Roger Diez
The 2025 race season is underway! Last weekend and this weekend feature events in two completely different forms of motorsport, from Midget racers on the Chili Bowl’s short dirt oval to some of the most sophisticated racing machines known to man in an endurance contest on Daytona’s. 3.36-mile road course/oval.
Next up, in two weeks NASCAR’s Cup stock cars will begin their season with the Clash at Bowman-Gray Stadium.
In Tulsa, Kyle Larson captured the Chili Bowl victory with a flag-to-flag victory run in Saturday’s A Main. Larson now joins rival Christopher Bell as a three-time winner of the Golden Driller trophy. Larson held off Daison Pursley and Shane Golobic in a four-lap sprint to the finish. Bell finished 10th.
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Last weekend’s Roar Before the 24 set some expectations that were unlikely to be met on Thursday’s qualifying if the predicted rain makes an appearance. Last Saturday Scott Dixon turned a lap of 1:35.827 in his GTP Acura ARX-06 for fast time of the weekend. For comparison, the quickest Lemans Prototype 2 (LMP2) was over three seconds slower, with the GTD and GTD Pro classes another 9 - 10 seconds off. This speed differential can get tricky, especially at night.
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Dixon is just one of the names that will be familiar to race fans who don’t necessarily follow endurance racing. Joining Dixon from the IndyCar ranks are 2024 champion Alex Palou, also driving an Acura GTP machine, Colin Herta, Christian Rasmussen. and Pietro Fittipaldi in LMP2 Orecas, and Kyle Kirkwood driving a GTD Pro Lexus.
Former IndyCar stars in the field include Sebastien Bourdais in and LMP2 entry and James Hinchcliffe in a GTD Pro Lamborghini Huracan. Ex-Formula 1 drivers Kevin Magnussen (BMW GTP) and Felipe Massa (LMP2 Oreca) are also in the field, and NASCAR is represented by Austin Cindric driving a GTD Pro Ford Mustang and Parker Kligerman aboard a GTD Lamborghini Huracan.
NBC will air the start of the race Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and the finish and post-race celebrations from 9 to 11 a.m. on Sunday. Peacock will carry the entire race in two segments, the first from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and the second from 9 p.m. to 11 a.m. on Sunday. USA will also broadcast from the start until 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
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Finally, we wish a belated happy birthday to racing legend A.J. Foyt, who turned 90 on Jan. 16. Foyt started out on dusty Midwest dirt tracks in midgets and sprint cars but went on to become one of the most versatile drivers in the world.
For the youngsters out there, who only know him as the owner of an NTT IndyCar series team, there is so much more to the man. Foyt still holds the record for USAC midget wins with 159, to which he later added a record 67 Indy Car victories. He was the first to score four Indianapolis 500 wins. He won the Memorial Day classic in 1961, his third 500, and again in 1964, 1967, and 1977.
Not content to win only in open-wheel competition, Foyt also won seven NASCAR races including the Daytona 500 as well as 41 USAC stock car races and an IROC race. He won the Lemans and Daytona 24-hour races and the Sebring 12 hour and has captured 12 major championships in various forms of motorsport and has been inducted in every motorsports hall of fame known to man.
I challenge any driver racing today to achieve half the success Foyt has accomplished. Let’s hope he sticks around for another 90 years!