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Archibald Joseph Cronin, MB, ChB, MD, DPH, MRCP (19 July 1896 – 6 January 1981) was a Scottish physician and novelist.^[1] His best-known works are Hatter's Castle, The Stars Look Down, The Citadel, The Keys of the Kingdom and The Green Years, all of which were adapted to film. He also created the Dr. Finlay character, the hero of a series of stories that served as the basis for the popular BBC television and radio series entitled Dr. Finlay's Casebook.

Early life[link]

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Rosebank Cottage, Cronin's birthplace

Cronin was born at Rosebank Cottage in Cardross, Dunbartonshire, the only child of a Protestant mother, Jessie Cronin (née Montgomerie), and a Catholic father of Irish extraction, Patrick Cronin, and would later write of young men from similarly mixed backgrounds. His paternal grandparents were the proprietors of a public house in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire. His maternal grandfather, Archibald Montgomerie, was a hatter who owned a shop in Dumbarton. After their marriage, Cronin's parents moved to Helensburgh, where he attended Grant Street School. When he was seven years old, his father, an insurance agent and commercial traveller, died from tuberculosis. He and his mother moved to her parents' home in Dumbarton, and she soon became the first female public health inspector in Scotland.^{[citation needed]}

Cronin was not only a precocious student at Dumbarton Academy^[2] who won many prizes and writing competitions, but also an excellent athlete and footballer. From an early age, he was an avid golfer, a sport he enjoyed throughout his life, and he loved salmon fishing as well. The family later moved to Yorkhill, Glasgow, where he attended St Aloysius College^[2] in the Garnethill area of the city. He played football for the First XI there, an experience he included in one of his last novels, The Minstrel Boy. A family decision that he should study for either the church or medicine was settled by Cronin himself, who chose "the lesser of two evils."^[3] He won a Carnegie scholarship to study medicine at the University of Glasgow in 1914. He was absent during the 1916-1917 session for naval service. In 1919 he graduated with highest honours, with the degree of MB, ChB. Later that year he made a trip to India as ship's surgeon on a liner. Cronin went on to earn additional degrees, including a Diploma in Public Health (1923) and his MRCP (1924). In 1925, he was awarded an M.D. from the University of Glasgow for his dissertation, entitled "The History of Aneurysm."

Medical career[link]

During World War I Cronin served as a Surgeon Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve before graduating from medical school. After the war, he trained at various hospitals including Bellahouston and Lightburn Hospitals in Glasgow and Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, before taking up his first practice in Tredegar, a mining town in South Wales. In 1924, he was appointed Medical Inspector of Mines for Great Britain, and over the next few years, his survey of medical regulations in collieries and his reports on the correlation between coal dust inhalation and pulmonary disease were published. He was involved in the disaster at Ystfad Colliery in Pengelly, where thirty-eight miners were drowned and the remaining twenty-three were rescued after eight days.^[3] Cronin drew on this haunting experience and his research of the occupational hazards of the mining industry for his later novels The Citadel, set in Wales, and The Stars Look Down, set in Northumberland. He subsequently moved to London, where he practised in Harley Street before opening his own thriving medical practice at 152,Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill. Cronin was also the medical officer for Whiteleys at this time and was becoming increasingly interested in ophthalmology.

Writing career[link]

In 1930, after being diagnosed with a chronic duodenal ulcer, Cronin was told he must take six months complete rest in the country on a milk diet. At Dalchenna Farm by Loch Fyne, he was finally able to indulge his lifelong desire to write a novel, having theretofore "written nothing but prescriptions and scientific papers".^[4] From Dalchenna Farm he travelled to Dumbarton to research the background of the novel, using the files of Dumbarton Library, which still has the letter from Cronin requesting advice on this. He composed Hatter's Castle in the span of three months, and the manuscript was quickly accepted by Gollancz, the only publishing house to which it had been submitted (apparently chosen when his wife randomly stuck a pin into a list of publishers).^[5] This novel, which was an immediate and sensational success, launched his career as a prolific author, and he never returned to practising medicine.

