Larry Foyt is having fun.
For the first time in many years, going to the race track has been an increasingly joyful experience for A.J. Foyt Racing’s team president, and that’s because of the decisions he’s made that have led to one of the sport’s biggest year-to-year turnarounds.
As a whole, the Foyt team has weathered hard times aplenty as ongoing sponsorship woes and an ever-changing driver lineup saw the NTT IndyCar Series’ oldest team plummet to the bottom of the Entrants’ championship. Pulling the team out of its downward spiral didn’t happen in an instant, but thanks to Foyt’s careful approach, he and his legendary father are reaping the rewards.
It started with hiring championship-winning race engineer Michael Cannon to be the team’s technical director, and then signing Santino Ferrucci to lead the team from the driver’s side.
Together at Dale Coyne Racing in 2019, Cannon and Ferrucci punched well above their weight, finishing 13th in the championship, and once Cannon left for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2020, won the title Scott Dixon, and became available late in 2022, his acquisition by Foyt along with Ferrucci’s set the team’s turnaround in motion. A new team manager in Craig Brooks was also brough onboard, and he’s well respected within the Foyt family.
By the summer of 2023, Foyt and Team Penske president Tim Cindric were talking about forming a technical alliance, one that would benefit the Foyt team through the use of Penske dampers, chassis setups, and the assignment of Penske engineering talent in need of an opportunity outside the main three-car Penske operation. Foyt would welcome James Schnabel in from Penske as Ferrucci’s race engineer, and they’ve been wickedly effective in their first season together on the No. 14 Chevy.
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To appreciate the strides Foyt, Ferrucci, and the Penske-assisted effort have made, the No. 14 produced a single top 10 finish last season; in 2024, with a full year to develop as a unit, the squad has delivered seven top 10s and its maiden pole.
“It is just a total testament of where we’ve been headed as a group,” Foyt told RACER. “The engineering department that we’ve put together has been just fantastic. Everybody has been pulling the same direction, and this is what it comes to. We didn’t really have ourselves winning the pole here, but Santino but together some great laps. The whole team is super excited and it feels great.”
The hardest times started for Foyt at Portland in 2019 when it was confirmed ABC Supply, its primary sponsor of 15 years, would be leaving that role. From 2020 onward, budgets have been precariously thin, but through the care and benevolence of Marlene Sexton of Sexton Properties, other backers who stepped up, and a number of paying drivers who’ve kept the team afloat through their infusions of money to pilot the second car, AJ Foyt Racing has survived.
Breaking free of survival mode is just part of the reason behind the joy Foyt has felt this season as the No. 14 car, and the No. 41 with Sting Ray Robb, who produced a career-best finish of ninth last weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway, have caused Foyt to smile on a regular basis.
“It’s thanks to some great people that have helped us keep this race team going like Marlene Sexton; we just couldn’t have done it without that whole family, and it means just so much,” he said. “I can’t wait to call her and talk to her, and can’t wait to call dad, because it was tough. When you’re struggling, it gets hard. It takes a lot of work when things aren’t really going right, but no one on this team gave up and now, it’s a big thanks honestly to our friends at Penske, who’ve have been fantastic. We’ve learned a lot and couldn’t have done this without them as well. We’ve just got a great group right now, and hopefully we just keep it going.”