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Final Practice Before Qualifying

Speedway, IN (May 8, 2009) – The garages at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can be considered the castles for race teams. They are the place where teams can regroup, strategize and if necessary repair their machines in preparation for the prestigious Indianapolis 500. Most fans never get a chance to see the inner workings of an IndyCar garage at Indy, if given the chance, the next question would be, which one? One garage that many fans would rate at the top of their list is located in building A and occupies garages 1-5 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Why? Because the garages accommodate the legendary race team of ABC Supply-A.J. Foyt Racing.

A.J. Foyt, Jr. has been coming to the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1958. As a relatively unknown rookie, he wasn’t allowed in the garage area until his chief mechanic, Clint Brawner arrived with his racecar. Since that initial humbling experience, the Houston native has cumulatively spent over three and half years of his life at the Brickyard. Foyt is the most experienced driver, known as “Super-Tex”, having driven in 35 Indy 500’s, winning four and has one win as solely a car owner. A.J. Has seen many changes at the Speedway however, one thing that remains constant is the importance of the garage for race teams.

The garages at the Speedway are not as big as the ones that the teams have back at home, however, they hold almost everything a team may need for the month of May. Foyt has five garages that are set up as follows: three for the racecars themselves as they are worked on, one for setting up the car chassis and one as a lounge, debriefing room. As you walk into Gasoline Alley from the main straight at Indy, the garages are set-up on the inside of the track. The Foyt garages are the first set on the right. There is always a small group of fans milling around waiting for autographs from A.J. Himself or from his drivers, Brazilian, Vitor Meira or his grandson, A.J. IV.

The garage has a new modern look as Gladiator? GarageWorks, the popular garage organization systems, outfitted the Foyt Racing Garage this year. Two stand-up bar tables with stools dominate the center of the hospitality area along with two large screen monitors that pipe in a live video feed and timing and scoring. There is also a microwave, refrigerator and the drivers lockers with their colorful helmets placed on top. Three laptops are stationed alongside the wall that are routinely used by the team engineer Adam Schaechter, team manager Craig Baranouski and team director, Larry Foyt. It is very hospitable looking, however, it is a workplace. When the teams come in after practice the work is only beginning. This is the area that the engineers and race strategists look over data and get valuable feedback from the drivers.

Today A.J. And his grandson were looking over printouts as they discussed gearing, weather conditions and the accumulated data regarding his grandson’s last run in practice. A.J. Is old school, however, computers and telemetry rule the modern IndyCar Series.

This was A.J.Foyt IV’s second day in the No. 41 ABC Supply Dallara as he brushed the South Chute wall early in practice. “Obviously a little bit silly there on my second or third lap, I brushed the wall coming out of (Turn) one on an older set of tires, but luckily enough not too much damage – got back out there and we got the balance good. We’re still not real aggressive on our downforce situation. I wish we were a little bit faster with where we are with the rear wing, but I think it’s decent. We’ll go out tomorrow for practice. If we have the speed to contend for the top 11, we’ll give it a shot, but I think if we don’t feel it’s reasonable, we might as well wait until Sunday instead of taking a chance.”

Vitor Meira driver of the No. 14 ABC Supply car was happy with his progress, “It’s been good. We went quite far on taking downforce, drag, out of the car just because it’s a very good day to do that – there’s no wind, it’s cool. You really want to take advantage of that, the consistency. Once the wind starts and it gets gusty, there’s not as much consistency as you have today. Today is an important day. Everything has been good today. We have to go a little faster, have to find speed somewhere. We’re looking for it, and when we find it, it’s going to show on the board. The main thing is that the car is solid. We might not be the fastest car out there, but it’s very, very solid. It’s really grippy and definitely a good race car.”

The ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing Team believes it will get both cars into the “500” this weekend as qualifying starts at Saturday at Noon for the Indianapolis 500. The fastest eleven are locked in Saturday, positions 12-22 are filled on Sunday May 10. Positions 23-33 are scheduled to be fulfilled on the following Saturday and “Bump Day” is Sunday May 17 where drivers that are faster can bump the slower driver from the field. The teams that get in this week have the advantage of being able to work on race day set-ups as suppose to the teams still looking for that valuable speed.

The 2009 Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 24 with the ABC Supply A.J. Foyt 225 IndyCar race at the historic Milwaukee Mile scheduled for the following week on May 31. For ticket information on the Milwaukee Mile, go to, www.milwaukeemile.com

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