Reams have been written about A.J. Foyt’s phenomenal racing career. Known by legions, his uncanny talent, exceptional expertise and remarkable accomplishments have been extolled by many.
There’s one characteristic this racing icon possesses, however, that’s not as well known. From the beginning of his career, Foyt had a respectful regard for the history of the sport and he displayed it with a staunch traditionalist attitude.
Some might label it just plain Texas stubbornness, but there’s no better example of this than Foyt’s reaction when the Chevy stock-block engine started making inroads into USAC sprint car circles during the early 1960s.
Most within the elite USAC ranks looked down their noses at the Chevy or any other stock-block based engine. They believed those junkyard V-8s were fine for minor-league organizations and local Saturday night features with starting fields filled with shoddy, homebuilt equipment.
USAC participants insisted only the historic thoroughbred, which had been the engine of choice for American oval-track racing’s top echelon for four decades, was good enough for their machinery. The venerable Offy.
And Foyt was one of the most vocal in the Offy’s defense.
His first encounter with a Chevy sprint car was at the March 20, 1960, USAC event in Houston, Texas. Foyt had second place locked up on Meyer Speedway’s tricky asphalt, when Jim Hurtubise, in his groundbreaking Chevy, blew past him on the last lap.
Foyt was furious. He stomped over to Hurtubise after the race and, according to LeRoy Neumayer who worked as Hurtubise’s mechanic, expressed his displeasure in no uncertain terms.
“Hurtubise, you think that damn thing is so hot,” Foyt growled. “Well take that SOB to a dirt track where it really counts, and then we’ll see what it does.”
After Foyt threw down the gauntlet, he drove his point home at the next USAC sprint car race. On the half-mile dirt track in Reading, Pa., Foyt in his Offy, beat Hurtubise and his Chevy.
He was quick to let Hurtubise know about it afterward. “Did you see that, Hurtubise? Now, that’s exactly what I’m talking about.”
But things changed. Following Reading, USAC made its way to treacherous Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway. It was Hurtubise’s first appearance at the storied one-mile circle and he finished well behind Foyt and his Offy in the first 50 lapper.
By the second race, however, he had the track figured out and the car set the way he liked. From his lucky 13th starting spot, Hurtubise raced into the lead. Only Foyt could keep up with him but burned his right-rear tire off, fading to fourth at the finish.
Things became even tougher for Foyt and his little Offy when Parnelli Jones, driving the Fike Plumbing Chevy, joined Hurtubise in the Chevy vs. Offy battle.
Still, Foyt fought on. The battles among that trio were rabid. The words hurled back and forth over bragging rights, even more so. By season’s end, Foyt secured the USAC Eastern Sprint Car Championship, while Jones wore the Midwest crown.
Despite the fact his Offy was giving up 30 cubic inches and 50 horsepower to the Chevies, Foyt refused to switch. He certainly could have. He had the resources in hand. Instead, he remained loyal to his Offy and in 1961 won six races for his efforts. Jones, however, beat him for the USAC National Sprint Car Championship.
When Hurtubise, a longtime proponent of the Chevy, built his first “Stove Bolt” sprinter in the winter of 1959, he insisted to his friend Jones, “The Chevy is a perfect engine for sprint car racing. One of these days, you’re going to see Chevies put the Offies out of business.”
By 1962, even Foyt could no longer hold back the flood of innovative technology. Continued development and tuning made the Chevies too strong for even his considerable talent to overcome.
Foyt joined the V-8 proponents by turning to the best stock-block engine builders of the day. He commissioned former Bill Vukovich master mechanics, Jim Travers and Frank Coon to build one of their Traco Chevies for him.
Still, he wouldn’t completely forget his Offy. As late as 1963, he won three USAC sprint mains with it and sparingly campaigned it into 1964.
It was inevitable, though. The Offy’s time as the power plant to beat on the USAC sprint car circuit had passed. Any who’d ever heard an Offy at full song regretted the end of that era.
None more than A.J. Foyt.
This story appeared in the Jan 3, 2024 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
