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A.J. Foyt receives trophy for co-driving the winning entry in the 1983 endurance race at Daytona.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- This was one instance in which A.J. Foyt didn’t argue too much with his physician.

Foyt – the only driver to have won the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans -- picked up an infection following knee surgery two weeks ago in Houston and was hospitalized Jan. 25. That precluded him from traveling to be the grand marshal of the 50th anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona. He’s expected to be released next week.

Sir Jackie Stewart filled in for Foyt, giving the command to start engines.

Foyt competed in the inaugural event in 1962 – the year after he won the first of his four Indianapolis 500 Mile Races and earned his second national Indy car title – and won the endurance race in 1983 and ‘85.

"I was really looking forward to it because I thought it was a great honor to be asked to be the grand marshal of the 50th anniversary of that race and considered it to be one of the great highlights of my career,” said Foyt, who also had a pair of runner-up finishes. "I was also looking forward to seeing some of my old friends and the race cars that I drove in that race.”

Foyt, who turned 77 on Jan. 16, drove a Pontiac Tempest in the 1962 Daytona Continental race (then 3 hours) and led the first lap. Dan Gurney, who teamed with Foyt to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967) won the race in a Lotus 19B.

Among other luminaries competing were Formula One champion Phil Hill and co-driver Ricardo Rodriguez in a Ferrari Dino 246 SP, Jim Hall in a Chaparral 1, Stirling Moss in a Ferrari 250 GT, Roger Penske in a Cooper-Climax, Jim Clark driving a Lotus Elite, David Hobbs, and Rodger Ward.

The first 24-hour event was held in 1966 (won by Lloyd Ruby and Ken Miles).

Foyt competed in the 1983 race at the behest of his father, Anthony, who was stricken with cancer. “He told me to go out and have some fun,” Foyt said.

Foyt and Darrell Waltrip were teamed up in an Aston Martin-Nimrod, but that effort was derailed early in the race with an engine failure. Seeing an opportunity to promote his Swap Shop store in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., longtime sports car entrant Preston Henn intervened to put Foyt in a Porsche 935L GTX.

The car had earned the pole position with Bob Wollek of France behind the wheel. French veteran Claude Ballot-Lena and Henn were the other co-drivers. Wollek also won the 24-hour race in 1989 and ’91.

"I wanted to win that race for my daddy," said Foyt, whose father lost his battle with cancer a few months after the race. "If I'd never won another race, that was probably the greatest victory I've ever had in my life because when I did come back we brought the trophy back to him."

Foyt and Wollek would go on to share more success in sports cars, winning an endurance sports car double in 1985 -- first at Daytona and then at the Sebring 12 Hours in Henn's Porsche 962 GTP.

"I think he was probably one of the greatest sports car drivers and endurance racers you could ever be with," Foyt said. "A lot of that ('83) win went with him. He drove very hard all day and all night. Just like the Le Mans 24-hour race with Dan Gurney, I couldn't have had a better partner than Dan Gurney because Dan was a great racer, too.

"I've had a lot of great memories in my lifetime, and I'm just glad to still be (able) to watch other people go racing."