Tag: AJ Foyt Racing

Caio Collet to Drive for Foyt in 2026

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From A. J. Foyt Racing:

INDIANAPOLIS (Nov. 6, 2026) — Caio Collet, this year’s INDY NXT by Firestone Vice-Champion, has signed to drive for AJ Foyt Racing in the 2026 NTT INDYCAR Series. Combitrans Amazonia will sponsor the No. 4 Chevrolet for the 17-race season.

“I’m very happy to join AJ Foyt Racing in the NTT INDYCAR Series and thankful to Larry for trusting my skills and giving me this fantastic opportunity,” said the 23-year-old Brazilian. “It is a dream come true after years of hard work in developing series since my early go-karting experiences. I’m thankful to all teams and sponsors that helped me through my career, especially Marcelo Camargo from Combitrans Amazonia, that joined our INDY NXT campaign this season and will be with us next year. INDYCAR is huge in Brazil and I’m looking forward to bringing its flag back to a full-time seat in the 2026 season,” said Collet.

 

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Pictured is an initial design for the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet.

Combitrans Amazonia is a Brazilian logistics corporation that provides road cargo transportation, excluding hazardous materials, and moving services, conducted on an intercity, interstate and international basis.

 

“Caio Collet’s dream is our dream,” explained Marcelo Camargo, owner and president of Combitrans Amazonia.  “Brazil deserves the excitement of a full-time INDYCAR driver. We are thrilled to be part of this project with AJ Foyt Racing and carrying the Brazilian flag among so many global brands in the NTT INDYCAR Series!”

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Caio Collet tested the AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet at Mid-Ohio last month. Pictured left to right are: Larry Foyt, Caio Collet, Combitrans Amazonia President/Owner Marcelo Camargo and Collet’s manager Gastao Filho.

Collet is entering the NTT INDYCAR Series after stellar showings driving for HMD Motorsports in the INDY NXT by Firestone division. This past season, he scored three victories, three pole positions, 12 top-five finishes (including 10 podiums) and 13 top-10 finishes in 14 starts.

 

“Caio is a welcome addition to AJ Foyt Racing. He has shown great potential in INDY NXT by Firestone and in the junior formulas in Europe,” said Team President Larry Foyt. “I was impressed with how he adapted to our car at the recent Mid-Ohio test and I’m very excited to see what he can do in INDYCAR. There’s no doubt that he will be a strong contender in the battle for Rookie of the Year.”

 

In his rookie year in the series, he finished third in the standings and earned the Rookie of the Year award. He triumphed at Mid-Ohio after winning the pole position, claimed 11 top-10 finishes, nine top-fives and six podiums.

 

The São Paulo, Brazil native arrived in American motorsports via the European ladder series. He raced in the French F4 Championship where he became the series champion before moving on to Formula Renault Eurocup (2019-2020), Toyota Racing Series (2020) and FIA Formula 3 (2021-2023). These accomplishments helped Collet become the reserve and simulator driver for the Nissan Formula E Team in 2024.

 

Combitrans Amazonia offers a highly competitive and viable alternative to the great difficulties faced by the companies of the Manaus Free Trade Zone in the distribution of their products. Its intermodal model, which involves land and river transportation, optimizes complex processes and takes operational intelligence to the entire logistics chain.

 

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Pictured is a Swimming Warehouse pioneered by Combitrans.

The company was a pioneer in the development of a new concept of river transport. The SW (Swimming Warehouse) rafts have established Combitrans Amazonia as a vanguard owing to its great capacity for investment in innovation. It enables sustainable, efficient delivery with low logistics costs, and uses its capacity to integrate and map all of Brazil. Currently, Combitrans Amazonia operates ports in Manaus/AM and Belém/PA, with support points in the main states of Brazil, which allows for nationwide service. Its administrative headquarters is located in Orlândia/SP, with a commercial office in São Paulo/SP.

 

The NTT INDYCAR Series kicks off its season in St. Petersburg, Florida on Sunday, March 1st. All 17 races will be televised by FOX.

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Road America Wrap Up- Palou Flies Solo

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The air was hot, the track was hot, and t5he action was hot. Teams played Pit Stop Roulette, but in the end, we saw the same result.

The fuel save master just missed, and the tire master came out on top again. In an entertaining, action packed race at Road America where the winner wasn’t decided until the last three laps. Alex Palou won his sixth race of the year after Scott Dixon fell two laps short on fuel.

