ABC Supply, Foyt Support Homes for Our Troops in May

Photo from AJ Foyt Racing

From A. J. Foyt racing:

BELOIT, Wis. (May 1, 2023) — The stars and stripes of the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet is ready not only to race in the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge but to raise awareness — and donations — for Homes For Our Troops (HFOT). The nonprofit builds and donates specially adapted custom homes for severely injured post 9/11 Veterans, providing them with the opportunity to rebuild their lives and once again become highly productive members of society.

ABC Supply Co., Inc., the sponsor of the Indy car driven by Santino Ferrucci in this year’s “500,” will match all donations made to HFOT — up to $1 million total — from Monday, May 1, through Wednesday, May 31. Donations can be made directly to HFOT by visiting www.hfotusa.org/donate.

As a longtime supporter of AJ Foyt Racing, ABC Supply is proud to continue its sponsorship of the team while simultaneously shining a spotlight on HFOT. Nearly 90% of the donations received go

directly toward rebuilding homes, which means HFOT rarely advertises and relies on word-of-mouth awareness. To date, HFOT has built over 350 specially adapted homes nationwide, with the goal of building a home for every Veteran who qualifies.

Last year, ABC Supply donated the eye-popping patriotic design of its Indy car to HFOT and participated in a 10-day fundraising effort as part of its sponsorship. The company met its $1 million match goal, with those funds helping to amass a final donation total of over $2 million.

The same star-spangled livery will be featured on the car this year, and with a full 31 days to donate, ABC Supply is excited at the chance to best 2022’s multimillion-dollar impact and continue to raise awareness of HFOT’s mission.

“We are thrilled ABC Supply will spotlight Homes For Our Troops for another year during the 2023 Indy 500,” says HFOT President and CEO, Brigadier General (Ret) Tom Landwermeyer. “In addition to generating revenue with a generous $1 million match, the initiative will raise much-needed awareness about our mission throughout the country. ABC Supply’s incredible enthusiasm and patriotic commitment to our mission enables us to get even more injured Veterans and their families into the specially adapted homes they need and deserve.”

“ABC Supply has supported HFOT since 2020, with their Core Values resonating deeply with who we are as a company,” says Mike Jost, chief operating officer of ABC Supply. “We’re honored to continue raising awareness for this organization alongside our friends at AJ Foyt Racing during this storied and prestigious race.”

“Racing has given us many wonderful opportunities, but being part of the Homes For Our Troops campaign to raise awareness and help our troops who have suffered such severe injuries is a true privilege,” said A.J. Foyt, the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. “We’re proud to partner with ABC Supply to support this very worthy cause.”

About ABC Supply

ABC Supply Co., Inc. is the largest wholesale distributor of roofing and other select exterior and interior building products in North America. Since its founding in 1982, ABC Supply’s sole focus has been serving professional contractors and “making it easy” for them to do their jobs by offering the products, support and services they need — including myABCsupply, which allows them to place material orders and manage their account details from anywhere.

ABC Supply is a 17-time Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award winner and a two-time recipient of Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Award for Best Places to Work and is committed to hiring military veterans.

Headquartered in Beloit, Wisconsin, ABC Supply has over 900 locations across the U.S. and Canada. More information is available at http://www.abcsupply.com. Contractors can find resources for growing and improving their businesses on ABC Supply’s blog and the company’s LinkedIn page.

About AJ Foyt Racing

AJ Foyt Racing, headquartered northwest of Houston, has been competing at the top levels of motorsports since December 1965, nearly 60 years. With A.J. Foyt driving, his team won two Indianapolis 500s and three national INDYCAR championships. Since Foyt’s retirement from driving in 1993, the team has continued to win, claiming two more national titles and the 1999 Indianapolis 500 with driver Kenny Brack.