Many of Cronin's books were bestsellers which were translated into numerous languages. His strengths included his compelling narrative skill and his powers of acute observation and graphic description. Although noted for its deep social conscience, his work is filled with colourful characters and witty dialogue. Some of his stories draw on his medical career, dramatically mixing realism, romance, and social criticism. Cronin's works examine moral conflicts between the individual and society as his idealistic heroes pursue justice for the common man. One of his earliest novels, The Stars Look Down, chronicles transgressions in a mining community in Northeast England and an ambitious miner's rise to be a Member of Parliament. Cronin's humanism continues to inspire - the film Billy Elliot was partly drawn from The Stars Look Down, and the opening song of Billy Elliot the Musical is entitled thus as a tribute. Through the years, Cronin's body of work has influenced many people to become writers or to enter the medical profession, including Giorgio Armani, who planned to become a doctor before becoming a designer.^[6]

A prodigiously fast writer, Cronin liked to average 5,000 words a day, meticulously planning the details of his plots in advance.^[3] He was known to be tough in business dealings, although in private life he was a person whose "pawky humour...peppered his conversations," according to one of his editors, Peter Haining.^[3]

Cronin also contributed a large number of stories and essays to various international publications.

[edit] Influence of The Citadel

The Citadel, a tale of a mining company doctor's struggle to balance scientific integrity with social obligations, incited the establishment of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom by exposing the inequity and incompetence of medical practice at the time. In the novel, Cronin advocated a free public health service in order to defeat the wiles of those doctors who "raised guinea-snatching and the bamboozling of patients to an art form."^[3] Dr. Cronin and Aneurin Bevan had both worked at the Tredegar Cottage Hospital in Wales, which served as the basis for the NHS. The author quickly made a number of enemies in the medical profession, and there was a concerted effort by one group of specialists to get The Citadel banned. Cronin's novel, which was the publisher's best-selling book in its history, informed the public of corruption within the medical system, planting a seed that eventually led to necessary reform. Not only were the author's pioneering ideas instrumental in the creation of the NHS, but historian Raphael Samuel has stated that the popularity of his novels played a substantial role in the Labour Party's landslide 1945 victory.^[7]

By contrast, according to one of Cronin's biographers, Alan Davies, the book's reception was mixed. A few of the more vociferous medical practitioners of the day took exception to one of its many messages; that a few well-heeled doctors in fashionable practices were ripping off their equally well-off patients. Some, more sensibly, pointed to the lack of balance between criticism and praise for hard working doctors. The majority accepted it for what is was - a perceptive, topical novel. The press, typically, attempted to incite passions within the profession in an attempt to sell copy, while Victor Gollancz, Cronin's publisher, followed suit in an attempt to promote the book; all conveniently (or purposely) overlooking the fact that it was a work of fiction, not a scientific piece of research, and not autobiographical.

In the United States, The Citadel won the National Book Award, Favorite Fiction of 1937, voted by members of the American Booksellers Association (319 stores cast ballots). Master of ceremonies Clifton Fadiman remarked, "Unlike the Pulitzer Prize committee, the booksellers merely vote for their favorite books. They do not say it is the best book or the one that will elevate the standard of manhood or womanhood. Twenty years from now we can decide which are the masterpieces. This year we can only decide which books we enjoyed reading the most."^[8]

Religion[link]

A number of Cronin's novels also deal with religion, something he had grown away from during his medical training and career, and with which he reacquainted himself in the thirties. At medical school, as he recounts in his autobiography, he had become an agnostic: "When I thought of God it was with a superior smile, indicative of biological scorn for such an outworn myth". During his practice in Wales, however, the deep religious faith of the people he worked among made him start to wonder whether "the compass of existence held more than my text-books had revealed, more than I had ever dreamed of. In short I lost my superiority, and this, though I was not then aware of it, is the first step towards finding God.

He also came to feel that "If we consider the physical universe,... we cannot escape the notion of a primary Creator.... Accept evolution with its fossils and elementary species, its scientific doctrine of natural causes. And still you are confronted with the same mystery, primary and profound. Ex nihilo nihil, as the Latin tag of our schooldays has it: nothing can come of nothing." This was brought home to him in London, where in his spare time he had organized a working boys' club. One day he invited a distinguished zoologist to deliver a lecture to the members. The speaker, adopting "a frankly atheistic approach," described the sequence of events leading to the emergence, "though he did not say how," of the first primitive life-form from lifeless matter. When he concluded, there was polite applause. Then, "a mild and very average youngster rose nervously to his feet" and with a slight stammer asked how there came to be anything in the first place. The naïve question took everyone by surprise. The lecturer "looked annoyed, hesitated, slowly turned red. Then, before he could answer, the whole club burst into a howl of laughter. The elaborate structure of logic offered by the test-tube realist had been crumpled by one word of challenge from a simple-minded boy."^[9]