Some thoughts:

The chaotic start with eight laps of caution in the first 12 laps led to a wide mix of pit and tire strategies, which in turn led to a lot of on track battles. From my view in turn 5, I’m surprise there were only five caution periods. Drivers were pushing each other to the outside with lots of contact. I have never seen so much dust kicked off at the exit of the turn as I did yesterday.

I had a good view of Sting Ray Robb’s incident. he was fortunate that he scrubbed off some speed on the concrete barrier before he hit the tire wall. It appeared he couldn’t brake. It seems I say this every race, but hats off to the safety design features of this chassis. Robb stopped in a place where the AMR safety stations a truck, but still it seemed as if they were headed to Robb before he came to an abrupt stop.

Great Drives

Santino Ferrucci finished third after starting 18th. Scott Dixon finished ninth from 25th on the grid, and he had a chance to win because of pit strategy. Rinus VeeKay started 22nd and finished 10th, overcoming three penalties.

David Malukas started seventh, went off track on lap 1, and roared back to end the race where he started. Malukas complained of the heat affecting him. While no other driver mentioned it, I’m sure heat was a factor for many.

Penske’s Lost Year

For the last two races, I have thought that Team Penske would begin a comeback to being a factor. At Gateway the trio of Will Power, Scott McLaughlin, and Josef Newgarden qualified first, second, and fifth. None finished the race.

Yesterday the team started fourth, eighth, and 10th. They finished 12th, 14th, and 25th. Josef Newgarden has four results lower than 20th and is 17th in points. McLaughlin and Power are still in the top 10 in points, but ypoun have to wonder for how long?

Even before the organizational shakeup in May, the team seemed not quite up to their usual standards. It is sad to see a team decline as rapidly as they have.

MSR Rising

Felix Rosenqvist finished second as he continues to quietly stay in the top five in points. Rosenqvist is now fourth in the standings, and teammate Marcus Armstrong’s fifth place result has him standing 11th for the year.

MSR has thrived in their relationship with Chip Ganassi Racing.

Foyt Ascending

It ius ironic that A. J. Foyt Racing is doing better tha the team they have atechnical alliance. The association with Team Penske has yielded marked improvement for one of the smallest teams in the paddock.

As not6ed earlier, Santino Ferrucci and David Malukas both had top 10 results yesterday. Ferruci is now ninth in points and Malukas is 12th, a far cry from the years when this team hovered on the brink of missing out on the Leaders ‘Circle.

After seven rather mundane races, IndyCar has produced two very good, exciting races with lots of passing, position battles, and doubts about who would win until near the end of the race. I hope this trend continues when the series goes to Mid-Ohio in a couple of weeks.

Results

Shock Pole for Foyt Team

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Photo by Kyle McInnes

Hiring Michael Cannon has paid off handsomely for A. J. Foyt Racing. Santino Ferrucci sits on pole for tomorrow’s Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland. Ferrucci sits 11th in the points with several top 10 finishes this year as gthe Foyt team has had a resurgence in 2024.

Ferrucci played a waiting game and was the last car to get on track in the Fast Six. It was an unusual Fast Six, with Will Power and Alex Palou the only regular guests. Besides Ferrucci, Kyle Kirkwood, Graham Rahal, and Christian Lundgaard made it through to the final round.

Round 1 saw Scott McLaughlin and David Malukas, who were fast in the two practice sessions, eliminated. Scott Dixon and Colton Herta went out in the Fast 12, as did Josef Newgarden, Romain Grosjean, Marcus Armstrong, and Marcus Ericsson.

Alex Palou was leading the second round when he spun exiting turn 12. He was able to keep the car running, and returned to the track. The spin cost him his best lap up to that point, but he recovered to advance to the final segment.

Notes

Kirkwood and Rahal will star 11th and 12th, respectively when their six place grid penalties are assessed. Malukas will line up in row 13 with his penalty.

Today’s attendance is probably the best I’ve seen for a Saturday at Portland.

Points leader Palou will start third. Will Power, fourth in the standings is the only contender ahead of him.

Power still has not won a pole this season.

Results

Ferrucci Returns to Foyt

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Just a day before Content Dat A. J. Foyt Racing announced that Santino Ferrucci will return to car 14 for 2024. This leaves just the two cars at Dale Coyne Racing without confirmed drivers.

Content Days today and tomorrow will feature media availabilities with all full time drivers.

The news release from Indycar:

Popular veteran Santino Ferrucci will drive A.J. Foyt’s No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in 2024.

Joining the team last season, Ferrucci drove to a third-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge after starting fourth to give the team its best performance since 2000 when Eliseo Salazar started and finished third in the “500.” Ferrucci’s performance continued his string of top-10 finishes in the Indy 500 which stands at five.