About Homes For Our Troops (HFOT)

Homes For Our Troops (HFOT) is a publicly funded 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that builds and donates specially adapted custom homes nationwide to severely injured post-9/11 Veterans, to enable them to rebuild their lives. Most of these Veterans have sustained life-altering injuries including multiple limb amputations, partial or full paralysis, and/or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). These homes restore some of the freedom and independence our Veterans sacrificed while defending our country, and enable them to focus on their family, recovery, and

rebuilding their lives. HFOT builds these homes where the Veteran chooses to live, and continues its relationship with the Veterans after home delivery to assist them with rebuilding their lives. Since its inception in 2004, nearly 90 cents of every dollar spent has gone directly to our program services supporting Veterans. For more information, visit http://www.hfotusa.org.Post not marked as liked

Quick Thoughts- Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix

In no particular order, here are some of my thoughts on today’s race. I haven’t seen the replay yet.

Today’s race was an above average race for Barber. The different strategies kept the outcome in doubt, and two asses for the lead in the last 25 laps is about as good as you’ll get on a road course.

The only thing that could have made this race better is if it therebwer no cars on a fuel save strategy. At leastfive cars did not have enough fuel to complete their cool down lap. hen Grosjean pitted on lap 59, I thought it would be a stretch for him to finish the race.

St. Pete Deja Vu– Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin fighting for the lead as McLaughlin comes out of the pits. Fortunately, Barber has a lot more room to battle tham St. Pete did. I hope we see more great fights between these two this season.

How did Grosjean have no push to pass left? He shouldn’t have needed to use much since he led 57 laps.

Grosjean now has five second place finishes in his career. Only two other drivers have had more runner up finsihes without a win. Vitor Meira was an eight time runner up and never won. I think Grosjean’s time is coming,perhaps as soon as May 13.

I watched the race from the turn 15-16 area. there were many close battles for position, some wheel banging, groups of cars all day long.

I am happy to see Will Power on the podium. I was starting to think he had lost his competetive fire.

A nice job by Christian Lundgaard. His sixth place finish is the nbest for a Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver this season.

The drive of the day goes to Felix Rosenqvist. He dropped back quickly to the back at the start from his ninth place grid spot, but fought back to finish eighth.

Josef Newgarden has two finishes of 15th or worse. Like last year he will need to come on strong with a lot of victories to be in contention for the championship.

Honda and Chevy have each won two races. The engines seem more equal this season than they did in 2022 when Chevy seemed to be the better power plant.

Thanks for following along this weekend. Tomorrow is May 1. I might have a couple things to talk about for the next 30 days or so.

Barber Race Day

Good morning from a coolish Barber Motorsports Park. The forecast looks sunny and dry for the start of the race, with temperature of 68 degrees at the green flag.

Today’s schedule: Times are Central

Gates and all fan activities open at 8:00am

  • 8:00am – 8:40am Porsche Sprint Challenge North America – Cayman (Race #2)
  • 8:55am – 9:35am Porsche Sprint Challenge North America – GT3 (Race #2)
  • 11:00am – 11:30am NTT INDYCAR SERIES Warmup Peacock, Indycar Radio
  • 12:00pm – 12:55pm INDY NXT (Race) Peacock
  • 2:00 pm – 5:00pm NTT INDYCAR SERIES (Race) NBC, Peacock, Indycar radio
  • The green flag will fall at 2:30 Central time.

The big question today is: Can Romain Grosjean put a complete race together?Grosjean has yet to convert a pole into a victory. St.Pete was his best chance, and today will be another great opportunity for him.

The Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix is traditionally a low incident race. Few yellows occur during the race, and generally they come early. Pit strategy and starting positon are the keys to the race outcome.

I still like Pato O’Ward to win from third. The winner usually comes from the first five starting positions.

I expect another podium from Scott Dixon. It would be nice to see him finally win at this track.

Keep an eye on Christian Lundgaard today. He starts sixth, the best for a Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver this season. Can he maintain or improve his position. Will we see another charge through the field from Graham Rahal?

