![]() When he won the 1974 Schaefer 500, it was the third straight win in a streak that included his first Indianapolis 500 and a short-track event the following week at Milwaukee. In his first nine Pocono starts, under USAC sanction or the CRL co-sanction, he never crashed out, completed 99 percent of the laps and never finished lower than seventh. He was not badly hurt and was able to race when the series resumed two weeks later. The car broke in half, and it was the hardest hit I can ever remember taking in a race car.” “That was 1982, when I had a rear tire blow out at the end of the front straightaway. “Times change and things change, but I have a lot of fond memories of Pocono, with the exception of one,” Rutherford said via telephone from his Texas home. In the last seven races, after USAC’s Champ-car series was disbanded, he crashed out five times and was running at the finish only once. Johnny Rutherford had two wildly different careers at Pocono Raceway. He did the right things, and in the long run, when you do the right things, you come out a winner. “They thought the world of him I did, too. Seems he was involved in a hassle with the series sponsor at the time and threatened not to come at all.įoyt said his parents “idolized” Doc and Rose Mattioli and when Foyt’s dad died, the Mattiolis flew to Texas for the funeral. In 1977, Foyt sent an entry blank but did not name a driver for the car. While Foyt and Mattioli may have been united against CART, it wasn’t always that way. That’s the only time that ever happened to me. I was happy to win, but embarrassed to be there the way I smelled. “I said, ‘I gotta go, I stink, I stink.’ I was so embarrassed. Foyt went to Victory Lane for the postrace celebration, but he didn’t stay long. I just peed all over myself.’ “įoyt’s uniform dried, but rain then brought a halt to the race. ![]() “Jack said, ‘Well, come on in and pit, I got a relief driver.’ I said, ‘Never mind. The race continued and a caution period brought about a perfect time to pit. “He said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘My kidneys are hurting me so bad I can’t stand it. “I was over there leading the race and I told Jack Starne, my chief mechanic, ‘Man, you gotta get a relief driver for me,’ ” Foyt said. The 1975 race was memorable to Foyt for another reason - one unique in all his years behind the wheel. If you say I can’t do it, I will be back and do it.” I guess I’ve been that way all my life, too. He was the type of guy who, if you told him he couldn’t do something, he’d prove you wrong that he could. He wasn’t the type to roll over dead because they threatened him. “Everybody would have done anything to have a decent field and, if I recall, it was a pretty nice race after all. “I took my hat off to Mattioli the way he stood up to CART,” Foyt said. Auto Club and Pocono’s Mattioli in fighting the USAC-CART war. In 19, the Pocono races were boycotted by most of open-wheel racing’s most influential owners and drivers, but Foyt did things his way and threw his helmet in the ring with the underdog U.S. He had no business winning in ’73, when Roger McCluskey had a big lead but ran out of fuel on the last lap. ![]() Every one of those races has distinguished itself in some way. The feisty Texan won Pocono races in 1973, 1975, 19. Foyt Racing and driver Takuma Sato.įoyt, Rutherford and Andretti have some fond - even if not all happy - memories of Pocono and its long-time CEO, the late Dr. He was up and walking the same day.īut he’ll be represented by his son Larry, who’s running the show for A.J. He is hospitalized in Houston, but the surgery went well. He was having problems with a painful left leg, and on Monday had hip replacement surgery. “It’s a shame, I’m going to have to miss it,” Foyt said when he talked to The Morning Call last week. Andretti and Rutherford will be at Pocono this weekend - Andretti closely watching his grandson, Marco, and giving two-seater Ind圜ar rides and Rutherford as the official Ind圜ar Series pace car driver. ![]()
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