A.J. Foyt Racing is making the kinds of moves that can strengthen the team and make it a major player in this month’s 105th Indianapolis 500. First, the hiring of four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais, coupled with the arrival of young Canadian racer Dalton Kellett, the addition of Charlie Kimball for the month of May and, finally, JR Hildebrand in a fourth Dallara-Chevrolet gives the Waller, Texas-based squad a viable chance for victory this year.
Foyt has invited his “brother from another mother” Tony Stewart to join him in celebrating the 60th anniversary of his first Indianapolis 500 victory in 1961, an easy haul for the Indiana native who lives just down the highway in Columbus. The retired three-time NASCAR champion, who chose Foyt’s No. 14 for his own race car when he started Stewart Haas Racing with industrialist Gene Haas, has long been a friend of Foyt’s – as well as a member of the Texan’s massive admiration society – and having the two together on the timing stand at the 105th Indy 500 will help propel those four drivers to success.
Add to that a regeneration of the engineering staff, culled from a variety of teams, and you have a hungry group of drivers, engineers, strategists and mechanics who long to give team leader A.J. Foyt Jr. and son Larry Foyt the success they’ve been striving for these past few years. It hasn’t been easy to be a fan of the Foyt family’s team; even this year they’ve had profoundly poor luck as they’ve worked to gain top-10 and podium results.
The addition of Hildebrand, despite the fact that he’s been an Indy-only driver since 2018, could help turn the corner. After all, the California native does have something to prove after nearly winning the Greatest Spectacle in Racing his first time competing in the 200-lap enduro. In 2011, rookie Hildebrand competed with Panther Racing and had the lead coming out of the third turn on the penultimate lap. He was heading for home when he misstepped, slapped the fourth turn wall and allowed the late Dan Wheldon to take those coveted checkered flags. Hildebrand finished second and was named Rookie of the Year.
No doubt JR has relived those seconds a million times in his head, wondering what he could have done to change the course of history. There’s nothing he could have done in hindsight; inevitably the history of the Brickyard track reads that he finished second.
It was a no-brainer for Larry Foyt to take Hildebrand as a fourth driver on the team he’s managing for his father. “At the end of the day he can win the thing,” Foyt said about his newest hire. While it’s always challenging to go from two full-season drivers in Bourdais and Kellett, getting Kimball’s third-car deal together early meant the possibility of a fourth car. When Hildebrand became available, “It made all the sense in the world to take a guy that you know is going to give you some great information; he’s going to help the whole group,” Larry Foyt said.
Hildebrand’s car is the No. 1, which would rationally belong to six-time and reigning champion Scott Dixon, who prefers to use the No. 9 on his Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda. The No. 1 throw-back livery is reminiscent of Foyt’s first victory in the Indy 500; it carries branding from long-time Foyt Racing supporter ABC Supply. “It’s exciting just to be here in a fresh environment, really excited to join the crew,” Hildebrand said. “Take away all the throwback stuff – what makes the entry interesting is looking forward to being with A.J. Foyt Racing.”
This May marks 10 years since JR Hildebrand’s first Indy 500 adventure, one he considers “just kind of a part of my history. Every year I feel like I come out of Indy with something else, something new in my toolbox, something else that I’ve learned, a new situation that I’ll be more prepared for the next time around. All of that just gives me confidence that when the car is right, we kind of get things together, that I’ll be able to capitalize for sure.” 2011 might be a bittersweet memory for Hildebrand, but he knows that’s simply part of the sport. “Stuff happens. I think at the end of the day, for me, it’s a positive thing for me to be able to look back and know that I’m ready for any kind of situation like that, that happens again.”
And Hildebrand, Bourdais and Kellett can enjoy the knowledge that both team leader A.J. Foyt Jr. and his good friend and fellow INDYCAR champion Tony Stewart will them to success. It’s one thing to have all the pieces in place and race personnel prepared to help the effort move forward. But it’s the intangibles like having both Foyt and Stewart in the house at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that could work in the team’s favor.
The NTT IndyCar Series begins its stay at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend with the GMR Grand Prix, the fifth race of the season. The 85-lap contest takes place on Saturday, May 15th on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course and is televised by NBC.
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