The last two Barber winners, Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward, start second and third.

I’ll be back with starting tire choices. Enjoy the race.

Grosjean Continues Andretti Pole Dominance

Romain Grosjean too the pole for tomorrow’s Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park, turning a lap of 1:05. 8396. Grosjean edged Alex Palou by 0.0734 seconds in winning his second pole of 2023 and third career pole position.

Andretti Autosport has won three of the four poles this season. Kyle Kirkwood won the pole at Long Beach.

Five teams put cars in the Fast Six. Only Chip Ganassi Racing had two cars in the final round.

Quick Thoughts

Is tomorrow the day Grosjean finally converts a good starting spot into a victory? St. Pete was in his grasp until the incident with Scott McLaughlin.

Pato O’Ward has qualified in the top six of every race in 2023.

If Kyle Kirkwood can stay on track during qualifying, he will win a ton of poles. His spin today was the secon incident in qualifying this year.

Nice to see some success for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Christian Lundgaard will start sixth.

Despite a strong team showing in practice, Scott McLaughlin was the only Team Penske car in the Fast Six.

All time career pole winner Will Power has an average starting spot of 10.5 this season.

Today’s crowd was good, although it seemed a bit down from previous Barber Saturdays.

Palou Tops Practice 2

Alex Palou got a clean lap with about 12 minutes to go in the morning practice and it was good enough to lead the session by two tenths if a second over Josef Newgarden and Scott

The Penske duo of Newgarden and McLaughlin led most of the session.

Practice ran clean until Helio Castroneves spun and stalled on track with 45 seconds left. Only a couple of cars went out to complete the time.

500 Qualifying Tweaked

Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced the qualifying format for the 107th running of the the Indianapolis 500. While similar to lastyear as far as the number of cars eligible for the pole, the program has been modified to create more content on Sunday.

The new format, per IMS and Indycar: The schedule does not include the practice periods preceding each day’s action.

DAY ONE: Saturday, May 20

11 a.m.-5:50 p.m.: Full Field Qualifying (Live on Peacock, also 2:30-4:30 p.m. on NBC)

Qualifying will take place for positions 1-30. Positions 13-30 will be set, and those drivers will not requalify Sunday.

When every car in the qualifying order for Saturday has been presented at least one chance to qualify, teams may choose from two lanes for second and subsequent attempts. Cars in the priority lane (Lane 1) must withdraw their qualified time – if the car has one – but get priority access to the track ahead of Lane 2. Lane 2 is for cars that have already qualified but wish to improve their position.

Once cars are outside of the Top 30, they are considered to not have a qualification speed as only positions 1-30 will be locked in during Day One.

DAY TWO: Sunday, May 21

2-3 p.m.: Top 12 Qualifying (Live on Peacock)

Positions 7-12 will be determined. The order is based on Saturday times, slowest to fastest. Each car is guaranteed one attempt. The fastest six advance to the Firestone Fast Six to determine positions 1-6.

4-5 p.m.: Last Chance Qualifying (Live on NBC)

Positions 31-33 will be determined. Each car is guaranteed one attempt and may make multiple attempts until time expires. Each car’s most recent qualification speed will remain eligible for the starting lineup until the time is withdrawn or qualifications end.

5:15-5:45 p.m.: Firestone Fast Six (Live on NBC)

Positions 1-6 will be determined. The order is based on times from Top 12 Qualifying earlier Sunday, slowest to fastest. Each car is guaranteed one attempt. The fastest driver in the Firestone Fast Six will earn the coveted NTT P1 Award for pole.

This program eliminates the two hour gap that Sunday in 2022 had. I assume the series will play Sunday by ear each year, since this may be the last year there are more than 33 cars for a while.

As I stated last year, I thnk 12 cars eligible for the pole is too many. I am also unsure of the value of bumping for just one car. I will expand on my thoughts next week when I sharethe entire May program.