Legend on Legend: Richard Petty and A.J. Foyt
FEB 18, 2015
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – A.J. Foyt and Richard Petty represented greatness in their respective racing series and both were intertwined in the same era when racing became of sport of great appeal.
Consider that Foyt competed in his first Indianapolis 500 in 1958, won the “World’s Greatest Race” a record four times and drove in his final Indy 500 in 1992. Petty drove in his first Daytona 500 in 1959, won NASCAR’s biggest race a record seven times and drove in his final Daytona 500 in 1992. Both would retire with the record for most career wins for their respective form of racing – 67 wins for Foyt in IndyCar and 200 for Petty in NASCAR.
Petty never drove an IndyCar but in the late 1960s Foyt tried to get him in one of his cars.
“I told A.J. I can’t fit in that little ole’ car,” Petty recalled. “Foyt came back with a pair of shoes and said, ‘You have to put on those shoes.’ They were size 7. He said anything bigger than that wouldn’t fit in the cockpit to get your feet on the pedals.
“I had size 11-1/2 feet so that eliminated me.”
Foyt was a frequent competitor in NASCAR winning seven races in the Cup Series including the 1972 Daytona 500 driving a Mercury Comet for the famed Wood Brothers.
The NASCAR competitors accepted Foyt because he was one of them.
“The big deal with Foyt is he came up working on his own cars,” Petty said. “He understood cars and understood the whole deal. When he was at Indy he had a different persona running IndyCars. He was the ‘Big Bear’ in the room. But when he came to NASCAR he couldn’t have been nicer to everybody. He was just another competitor. He came in and didn’t try to use any of his Indy reputation to come in. He was really accepted by our crowd. Nobody put him on a pedestal when he came here – he was just another driver.
“I really think Foyt liked that part.”
Petty recalls Foyt as a much more relaxed driver when he competed in NASCAR because he was driving for another team owner. In IndyCar, Foyt was heavily involved with his own race car and was engrossed in making it a winner.
“When he was at Indy he was one person but when he was at Daytona he was a completely different person,” Petty said. “He ran with us for a long time and would run several races a year. When he ran for the Wood Brothers he always came with good equipment. He didn’t come just to be in the race; he came to try to win it.
“A.J. was a clean racer. When he ran the Cup stuff you didn’t have to worry about running beside him or the inside of you or behind you. He respected the Cup people no matter who he was running with. He didn’t bull his way in and say ‘I’m A.J. Foyt – get out of the way.’”
If Foyt had a great season in IndyCar Petty would have a great season in NASCAR.
“When you go back with A.J. and even Arnold Palmer –we all started out about the same time,” Petty said. “When they had a good year I had a good year and when they had a bad year I had a bad year. It just kind of happened. In 1977 I was running the World 600 at Charlotte and Dale Inman (Petty’s crew chief) came over the radio and said, ‘We’re going to win this race.’ I asked, ‘Why.’ He said, ‘A.J. just won at Indy.’”
Sure enough, Petty drove to victory that day in NASCAR’s longest race to score his second win in the World 600.
In the 1972 Daytona 500 Foyt and Petty were the class of the field. Foyt started on the outside of the front row in a 1971 Mercury in a race that had just three cautions for 17 laps. It also had just three leaders in the race – Foyt, Petty and Bobby Allison with 13 lead changes among those three.
After Petty dropped out of the race when his 1972 Plymouth dropped a valve Foyt ran away from the field. He led 167 of the 200 laps and defeated Charlie Glotzbach by nearly two laps in one of the most dominating wins in Daytona 500 history.
“He was ‘King of the Hill’ that day for sure,” Petty said. “I don’t know how competitive I was for him at that time. The one time I remember racing against him was in 1979 because after Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough wrecked each other on the last lap I was racing Darrell Waltrip and A.J. Foyt for third place. After them boys got into it on the backstretch, suddenly it was the three of us racing for the win.
“I felt secure racing with A.J. than I did Darrell Waltrip.”
Petty went on to win his sixth Daytona 500 on the last lap that is one of the most important in NASCAR history. He would win his sixth Daytona 500 in 1981 – the same year Foyt won his last IndyCar race in the Pocono 500.
Foyt turned 80 on January 16 and Petty is set to hit that milestone on July 2, 2017. Both legends still own race teams with Foyt in IndyCar and Petty in NASCAR featuring three-time IndyCar Series champion and 2006 Indianapolis 500 Sam Hornish Jr. and Aric Almirola as his drivers.
“Age is a number,” Petty said. “Foyt and I both grew up around race cars and that has been our dedication our whole life. That is what has kept us going.
“I know A.J. had a bypass operation on his heart but as long as it’s still pumping blood he’s going to be OK.”