Stewart on brink of one triumph Foyt can't match (cont'd)

Granted, Foyt never really had the chance to reach his full potential in NASCAR, thanks to protectionist rules instituted by USAC -- at the time the sanctioning body of the Indianapolis 500 -- which forbade its drivers from competing in other series. Foyt, who admits he was USAC's "poster boy," could race only in NASCAR events on tracks that were fully sanctioned by the International Automobile Federation (FIA). NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. wanted Foyt to race at Daytona, so he applied for FIA sanctioning. A handful of other tracks did, too. But most were off-limits. Even though Foyt won seven times in NASCAR, he never ran more than seven races in a full season.

No secret to success

A.J. Foyt says Tony Stewart has the people in place to be successful. It's something the newest owner/driver learned from Joe Gibbs and is what could separate him from others who have gone before him.

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So when it comes to NASCAR driving titles, perhaps Stewart and Foyt aren't exactly on equal footing. But in another area, they are. If Stewart succeeds as a car owner on NASCAR's highest level, winning the races and championships that he believes he can with his Stewart-Haas organization, he'll have achieved something even Foyt wasn't able to do.

And Foyt certainly tried. In 2000, the racing giant started his own full-fledged NASCAR team, running a No. 14 Pontiac with an Indianapolis-based insurance provider as primary sponsor. In five years, he tried nine different drivers, with little success. The team's lone top-five finish came at Watkins Glen, courtesy of road-course ace P.J. Jones. Foyt was as demanding as ever -- according to one possibly-apocryphal tale, he didn't like the line driver Ron Hornaday was using to get around Chicagoland Speedway, and recommended an approach he had used in one of his victories there. Never mind that the speedway had just opened, and Foyt's win had come at some other, forgotten track in the area. The point was still made.

But by 2004, Foyt's team was running low on sponsorship, and after a 30th-place finish at the Texas spring race the organization shut down for good. Earlier this year, he finally sold the building he had used in Charlotte. Foyt won plenty of races as an owner in the open-wheel ranks, but in NASCAR he was never quite able to find the same magic.

"I never got any good people," he explained. "And me not being in Charlotte all the time, trying to run the Indy team, it's just hard to run two different operations. I don't care who you are. My good friend Roger Penske, he works at it hard, but you see he's very successful in one. You very rarely see the same people real, real successful in both operations. Look at Chip [Ganassi's] deal. Chip and them work hard at it, but he's a lot more successful [in IndyCars]. When I came over here and drove my own car and did the deal, and drove for the Wood Brothers, I was pretty good. But it was just hard for me to oversee another operation, and that's the reason I finally got rid of everything."

Stewart, he believes, will be different. "He has surrounded himself with very good, talented people," Foyt said. "l know a few of them, and the key people he has I think are very, very good, and that's where I think Tony's been smarter than a lot of the guys who actually own the cars. With him in the driver's seat, he knows what he wants, and he's got some great mechanics behind him. I think you're going to see a winning operation."

That's high praise coming from Foyt, whose own accomplishments often completely eclipse those of others around him. But he clearly has a soft spot for Stewart, who seems to remind him a lot of himself. He likes the fact that Stewart speaks his mind. He likes the fact that Stewart can drive and win in almost anything. He likes the fact that Stewart has "excuse my French, been known to be an a--hole," Foyt said. Stewart only smiles and shakes his head. "Don't worry," he said. "It's not the first time I've heard him call me that."

And maybe as early as Sunday, he'll have to call Stewart something else -- a winning driver and car owner in NASCAR's premier series, a title not even Foyt himself can lay claim. So the next time A.J. jabs Stewart in the ribs to remind him of all his career accolades, the younger driver can put on his metaphorical owner's hat and use Foyt's favorite line: "Check the record books, big boy." Foyt will probably smile, pleased for once to be outdone.

"I'm proud to see him doing what he's doing," Foyt said of Stewart. "Let's face it, they're going to have to deal with him for a few more years. Unless he gets too fat."

Again, Stewart smiles and shakes his head. "Hello, pot on kettle," he says. And on and on it goes.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.