The following is an excerpt from A.J. Foyt: Volume 1 by Art Garner. Anthony Joseph “A.J.” Foyt Jr. is one of the greatest race car drivers in history—some would argue the best—and he has the statistics to back it up. Numbers alone can’t begin to tell Foyt’s story. Through tireless research and extensive interviews with the biggest names in motorsports, author Art Garner has compiled an unprecedented look at the life and career of one of America’s most popular sports heroes. In this excerpt read about how Foyt gave Donnie Allison a shot behind the wheel.

Back in Texas, Foyt reached out to another NASCAR Ford driver affected by the cutback, Donnie Allison. The two had become friendly when both were driving for Banjo Matthews, Allison filling the driver’s seat in events Foyt couldn’t make. He’d been bugging Foyt ever since about a chance to drive at Indianapolis and A.J. finally decided to give him an opportunity.

“Every time I saw Foyt I’d say, ‘Why don’t you let me drive one of your Indy cars?’” Allison recalled. “Well, in 1970 at Daytona he said, ‘You really want to drive one of those don’t ya?’ I said, ‘Yup.’ He said he’d call me, but I’d heard that before.

“This time he did call and asked me to come to Houston. He took me back in the shop to meet his dad, Tony, who I knew a little bit. A.J. pointed to a car up on the rack and said, ‘That’s the car you’re gonna drive. We’ll get it down, and you and Daddy can put it together.’”

The shop itself was impressive and immaculate compared to some of the NASCAR garages he was familiar with. Off to one side was the red No. 1 Mark IV Foyt had been given by Ford. In a corner was a speedboat with a 427 Holman-Moody Ford engine in the back. On one wall was a sign: 

“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”

The car was the 1967 Eagle that Gurney drove at Indianapolis and Foyt later used on road courses. It was last driven at the end of 1967 by Hurtubise at Riverside and then put up on the storage rack, where it had remained since.

“They were having a test in Phoenix and I went, not to drive or anything, just to go, although I always traveled with my helmet and fire suit,” Allison said. “At one point A.J. looked at me and said, ‘Do you want to take a ride?’ and I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ So he said, ‘Go get your uniform.’”

The cockpit was configured for the six-foot, two-hundred-pound Foyt, and swallowed up the five-foot-nine, 165-pound Allison. The crew put a couple of large Goodyear blankets in the driver’s seat so Allison wouldn’t bounce around too much.

“A.J. just said, ‘Watch yourself.’ He didn’t give me any other instructions about what to do or what not to do. I went out and after about three laps, he’s out there on the racetrack motioning for me to come in. He said he was really mad at me. Said I’d cost him $500. I asked him how the hell I did that. Well, he’d bet the Goodyear guys I wouldn’t break twenty-nine seconds and my second lap was a 28.70.”

Allison was thirty at the time, four and a half years younger than Foyt. Raised in Miami, Florida, he was the third oldest in a big family, three years younger than Eddie and a year behind Bobby. Although smaller than most kids his age, he was the family’s natural athlete, playing all sports and shining in the swimming pool, winning the Florida AAU swimming and diving championship at fifteen.

Even more than swimming, he loved being around horses and spent much of his free time at Miami’s famous Hialeah racetrack, where he became an excellent rider and dreamed of being a jockey. A high school motorcycle accident that nearly took his leg, followed by a growth spurt, ended those hopes. He was still slight, but too big for a jockey.

He dropped out of high school and, like his older brothers, worked at his father’s garage and junkyard. He followed them into auto racing and, along with Red Farmer, rose to the top of the Miami racing scene. Seeking more competition and richer purses, the “Miami Gang” moved to Alabama for the 1961 racing season. Donnie, with Eddie serving as his crew chief, won a 1962 track championship and started picking up NASCAR rides. He raced mostly modifieds, including events at several tracks hosting Indy car races, Trenton and Langhorne among them. When he won one of the premier modified races at Martinsville driving for the Wood Brothers, he graduated to the Grand National circuit—NASCAR’s highest level at the time—taking over the Matthews Ford that A.J. drove in the 1968 Daytona 500. He’d since accomplished something Foyt had failed to do—driving the car to victory at Rockingham and Charlotte. Donnie also had a reputation as someone you didn’t mess with.

“He could be very belligerent,” Eddie said. “He was four times wilder than Bobby and me put together. You cross Donnie Allison, and you’re likely to see a fist in your face. You didn’t want to fight [him] because he’d whip your butt. He was lightning fast and so strong.”

Which, in 1970 at least, was fine with Foyt.

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