A.J. Foyt: My intention was to win ABC Sports Online

A.J. Foyt
At first, it was the big thing. A lot of people, a lot of my fans, would come back and tell me, "We'll watch you on TV this weekend." That's one of the big things I had really seen with Wide World of Sports, because it's really the talk of the town here.

	A.J. Foyt, from Houston, Texas, climbs out of his Chevrolet after grabbing the pole position here Friday, July 3, 1976, during qualifying for the Firecracker 400 auto race to be run on the 4th of July. Foyt turned in the fastest lap at 183.090 mph.

ABC Sports
How important was the exposure Wide World of Sports for your career, and ow much do you look back and give credit to Wide World of Sports for your success?

Foyt
My success, probably a lot. People would never have heard of A.J. Foyt. So I think that's one thing in today's market with all the exposure from TV. Wide World of Sports started opening the door for people to recognize people all through the sports field. Without Wide World of Sports, a lot of people in the older days would have never been recognized, and I'm just glad I was one of the first ones to be on Wide World of Sports. A lot of people weren't able to financially go to races, but had a TV and watched Wide World of Sports. A lot of people know me from Wide World of Sports that weren't able to attend the Talladega races.

ABC Sports
In 1961, you won your first Indy 500. What do you remember about that day, and how special was that for you?

Foyt
Well that day was probably the highlight of my career, because every race driver dreams of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. Everybody in the whole world knows what the Indy 500 is -- it's like the Kentucky Derby. To be fortunate enough to be in the race, and then turn around and be fortunate enough to win the race, and for the first time on Wide World of Sports, thousands and thousands of people, seeing A.J. Foyt. I raced my butt off all day that day.

ABC Sports
You dominated in 1964. What was special about 1964?

Foyt
One thing was a lot of people wanting big manufacturers and had ten times the budget my chief mechanic, crew and I had in 1964. Where they could spend a million dollars, we could spend $10,000. I was fortunate enough to dominate in 1964. I just couldn't believe it, but everything fell our way. I drove awful hard. I had a crew that was behind me 200 percent. We had momentum going for us. There was one time we had really no money to race with and we were running against major bucks. I guess that would probably be one of my highlights because we were able to beat all the big money.

ABC Sports
What kind of feeling was it for you, to drive and to dominate?

Foyt
I recognize it more today than I did back then. I was racing so much and jumping here and jumping there. I was running from midgets to sprints, to dirt cars to Indy cars. I didn't realize what I was doing. Today people still come up with pictures, "A.J., would you sign that? They know more about my career than I actually do. They're bringing it all forward. I was running so many races just trying to put food on the table. I knew every time I went out, regardless if it was midget race or Indy car race, my whole intention was trying to win.