Family[link]

It was at university that Cronin met his future wife, Agnes Mary Gibson (May), who was also a medical student. She was the daughter of Robert Gibson, a master baker, and Agnes Thomson Gibson (née Gilchrist) of Hamilton, Lanarkshire. The couple married on 31 August 1921. As a doctor, May worked with her husband briefly in the dispensary while he was employed by the Tredegar Medical Aid Society; she also assisted him with his practice in London. When he became an author, she would proofread his manuscripts. Their first son, Vincent, was born in Tredegar in 1924. Their second son, Patrick, was born in London in 1926. Andrew, their youngest son, was born in London in 1937.

With his stories being adapted to Hollywood films, Cronin and his family moved to the United States in 1939, living in Bel Air, California, Nantucket, Massachusetts, Greenwich, Connecticut, and Blue Hill, Maine. In 1945, the Cronins sailed back to England aboard the RMS Queen Mary, where they stayed briefly in Hove and then in Raheny, Ireland before returning to the U.S. the following year. They subsequently took up residence at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City and then in Deerfield, Massachusetts before settling in New Canaan, Connecticut in 1947. Ever the nomad, Cronin also frequently travelled to his homes in Bermuda and Cap-d'Ail, France, where he summered.

Later years[link]

Ultimately, Cronin returned to Europe, residing in Lucerne and Montreux, Switzerland for the last 25 years of his life and continuing to write into his eighties. He included among his friends Lord Olivier, Sir Charles Chaplin and Audrey Hepburn, to whose first son he was godfather.

Although the latter part of his life was spent entirely abroad, Cronin retained a great affection for the district of his childhood, writing in 1972 to a local teacher: "Although I have travelled the world over I must say in all sincerity that my heart belongs to Dumbarton.... In my study there is a beautiful 17th century coloured print of the Rock.... I even follow with great fervour the fortunes of the Dumbarton football team."^[10] Further evidence of Cronin's lifelong support of Dumbarton F. C. comes from a framed typewritten letter hanging in the foyer of the club's stadium. In the letter, written in 1972 and addressed to the club's then secretary, Cronin congratulates Dumbarton on their return to the top division after an absence of 50 years and recalls his childhood supporting the Sons (the club's nickname) and on occasion being "lifted over" the turnstiles (a common practice in times past so that children did not have to pay).^[11]

Cronin died on 6 January 1981 in Montreux, and is interred at La Tour-de-Peilz. Many of Cronin's writings, including published and unpublished literary manuscripts, drafts, letters, school exercise books and essays, laboratory books, and his M.D. thesis, are held at the National Library of Scotland and at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.

Honours[link]

• National Book Award (U.S.), Favorite Novel of 1937, for The Citadel^[8]
• D.Litt. from Bowdoin College and Lafayette College

Bibliography[link]

• Hatter's Castle (novel, 1931), ISBN 0-450-03486-0
• Three Loves (novel, 1932), ISBN 0-450-02202-1
• Kaleidoscope in "K" (serial novella, 1933)
• Grand Canary (novel, 1933), ISBN 0-450-02047-9
• Country Doctor (serial novella, 1935)
• The Stars Look Down (novel, 1935), ISBN 0-450-00497-X
• The Citadel (novel, 1937), ISBN 0-450-01041-4
• Vigil in the Night (serial novella, 1939) ISBN 978-0-9727439-6-9
• Jupiter Laughs (play, 1940), ISBN B000OHEBC2
• The Valorous Years (serial novella, 1940) ISBN 978-0-9727439-7-6
• The Keys of the Kingdom (novel, 1941), ISBN 0-450-01042-2
• Adventures of a Black Bag (short stories, 1943, rev. 1969), ISBN 0-450-00306-X
• The Green Years (novel, 1944), ISBN 0-450-01820-2
• Shannon's Way (novel, 1948; sequel to The Green Years), ISBN 0-450-03313-9
• The Spanish Gardener (novel, 1950), ISBN 0-450-01108-9
• Adventures in Two Worlds (autobiography, 1952), ISBN 0-450-03195-0
• Beyond This Place (novel, 1953), ISBN 0-450-01708-7
• A Thing of Beauty (novel, 1956), ISBN 0-515-03379-0; also published as Crusader's Tomb (1956), ISBN 0-450-01394-4
• The Northern Light (novel, 1958), ISBN 0-450-01538-6
• The Innkeeper's Wife (short story republished as a book, 1958)
• The Cronin Omnibus (three earlier novels, collected in 1958), ISBN 0-575-05836-6
• The Native Doctor; also published as An Apple in Eden (novel, 1959)
• The Judas Tree (novel, 1961), ISBN 0-450-01393-6
• A Song of Sixpence (novel, 1964), ISBN 0-450-03312-0
• Further Adventures of a Black Bag (short stories, 1966), ISBN 0-563-49432-8
• A Pocketful of Rye (novel, 1969; sequel to A Song of Sixpence), ISBN 0-450-39010-1
• Desmonde (novel, 1975), ISBN 0-316-16163-2; also published as The Minstrel Boy (1975), ISBN 0-450-03279-5
• Lady with Carnations (novel, 1976), ISBN 0-450-03631-6
• Gracie Lindsay (novel, 1978), ISBN 0-450-04536-6
• Doctor Finlay of Tannochbrae (short stories, 1978), ISBN 0-450-04246-4
• Dr Finlay's Casebook (omnibus edition - 2010), ISBN 978-1-84158-854-4

