al’s father bob Holbert was also a noted Sports
Car racer, along with having opened a Porsche Dealership in Warrington, PA, one
of the first in the U.S. Hence Al’s natural gravitation towards Porsches.
As Holbert’s winning co-drivers reads like a
veritable Who’s who of motor racing. Having won alongside Hurley Haywood, ‘lil
al’, aka Al Unser Jr, Derek Bell, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Vern Schuppan and Chip
Robinson. Whilst I’ve already regaled Y’all about winning at Sebring in 1981
for Hometown Bayside Racing with it’s proprietor Bruce Leven and Messer Haywood…
Yet for Mwah, Holbert’s legacy stands out for
having brought Porsche into Indy Cars, albeit briefly. Since obviously you
could say on the surface, the IndyCar “project”
quietly fizzled after Holbert’s untimely death.
As Al wouldn’t get to witness Teo Fabi scoring
Porsche’s first Pole position ironically at my Home track of Portland International
Raceway during the 1989 Budweiser/G.I. Joes 200. Or Fabi subsequently scoring
Porsche’s lone IndyCar victory also from Pole at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
later that summer.
Porsche then expanded to a two car entry during
it’s final IndyCar season (1990) with Fabi being joined by “Gentleman John”
Andretti, before pulling the plug upon the programme.
Since it’s funny that my Boss whom I called
thee Amazing Huzar! Was so infatuated with that Road & Track pull-out, or
dare I say Pin Up? Since it was of the actual 1987 Porsche produced 2708 IndyCar
chassis that was quickly shelved in favour of customer March IndyCar chassis
instead.
And I didn’t know that Holbert had finished fourth in the 1984 Indianapolis 500, where runner-up Roberto Guerrero and fifth place finisher Michael Andretti were named co-winners for Rookie Of the Year…