INDIANAPOLIS — Common sense dictates that the fuel cap should always be tightened before starting up a vehicle and heading down the road.
Someone forgot to do that on A.J. Foyt IV’s IndyCar and the result was a fiery crash into the third turn wall at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.
Foyt, who had bumped his way into the 33-car starting lineup when Sunday’s Bump Day began for the 92nd Indianapolis 500, was returning to the race track to practice his car under race conditions. As he exited the pit warm-up lane, the fuel “buckeye” that covers the fuel tank flew off the car.
Because an IndyCar competes on both oval race tracks and road and street courses, there are openings on either side of the fuel tank to fuel the car with Ethanol. With the cars at the Indy 500 under oval track configuration, the opening on the right side of the car is covered with a “buckeye” that is bolted over the opening and then covered with a small piece of carbon fiber bodywork.
After Foyt made the field with a four-lap average of 219.184 miles per hour after qualifications began at 12 noon, his race car had to pass technical inspection, which meant the fuel is pumped out of the fuel tank before it is weighed. The easiest way to do that is through the right side of the car because the left-side is fitted for refueling in the oval configuration.
When the cover was placed back on the fuel tank opening, a crew member never bolted the part onto the car so when Foyt left the pit exit lane, it flew off the car without Foyt seeing it.
Foyt’s car was now full of Ethanol so as he got up to speed on the backstretch, the highly flammable fuel splashed out of the opening onto the rear tires of Foyt’s car. It ignited into a fireball of orange flame. The slick fuel caused Foyt to lose control of his race car and slam hard into the third turn wall.
“They just didn’t put it on good,” Foyt said of the cover after he was treated and released from the Clarian Infield Care Center. “Basically, they didn’t put a cover over the fuel, so when I went into the corner, fuel was spraying outside my car, which hit the rear of the tires which made it start spinning and catch fire before I hit the wall.”
The crew member at Vision Racing responsible for making sure that cover was tightened has been fired, according to Foyt.
“The guy pretty much didn’t put it on, pretty much simple as that,” Foyt said. “You’ve got to bolt it on, tighten it up. He just pretty much didn’t do it. After you roll through and get fuel before you go out on pit lane, he just basically forgot to put it back on and he doesn’t work for us anymore.
“Unfortunately, I like the guy.”
Foyt, the grandson of the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 A.J. Foyt, said his team has some work to do before Friday’s “Carb Day” to repair the car for the final practice session for the Indy 500.
But it was the latest incident that has made this month of May the most frustrating of young Foyt’s career. He nearly crashed in his first practice session on May 6 when a crew member failed to tighten the steering wheel on his car. That was also a dangerous situation that Foyt was able to avoid.
He was also able to avoid getting bumped out of the 33-car starting lineup and will be on the inside of the 11th and final row for the Indy 500.
“It’s been a tough month, for sure, probably my most frustrating yet,” Foyt said. “But that’s how the Speedway is; you never know what is going to happen and what position you are going to be in.
“Thankfully, we went out early as we planned and put four laps down and we thought it was a solid run to get into the field but the guys started getting quicker and quicker at the end. So I started to get a lot more worried but thankfully, it held on. But it’s been a frustrating month.”
It would have been easy for Foyt to get down but his grandfather, who owns the IndyCar team that young Foyt began his career with, made sure that his grandson kept his spirits up.
 “He called me a few times last night and just told me to keep my head up, and that’s the way it is and I’ll get in the race and not to worry about it,” young Foyt said. “He was pretty much trying to keep my confidence up.
“Today, he was the first one in the Medical Center when I showed up so we communicate a lot, even though I don’t drive for him.”