I wrote earlier about Dan Gurney's offer of a grand prix car to A.J. Foyt and one question I've received since is whether Foyt had other Formula One opportunities and did Ferrari try to hire him.
The short answer is yes—and in 1964 it was announced Foyt would drive for Ferrari. It never happened and the full story is a little longer. Here’s an edited version of the story from A.J. Foyt: Survivor, Champion, Legend.
In addition to racing Indy cars and stock cars in 1963, Foyt had started driving sports cars for Houston oil tycoon John Mecom, Jr. Driving Mecom’s Chevy-powered Scarab, Foyt had scored stunning victories during the 1963 Bahamas Speed Week, and again on the Daytona road course to start the 1964 season.
Following his victory in the 1964 Indianapolis 500 and very public split with Ford, Foyt agreed to drive the Scarab at Brands Hatch in England in the Guards International sports car race. The race attracted Europe’s top teams and F1 drivers. The photo was taken before the start and is from the Revs Institute, George Phillips Photograph Collection.
Foyt’s Indy car crew chief George Bignotti joined the team for the race. The pair had announced plans to build a rear-engine Indy car for 1965 and A.J. said the real purpose of the trip was to find, “ideas that we can incorporate in the new cars we’re going to run next year. We have some ideas of our own about what we want to use. If we see them incorporated in something over there, we may be in the buying mood.”
The race was a disaster. Brands Hatch was a tight 2.65-mile road course with sweeping high-speed curves and short straights winding through a wooded area, a new experience for Foyt. The Scarab that performed so well on the wide-open Bahamas airport circuit and high banks of Daytona was a handful in England. The car’s monster Chevrolet engine—the biggest in the race—was of little use on the tight course. Starting well back in the field, Foyt parked the car after just three of fifty laps.
From London the group flew to Modena, Italy, Ferrari’s home. The trip had been arranged by Mecom--a top Ferrari customer in the U.S.--as a favor for Bignotti and Enzo Ferrari, who very much wanted to meet A.J., the man who had stood up to Ford.
“The old man,” as Mecom called Enzo, “was dying to meet A.J. and really wanted to bring him on board. I think the idea of driving for Ferrari had an impact on A.J., it would on anybody. Ferrari also approached us about the possibility of doing an Indy car. I think the old man considered it, but George wanted to build it himself and Ferrari didn’t like that so much.”
There was a serious discussion about Foyt driving in F1 for the team. Ferrari driver John Surtees was in a tight battle with Graham Hill and Jimmy Clark for the driver championship and Enzo wanted Foyt to drive in the final three races of the year, at Monza in Italy and then in the U.S. and Mexican grand prix.
A UPI news story from Modena quoted Foyt saying Enzo “was extremely cordial” and “I intend to compete in Europe with Ferraris of the North American Racing Team.” Something was lost in translation, as not only did NART not race in Europe, but Foyt was already in Houston for a quick change of clothes. He had a sprint car race at Terre Haute in two days.
“A.J. was different,” Mecom told me of the discussions between Ferrari and Foyt. “I often found myself trying to think ahead of him, but I was usually about four laps behind. If I tried to figure out what he was really thinking, I’d probably have hit a wall.”
A.J. had been turned off by the possibility of team orders, that he might be told to let someone else win a race or finish in front of him because it was important for world championship points.
“I told them I wasn’t interested, I didn’t want to race that way,” Foyt said years later. “That’s what I didn’t like about Formula One, they kind of tell you where you got to finish. You might have to run second or third. When Ferrari told me that, I just told them I don’t race that way. I’d rather run my midget or sprint car. That’s the reason I was never interested in Formula One or anything like that.” No Foyt in F1 meant no Ferrari Indy car—a long shot to begin with.
Back in the states, Foyt was surprised to read his sprint car had actually won a race in his absence. It had been “borrowed” by Parnelli Jones and Herb Porter. But that’s another story.
One subscript. Surtees went on to win the driver’s championship by one point over Hill when on the last lap at Mexico, teammate and race leader Lorenzo Bandini pulled aside and let him win. Wonder what A.J. would have done if he’d been leading?