Foyt, A(nthony) J(oseph) (1935– )

US racing driver. He was the first person to win the Indianapolis 500 four times in 1961, 1964, 1967, and 1977, and also the first driver to have won both the Le Mans 24-Hour race and the Daytona 500 stock-car race.

Career highlights

Indianapolis 500 1961, 1964, 1967, 1977

USAC national champion 1960, 1961, 1963–64, 1967, 1975, 1979

Le Mans 24-Hour Race 1967

Daytona 500 1972

USAC stock-car championship 1968, 1978, 1979

24 Hours of Daytona 1983, 1985

He was born in Houston, Texas, and started racing in 1953, driving his first Indy car in 1958. In 1960 he won the first of a record seven United States Auto Car (USAC) national driving championships. The following year he won the Indianapolis 500 for the first time, and in 1967, with Dan Gurney, the Le Mans 24-Hour race. In 1972 he won the Daytona 500, to complete a unique treble of three of motor racing's toughest and most prestigious races. He also won the USAC national stock-car and dirt-car championships and the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race. In 1992 he drove in his last Indianapolis 500, having qualified for the race every year since 1958. In all, he won a record 67 Indy car races.