“I’m super stoked to be back with the team,” Ferrucci said. “It’s really good to start building some continuity with everybody, and I think it’s going to improve our results. My expectations for the year are to come out of the gate a lot more prepared than we were last year. Working with Penske, things are hopefully going to be a lot smoother, and I’m looking forward to being back at the Indy 500 again.”

Team President Larry Foyt echoed Ferrucci’s sentiments.

“I’m very happy to have Santino back,” Foyt said. “We worked well together, and he brings a good energy to the team. Obviously, we have our eyes set on the Indy 500, but we also had some good pace in other races but didn’t get the results. Together we are focused on moving up in the championship standings, and I believe we can achieve that.”

Connecticut native Ferrucci will be joined by sophomore driver Sting Ray Robb, who was signed last month to drive the No. 41 Chevrolet. The Foyt team is not planning to field a third car for the season, which begins with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding on Sunday, March 10.

ABC Supply, Foyt Support Homes for Our Troops in May

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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

Bommarito to Sponsor Kirkwood

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Kyle Kirkwood will carry the main sponsor of the Bommarito 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway next weekend in the final oval race of the Indycar season. Sexton properties has been Kirkwood’s main sponsor since Mid Ohio when Rokit was dropped from the team.

The release from A. J. Foyt Racing:

ST. LOUIS (August 10, 2022) — The Bommarito Automotive Group continues to expand its footprint in motorsports. Missouri’s #1 automotive group has signed as the primary marketing partner of AJ Foyt Racing’s No. 14 Chevrolet for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway August 19-20. Associate sponsor and friends over at Rebel Bourbon are also proud to be a part of the 6th Annual Bommarito 500 NTT INDYCAR Series race.

A.J. Foyt, the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, started his race team over 50 years ago.

He won three of his seven INDYCAR championships and claimed the final two of his Indy 500 victories while driving for his own team. Since his retirement from driving in 1993, his team has continued to win, claiming two more national titles and the 1999 Indy 500 with Kenny Brack. At WWT Raceway, the team has five top-10 finishes, three of which were in the top-five, including a fifth place last year with Sebastien Bourdais and a third place in 2019 with Tony Kanaan.

The No. 14 Bommarito Chevrolet will be driven by rookie Kyle Kirkwood, the 2021 Indy Lights Champion who won a pole and finished second in both Indy Lights races last year at the 1.25-mile oval track at WWT Raceway. The 23-year-old Floridian’s meteoric ascent to the NTT INDYCAR Series is marked by consecutive championships in the three-tier Road to Indy ladder series.

Bommarito Automotive Group is Missouri’s largest automotive group that began with a single Oldsmobile dealership managed by Frank Bommarito over 50 years ago. In 1998, Frank Bommarito handed over the reins to his son John Bommarito who continued to build the network of dealerships to its present number of 20 locations employing over 900 team members in the St. Louis area.

“We are honored to be a part of bringing the NTT IndyCar Series to the St. Louis region. Thanks to the support of race fans across the country, we’ve demonstrated that when you win on the weekend it generates sales on Monday,” said John Bommarito, President of the Bommarito Automotive Group.

“As an iconic brand here in the St. Louis marketplace and selling vehicles nationwide, the Bommarito Automotive Group could not be more proud to adorn the iconic AJ Foyt Racing No. 14 Chevy, driven by Kyle Kirkwood, for the 6th Annual Bommarito Automotive Group 500 right here in our own hometown. Bommarito and A.J. “Super Tex” Foyt, together making history.”

“I’ve been a dedicated race fan for decades and to have the opportunity to partner with AJ Foyt Racing at the sixth annual Bommarito Automotive Group 500 is an honor,” said Chuck Wallis, Vice President and General Manager of the Bommarito Automotive Group. “To be able to be involved in the motorsports industry at the level Bommarito has dedicated to it is an absolute dream come true.”

Tickets for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 are on sale now at WWTRaceway.com. The race will be broadcast by the USA Network Aug. 20, Saturday night starting at 6 p.m. ET.

About Bommarito Automotive Group For over 50 years, Bommarito has been a staple in the St. Louis marketplace. The Bommarito Automotive Group currently operates 20 automotive locations throughout every St. Louis neighborhood, led by President John Bommarito and over 900 dedicated team members. Bommarito is recognized by the St. Louis Business Journal as Missouri’s No. 1 Automotive Group.