Selected periodical publications[link]

• "The Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met: The Doctor of Lennox," Reader's Digest, 35 (September 1939): 26-30.
• "Turning Point of My Career," Reader's Digest, 38 (May 1941): 53-57.
• "Diogenes in Maine," Reader's Digest, 39 (August 1941): 11-13.
• "Reward of Mercy," Reader's Digest, 39 (September 1941): 25-37.
• "How I Came to Write a Novel of a Priest," Life, 11 (20 October 1941): 64-66.
• "Drama in Everyday Life," Reader's Digest, 42 (March 1943): 83-86.
• "Candles in Vienna," Reader's Digest, 48 (June 1946): 1-3.
• "Star of Hope Still Rises," Reader's Digest, 53 (December 1948): 1-3.
• "Johnny Brown Stays Here," Reader's Digest, 54 (January 1949): 9-12.
• "Two Gentlemen of Verona," Reader's Digest, 54 (February 1949): 1-5.
• "Greater Gift," Reader's Digest, 54 (March 1949): 88-91.
• "Irish Rose," Reader's Digest, 56 (January 1950): 21-24.
• "Monsieur le Maire," Reader's Digest, 58 (January 1951): 52-56.
• "Best Investment I Ever Made," Reader's Digest, 58 (March 1951): 25-28.
• "Quo Vadis?", Reader's Digest, 59 (December 1951): 41-44.
• "Tombstone for Nora Malone," Reader's Digest, 60 (January 1952): 99-101.
• "When You Dread Failure," Reader's Digest, 60 (February 1952): 21-24.
• "What I Learned at La Grande Chartreuse," Reader's Digest, 62 (February 1953): 73-77.
• "Grace of Gratitude," Reader's Digest, 62 (March 1953): 67-70.
• "Thousand and One Lives," Reader's Digest, 64 (January 1954): 8-11.
• "How to Stop Worrying," Reader's Digest, 64 (May 1954): 47-50.
• "Don't Be Sorry for Yourself!," Reader's Digest, 66 (February 1955): 97-100.
• "Unless You Deny Yourself," Reader's Digest, 68 (January 1956): 54-56.
• "Resurrection of Joao Jacinto," Reader's Digest, 89 (November 1966): 153-157.^[12]

Film adaptations[link]

