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SPORTS Friday 25 May 2018
Indestructible Foyt back at Indy after another health scare

By MICHAEL MAROT second round with the bees
Associated Press this time on a ranch in Del
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A.J. Rio, Texas. Foyt estimates
Foyt still cuts an imposing he suffered nearly twice as
figure around Indianapolis many stings, 200 to 300, in
Motor Speedway. the second attack, and the
Everyone knows of him, Texan acknowledged he
everyone knows his record was swollen, sore and hurt-
and it seems everyone ing as he tried to slap the
here has actually met one bees out of his hair.
of the greatest drivers ever. But the seemingly inde-
He has seen and done vir- structible Foyt is still going.
tually everything around "I never itched so bad in
this 2.5-mile oval, even get- my life. I thought they were
ting retirement advice from honey bees at first," he said.
inaugural Indianapolis 500 "I may have been there (at
winner Ray Harroun three the hospital) for seven or
decades before he actu- eight hours. They had my
ally put it to use. head packed in ice in a
And yet, most of it wouldn't hospital bed and I started
have happened without to throw up. I got pretty
Foyt's ability to survive a sick. But after a couple of
series of harrowing, life- hours, I said 'Let's get out
threatening predicaments of here.' I went home and
that read like a plot from a took steroids for a couple
bad horror movie, includ- weeks and then got myself
ing his second round with off them. I hated to miss Se-
Africanized killer bees in bring but I was just so sick I
March. couldn't go there."
"I'm just glad the foreman Everybody understood.
had a car down there The harder part, though,
where I was working or I is contemplating a future
probably wouldn't be talk- May without the iconic first
ing to you today," Foyt said four-time winner around
recently during an inter- the speedway.
view in his motorhome. "I can't imagine IMS without
It's not the first time Foyt or A.J. Foyt at all. My whole
his fans got lucky. life, when I think racing, I
He's been coming to India- think A.J. Foyt. He was my
napolis every May since hero growing up," track
1958, and every year, president Doug Boles said.
crowds gather around the "He may say he won't show
first garage stall in Gasoline up (in poor condition) but
Alley waiting to have an we'll make sure we get him
old photograph signed by here."
their racing hero or merely The team has already start-
catch a glimpse of the rac- ed making future plans,
ing star. too.
Nobody really knows how In this May 19, 2018, file photo, Tony Kanaan, right, of Brazil, talks with car owner AJ Foyt after Foyt handed his adopted
many more trips Foyt has Kanaan qualified for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in India- son, Larry, the title of team
because at age 83, even napolis. president, giving him more
he knows time is running Associated Press of the daily responsibilities.
short. And the coma scare from
"I'm not real secure on my ney as the only American catch pit, down a hill and infections. 2014 prompted Larry Foyt
feet like I used to be," he team to win the 24 Hours of into the dirt. He needed Foyt also has undergone to start considering how
said. "If I have to go in a Le Mans. surgery to save his left leg heart surgery twice, had to keep A.J. Foyt Racing in
wheelchair or use crutches On the track, there was a and still walks with a limp three knee replacements business and competitive
or a cane, I'm not going to litany of crashes. because of the damage. and spent eight days in for years to come.
let people see me like that. The worst might have been "I guess they don't want me an induced coma in No- But those who work with
I've got too much pride in 1965 at Riverside, Califor- is what it looks like," Foyt vember 2014 because of a him don't see Foyt slowing
for people to see me too nia, when his brakes failed joked. complication from a triple- down anytime soon.
messed up." and Parnelli Jones pulled Anyone who thought Foyt heart bypass surgery. At "He's crazy. He keeps scar-
The truth is Foyt has been Foyt out of his overturned might be safer off the track, one point, the outlook was ing the hell out of us. But,
living on borrowed time for car — after a track doctor though, doesn't know A.J. so bleak, Foyt's wife, Lucy, I guess when you're 83
a while now. had already pronounced He survived the first attack told the doctors she would and you're A.J. Foyt he
His list of survival tales is al- him dead. from those killer bees on his respect her husband's wish- can do whatever the hell
most as impressive as his list Then there was 1990 at Houston ranch in 2005 and es to not use extraordinary he wants," 2013 Indy win-
of racing achievements — Road America when Foyt's nearly drowned after put- measures to keep him alive. ner Tony Kanaan said. "I'll
four Indianapolis 500 wins, brake pedal broke while ting a bulldozer in a pond When he woke up, he told still drag his butt up here,
the only driver to win Indy he attempted to make a in 2007. the doctors he was at In- trust me. I don't want to
and the Daytona 500 and pass in the first and he was Twice in the past seven dianapolis. think about it (Indy without
teaming up with Dan Gur- launched over the gravel years, he has beaten staph Then, in March, came a Foyt)."q