Bommarito Automotive Group continues to grow its brand while also growing its involvement in motorsports. Bommarito began its motorsports involvement in 2015 with Jordan Anderson Racing and since has evolved into Jordan Anderson Racing with Bommarito Autosport and are owners of the No. 31 NASCAR Xfinity team with driver Myatt Snyder and the No. 3 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Bommarito also holds the title sponsorship for the Bommarito 500 NTT INDYCAR SERIES race at WWTR since 2017. In addition, Bommarito now is involved with the sponsorship of the Vasser Sullivan IMSA team which recently has earned podium finishes in consecutive races. Recently they were the primary sponsor on the iconic #43 Richard Petty NASCAR CUP car at the inaugural Cup Race at WWT Raceway. And now they are proud to announce the partnership with AJ Foyt Racing for the 6th Annual Bommarito 500 with Kyle Kirkwood in the driver seat.

Visit online 24/7 at Bommarito.com and follow their social channels @BommaritoAuto and @BommaritoAutoSport

Rebel Bourbon

For more than 170 years, Rebel Bourbon has been bridging the gap between its proud heritage and modern tastes to honor the rebel spirit that lives in each of us. Featuring an award-winning recipe that dates back to 1849, Rebel Bourbon is made using only the purest Kentucky limestone-filtered water, a wheated mash bill and new, charred American white-oak barrels for aging. The result is a bourbon with a big, round body and full flavor that is defiantly smooth. A spirit of rebellion can be found in every bottle of Rebel Bourbon, making it a favorite among purists and trailblazers alike. Unapologetically original and brazenly bold, Rebel Bourbon invites anyone seeking a bit of defiance, freedom, attitude and a taste of the rebel spirit to “Be More Rebel.” Visit rebelbourbon.com to learn more.

Kirkwood Leads First Detroit Practice

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Note: I did not feel well yesterday and left the track before practic began. I took a rapid COVID test bwhich was positive, then I arranged a PCR test. I should get those results today. I am heading home this morning to isolate if necessary.

Kyle Kirkwood put up the fastest time in yesterday’s first practice session for the Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit. The A. J. Foyt Racing driver turned a lap of 1:16.1345 edged Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi. All three drivers have announced new deals for 2023. O’Ward extended his contract with Arrow McLaren SP, Rossi joins O’Ward as a teammate next year, Kirkwood moves into Rossi’s current ride at Andretti Autosport.

Felix Rosenqvist slid in turn 1 and hit the barrier. The car suffered moderate damage.

Kirkwood also was fastest in practice in the IMSA GTD class.

The Day at Belle Isle

The Friday crowd was vary large for the final race on the island.

It was nice to see activity nin the infield again. In 2021 all vendors were outside the track.

Instead of a food court the food trucks lined up on na drive just before the paddock. The event provided many more tables this year.

I will report remotely the rest of the weelend, and we will see what happens as afr as Road America goes.

Kirkwood Comfortable on IMS Oval

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Kyle Kirkwood is excited to be in his first 500. I spoke with the A. J. Foyt Racing driver yesterday after practice.

“It’s a really cool thing,” Kirkwood said of driving in the 500 for the first time.

He was happy with his morning run when the number 14 car finished 11th.

Indycar photo by Joe Skibinski

“We did the most laps out of everyone. So we’re getting the critical things that we’ve got to take everything apart, put our car back together and we seem to be better than we started off for some reason. So we’re happy with everything works around.”

Kirkwood felt his car picked up where they stopped at the end of the open test last month.

“You know, it’s just starting off. Everyone’s kind of starting off slow because it’s such a long, such a long two weeks of testing and everything so it’s really just making sure we got all the big things sorted out and we’ll start fine tuning the car as days go on,” Kirkwood said.

“We feel good. I think the conditions are quite a bit different than they were at the at the open test. I think everyone out there seemed to struggle a little bit more in traffic, for whatever that reason,” he continued. “We’ve had some rain over the past couple weeks and the track might have been a bit dirty. Possible. . But we feel we feel okay at the moment.”

The team’s plan for yesterday afternoon was “We’ve got a big list of items that we need to get through this next week and we’re just hitting all this off gathering as much data together and then we’ll reconvene or go back over it at some point, either at the end of this week or next week and figure out exactly what we have and we’re looking forward to get through these types of items and hopefully ended up with a really good car at the end.”

At St. Pete Kirkwood mentioned that he didn’t have much oval experience. Racing at Texas seems to have helped his confidence on ovals.

“Yeah, I’m very comfortable. It’s a bit different than Texas is given how flat the track is. But I feel very comfortable in the number 14 Rokit Chevrolet. “

Kirkwood ended up 21st in the afternoon session. It’s not unusual to see cars slide backwards in the second practice session as the team tries different setups.