The word “rebuilding” and A.J. Foyt Racing seem to have been conjoined over the past few years. Trying to find their way to the sharp end of the highly competitive NTT INDYCAR SERIES grid has meant a changing roster of drivers, team members and engineering talent. Last year the team ran 2021 Indy Lights champ Kyle Kirkwood, whose season start made the team optimistic for a good year, but errors and situational issues resulted in a return to Andretti Autosport for the driver and a search for a new team leader at Foyt’s squad.
Trying to find a driver who could meet the standards of the first man to win four Indianapolis 500 Mile Races isn’t easy, but team president Larry Foyt feels he’s met some of his famous father A.J. Foyt’s needs by selecting Connecticut’s Santino Ferrucci, 24, to drive the esteemed No. 14 Chevrolet-powered Dallara in 2023. Ferrucci earned Rookie of the Year honors at Indy in 2019 when he was driving full-time for Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan.
Ferrucci, who has 48 career INDYCAR starts has, to date, recorded 18 top-10 results, including four such finishes in the Indy 500 in his four starts. His last two 500 races resulted in sixth-place standings. Lacking a full-time ride since 2019 – he raced part-time for Coyne with Vasser-Sullivan in 2020 and for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing the following year, Ferrucci has been the go-to “super sub” when drivers have been unable to race. He has competed with RLLR and with Dreyer & Reinbold racing over the past couple of seasons as he stretched his driving capabilities to include NASCAR events when nothing was available in his chosen open-wheel arena.
When he raced for RLLR at Texas this past season, finishing ninth, Larry Foyt got to know Ferrucci better and the two stayed in touch. “We both feel we’ve got something to prove,” which made hiring the young – but widely experienced – driver a good choice for both Larry and A.J. Foyt. While still in his mid-20s, Ferrucci has seen and done more than some drivers ever do. His initial thrust was towards Formula One and he left the US when he was 14 in an attempt to break into that closed club.
Ferrucci holds the record as the youngest British Formula 3 Series winner – at age 16 – and he also raced in the Formula 2 series. He’s served as development driver for Haas F1, during the 2017-2018 period. Ferrucci did have some personal issues when he was in Formula 2 that likely hindered his progress to F1, but he was excited when, in 2018, Dale Coyne inquired about his services in Detroit, where he subbed for injured racer Pietro Fittipaldi.
Working with four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais at Dale Coyne Racing was a boon to Ferrucci, as the experienced racer helped him mature on the track as well as off it. When Larry Foyt came calling, Ferrucci was ready. “It’s an honor to be back and with this team. I feel very strongly about what we can achieve as a team – and it’s nice to not have a last-minute call-up,” he noted. While the No. 14 is one of his favorite car numbers, it’s not totally because of the legendary A.J. Foyt’s use of that number; Tony Stewart has been his model and, of course, Stewart believes that Foyt is his model, so this all comes back to square one.
Larry Foyt is confident the inclusion of Santino Ferrucci on his dual squads – one in Indianapolis for Indy Lights graduate Benjamin Pederson and the Waller, TX headquarters where Ferrucci’s team is based – will help bring his team back to prominence. “We’re working hard on engineering, but with two new drivers, our core pieces are in place, so we can work on parts where we’ve struggled in the past. Santino,” Foyt stated, “is known for getting everything out of the car. He goes forward on race day.”
While the Foyt team considers itself still in the rebuild stage, Larry Foyt believes that there is “no reason, on any given weekend, we can’t have a good result.” He’s got some good people that have joined the team over the past few years – some of them from Chip Ganassi Racing – but Foyt believes he still needs to strengthen his engineering squad in order to get the team moving towards the front.
Ferrucci considers himself an “old school driver”, one who enjoys wrenching on cars and prefers loose race cars. He likes to get behind the wheel of anything with four wheels and an engine. “So driving for a guy like A.J., knowing that he drove everything throughout his career, it’s going to be a chance of a lifetime for me,” Ferrucci explained. A.J. Foyt noticed when Ferrucci tried his hand at the Chili Bowl, a USAC National Midget race with more than 300 entries each January. He noticed when Ferrucci attempted some NASCAR Xfinity Series starts last year.
Ferrucci would still like to do some stock car racing – but not anytime in the near future. “It’s such a different animal,” he said. His primary focus is INDYCAR, once he realized he preferred the cars, the teams and the very diverse competition available to a full-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver, to anything in Formula One. During his time as a substitute driver, one who had little practice, no testing as he’d jump into a different car from one race to the next, Ferrucci longed for his next opportunity to be secure with a proper squad for the long term.
The contract between A.J. Foyt Racing and Santino Ferrucci is simply for the 2023 campaign of 17 races, but both Larry Foyt and his No. 14 Chevy driver are hoping they can convert that into a long-term relationship. “I belong in INDYCAR full-time right now. I’m going to try and bring consistency to this team – it’s a realistic goal – but it’s a new team for me and it’s completely reorganized. I think that, if we can make sure the pit stops are good and that we’re good in the car, we can get the kind of consistency and upward results we need.”
A.J. Foyt Racing has run three cars in the past, notably at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Indy 500, but Larry Foyt says that premise comes down to people and partnerships. “We have to have the right people to make that happen and we’re not going to do anything unless it strengthens the team. We’ve got a list of winter items we’re trying to knock out and it’s nice to have this (the driver situation) settled to go forward.” Foyt doesn’t anticipate any on-track testing until the new calendar year: “We need to make sure everything’s buttoned up before we get on-track” – and he also noted he doesn’t expect to have one big sponsor for either Ferrucci or for Pederson. There will be several partnerships throughout the year.
Being everyone’s favorite substitute driver opened both Ferrucci’s eyes and those of a variety of teams with whom he worked, and those he worked around, making Ferrucci glad to have his immediate future settled. “Driving for Larry and A.J. is quite an honor and I’m grateful for this opportunity. I’m going to work hard to show we can do this as a team.”
By Anne Proffit
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