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Larry Foyt Notes And Quotes: Atlanta 500


Looking forward to first start with BAM Racing

Larry Foyt and the #59 BAM Racing Dodge team head to the 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway located in Hampton, Ga., for Sunday’s Atlanta 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.

Foyt joins BAM Racing with an extensive background in both stock car and open wheel racing. Part of the lineage of the legendary A.J. Foyt, Larry Foyt raced in the 2003 NASCAR Nextel Cup season for A.J. Foyt Racing, as well as in this year’s Indianapolis 500. He has a variety of racing experience from USAC, ASA, NASCAR Busch, and Nextel Cup series.

The team is owned by Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau, investors from Coral Gables, Fla. Ms. Morgenthau, whose initials make up the name of the team – BAM Racing – is the only female car owner in motorsports to become involved without prior family connections. General manager Eddie Jones is a veteran of the NASCAR Nextel Cup wars, enjoying a championship career as a crew chief, mechanic and team leader. Business manager Gus Larkin is a successful veteran motorsports marketer, and leads the corporate sponsorship activities.

The thoughts of BAM Racing Dodge driver Larry Foyt heading into Atlanta:

“Every year about this time you start seeing a lot of new faces in new places. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about my situation with BAM Racing. I haven’t been on the Nextel Cup circuit much this year, and I’ve been talking with the Morgenthaus for quite some time. We’ve built a good relationship and, hopefully, together we can work something out for 2005. This is just the right opportunity for both of us at the time.

“The only thing I wish we could have done differently is have a little more time to gel and maybe do some testing together. They have a great operation but it’s taking me a while to learn everybody at BAM Racing and for us to get used to working together. Never underestimate continuity in a race team, and that’s something that can’t be rushed. I think maybe that’s why you see new faces at the end of each year. It’s kind of to give everyone a head start for next year. We’re working on sponsorship for 2005 and hopefully we’ll get something going, because I’d love to be with BAM Racing next year.

“I don’t have much experience at Atlanta. I’ve run one Cup race, two Busch races and a Formula Ford 2000 race in 1999. That Formula Ford race was a wild one, especially for me. We were racing three-wide coming through the tri-oval when all heck broke loose. I was running the low groove when the two cars above me came down and one clipped my right rear. Around I went, got airborne, did a complete flip, landed on all four wheels and slammed into the wall. It looked pretty cool on the replay but I think that’s the last time Formula Ford 2000 ever raced on a big tri-oval.

“To think about how far BAM Racing has come in such a relatively short period of time; just last season was their first full-time season in Cup and at Homestead here in a few weeks they’re going to field three cars with myself, Klaus (Graf), and of course, Schrader. I can’t say enough about how much it means to me having Kenny as a teammate. I’ve known Kenny since I was a kid; grew up watching him race. He and A.J. have always been close. The deal with Schrader is sometimes you might go to him for advice and instead you get a joke… or at least that’s what you think until you finally realize his joke was actually pretty good advice.

“I’m just really excited about this opportunity. It’s up to me to be sure I make the most of it each time out with this group. We’re going to throw everything we have at it this weekend. Obviously, without benefit of an advantageous provisional situation, our primary objective is to get into the race; get a good qualifying lap and place solidly in the field for Sunday’s race. After we accomplish that, we’ll go from there. Our whole team, not just me but BAM Racing, would greatly benefit for an entire race weekend together and that’s what we’ll be shooting for this weekend in Atlanta.”






 

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