ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Through six degrees of separation, A.J. Foyt had a hand in the 2014 Rolex 24 At Daytona victory, and Eddie Cheever Jr. wanted to reward the 1983 and ’85 winner of the endurance race.
Cheever, the 1998 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race winner, presented Foyt a replica winner’s trophy.
The back story: The Coyote was a brand of chassis designed and built for use by Foyt’s race team in the USAC Championship, and he won 25 times in 141 starts, including the 1967 and ’77 Indianapolis 500. In 2007, Cheever purchased the intellectual property rights to the Fabcar chassis and, with Foyt’s permission, began using the Coyote name for the Daytona Prototype chassis in honor of the four-time Indy 500 winner.
The race-winning No. 5 Action Express Racing DP co-driven by Sebastien Bourdais, Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi utilized the Coyote Cars chassis for the first victory by a non-Riley chassis since ’04 when Fittipaldi was part of the winning GM-engineered Doran entry.
“When I asked A.J. to use the name, he said, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea. Just don’t screw it up,’ ” said Cheever, an ABC Verizon IndyCar Series analyst who drove for A.J. Foyt Racing in the 1994-95 Indy car seasons. “This is proof we haven’t screwed it up and I’m very proud of the fact that Coyote is still in racing and of the teams that I raced for (Foyt’s) was the one that my father was most proud of.
“Winning the Daytona 24 hours was a great achievement for us. All I did today was close the circle by giving him the winner’s trophy.”
The informal presentation was a surprise to Foyt, whose driver, Takuma Sato, earned the Verizon P1 Award for the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in the No. 14 ABC Supply car.
“He’s done a great job with it. Eddie and I have been friends a long time so I’m happy that he and Coyote had this accomplishment.”
Hinchcliffe adds his name to Victory Circle group
James Hinchcliffe, the 2013 race winner, added his commemorative plaque to the Dan Wheldon and Victory Circle monument near Dan Wheldon Way (photo below).
“It’s huge. It was an emotional win last year for a lot of reasons and to have my name formally up there now to Dan’s is pretty special,” said Hinchcliffe, who posted his first Verizon IndyCar Series victory at St. Petersburg and added two more during the season. “You can see the sign for Dan Wheldon Way from here and this space is next to the one dedicated to Dan so it’s pretty cool.”
Hinchcliffe's name is the eighth on the monument (Helio Castroneves is the only multiple winner). The monument, located near the Dali Museum, is open to the public.
Ed Carpenter Racing announces primary sponsor for No. 21 car
Ed Carpenter, the lone team owner/driver in the Verizon IndyCar Series, announced that Preferred Freezer Services will be the primary sponsor of the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing car to be driven by JR Hildebrand in the 98th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 25.
“In our third season, we’ve been trying to grow and add quality cars,” said Carpenter, the 2013 Indianapolis 500 pole winner. “Having a second car with JR will make us that much stronger at Indianapolis. Hopefully this is something we can build on.”
Preferred Freezer Services, a temperature controlled refrigerated warehouse storage and logistics company, was an associate sponsor for the team’s Indianapolis 500 program last year. Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka car is the primary sponsor of the No. 20 Chevrolet-powered car to be driven by Carpenter in oval races and by Mike Conway on the road and street circuits.
“It’s an opportunity we’re all excited about and proud to have existing partners step up and help us grow,” Carpenter said.
Opening Day for practice on the 2.5-mile oval is May 11.
Of note
On March 29, INDYCAR penalized the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing entry of Carlos Huertas ($1,000 fine) for not having constant radio communication between the diver and entrant’s pit and the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Racing entry of Simon Pagenaud ($1,000 fine) because it took a lap after the checkered flag of practice. ... St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman was the grand marshal.
