Detroit
By A.J. Foyt


The race weekend at Detroit went like a roller coaster ride—up and down.


It didn’t start out well for me because I got lost trying to find the way to the track using a GPS unit that was given to me last Christmas. A trip that should have taken 20-25 minutes took an hour and I was ready to toss that GPS unit out the car window.


My son Larry was able to save the day (and that mini-computer) as he programmed in Belle Isle Park. I think I may have to stick to the old-fashioned map. It worked a lot better for me last year.


Things took a turn for the better on Friday when Darren Manning and the ABC Supply car took to the track. We were ninth in the first practice and eighth in the second practice and eighth overall for the day.
On Saturday, we slipped to 18th in the morning practice so we made some changes to the car before qualifying. Expecting to get in the top 12 at the least, and possibly the Firestone Fast Six, Darren was really disappointed with his 15th place qualification run. I wasn’t too happy either.


We made more changes for the morning warm-up which he didn’t much like, saying the car’s rear was too loose. So we went back to Friday’s set-up for the race.


In the race, we planned to make it on just two stops, which we did by having Darren conserve fuel right from the start. He climbed into the top-10 after 20 laps which he held until pitting on lap 32. Then the air jack failed. The crew reacted quickly and still got him out in under 16 seconds.


The race went yellow the next lap and on the restart, Darren moved into 11th position. Then he gets punted by Bruno Junquiera but maintains control. An IRL Official came over to tell us that Darren has to let Junquiera by because he said Darren blocked him. I was furious. I didn’t see the blocking move and if it was on TV, it was very subtle, but I sure saw the punt. Under orders, Darren let him by the next lap.


Later in the race, Helio Castroneves blocked Justin Wilson—and he wasn’t so subtle. The IRL officials made him give up the lead to Wilson. If they hadn’t gone through with it, they would have heard from me. I wasn’t too happy but after seeing them penalize the leader, I felt better. At least they were consistent.


Our second pit stop went better than the first but it wasn’t lightening quick so the guys will be practicing harder than usual this week.


As the fuel strategies worked out, Darren made it into 12th position which is where he finished. He dropped to 15th in the points because Justin Wilson leapfrogged from 16th to 11th with his victory.


Congratulations to Wilson, my old friend Carl Haas and his team for their victory. Carl’s team has been through a lot this season and their victory was well deserved. In a touching gesture, they dedicated their win to their most famous team owner Paul Newman who’s seriously ill. I hope he was able to see it on TV.


We head to Chicagoland Speedway this weekend where we’ll be running a second ABC Supply car in the race. We’re trying out rookie Franck Perera because we think he could be a great addition to our team. He drove in a couple of IndyCar races at the beginning of the year before his team lost their sponsor but he’d done a good job.


We’d like to field a second car next year and if we find the sponsorship we need, we will. This young driver looks very talented and hopefully it will all come together. We’re not judging him solely on Chicagoland—it’ll be only his second IndyCar race on an oval--but it is an opportunity to test him under race conditions. The extra exposure for ABC Supply at a track that isn’t far from their Beloit, Wisconsin headquarters also played into my decision.


Please tune in to ABC-TV this Sunday at 3:30 pm ET. It should be a great show!