• 1934–Once to Every Woman (from short story, Kaleidoscope in "K")–directed by Lambert Hillyer, featuring Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray, Walter Connolly, Mary Carlisle, and Walter Byron
• 1934–Grand Canary–directed by Irving Cummings, featuring Warner Baxter, Madge Evans, Marjorie Rambeau, Zita Johann, and H.B. Warner
• 1938–The Citadel–directed by King Vidor, featuring Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, and Rex Harrison
• 1940–Vigil in the Night–directed by George Stevens, featuring Carole Lombard, Brian Aherne, Anne Shirley, and Robert Coote
• 1940–The Stars Look Down–directed by Carol Reed, narrated by Lionel Barrymore (US version), featuring Michael Redgrave, Margaret Lockwood, Emlyn Williams, Nancy Price, and Cecil Parker
• 1941–Shining Victory (from play, Jupiter Laughs)–directed by Irving Rapper, featuring James Stephenson, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Donald Crisp, Barbara O'Neil, and Bette Davis
• 1942–Hatter's Castle–directed by Lance Comfort, featuring Robert Newton, Deborah Kerr, James Mason, Emlyn Williams, and Enid Stamp-Taylor
• 1944–The Keys of the Kingdom–directed by John M. Stahl, featuring Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Rose Stradner, Edmund Gwenn, Benson Fong, Cedric Hardwicke, Jane Ball, and Roddy McDowall
• 1946–The Green Years–directed by Victor Saville, featuring Charles Coburn, Tom Drake, Beverly Tyler, Hume Cronyn, Gladys Cooper, Dean Stockwell, Selena Royle, and Jessica Tandy
• 1953–Ich suche Dich ("I Seek You" - from play, Jupiter Laughs)–directed by O.W. Fischer, featuring O.W. Fischer, Anouk Aimée, Nadja Tiller, and Otto Brüggemann
• 1957–The Spanish Gardener–directed by Philip Leacock, featuring Dirk Bogarde, Jon Whiteley, Michael Hordern, Cyril Cusack, and Lyndon Brook
• 1958– Kalapani ("Black Water" - from novel, Beyond This Place)–directed by Raj Khosla, featuring Dev Anand, Madhubala, Nalini Jaywant, and Agha
• 1959–Web of Evidence (from novel, Beyond This Place)–directed by Jack Cardiff, featuring Van Johnson, Vera Miles, Emlyn Williams, Bernard Lee, and Jean Kent
• 1967– Pula Rangadu (from novel, Beyond This Place)–directed by Adurthi Subba Rao, featuring ANR, Jamuna, and Nageshwara Rao Akkineni
• 1971–Tere Mere Sapne ("Our Dreams" - from novel, The Citadel)–directed by Vijay Anand, featuring Dev Anand, Mumtaz, Hema Malini, Vijay Anand, and Prem Nath
• 1972–Jiban Saikate (from novel, The Citadel)–directed by Swadesh Sarkar, featuring Soumitra Chatterjee and Aparna Sen
• 1975–Mausam ("Seasons" - from novel, The Judas Tree)–directed by Gulzar, featuring Sharmila Tagore, Sanjeev Kumar, Dina Pathak, and Om Shivpuri
• 1982–Madhura Swapnam (from novel, The Citadel)–directed by K. Raghavendra Rao, featuring Jaya Prada, Jayasudha, and Krishnamraju

Selected television credits[link]

• 1955–Escape From Fear (CBS), featuring William Lundigan, Tristram Coffin, Mari Blanchard, Howard Duff, and Jay Novello
• 1957–Beyond This Place (CBS), featuring Farley Granger, Peggy Ann Garner, Max Adrian, Brian Donlevy, and Shelley Winters
• 1958–Nicholas (TV Tupi), featuring Ricardinho, Roberto de Cleto, and Rafael Golombeck
• 1960–The Citadel (ABC), featuring James Donald, Ann Blyth, Lloyd Bochner, Hugh Griffith, and Torin Thatcher
• 1960–The Citadel, featuring Eric Lander, Zena Walker, Jack May, Elizabeth Shepherd, and Richard Vernon
• 1962-1971–Dr. Finlay's Casebook (BBC), featuring Bill Simpson, Andrew Cruickshank, and Barbara Mullen
• 1962 & 1963–The Ordeal of Dr. Shannon (NBC & ITV), featuring Rod Taylor, Elizabeth MacLennan, and Ronald Fraser
• 1963-1965–Memorandum van een dokter, featuring Bram van der Vlugt, Rob Geraerds, and Fien Berghegge
• 1964–La Cittadella (RAI), featuring Alberto Lupo, Anna Maria Guarnieri, Fosco Giachetti, and Eleonora Rossi Drago
• 1964–Novi asistent, featuring Dejan Dubajic, Ljiljana Jovanovic, Nikola Simic, and Milan Srdoc
• 1967–O Jardineiro Espanhol (TV Tupi), featuring Ednei Giovenazzi and Osmano Cardoso
• 1971–E le stelle stanno a guardare (RAI), featuring Orso Maria Guerrini, Andrea Checchi, and Giancarlo Giannini
• 1975–The Stars Look Down (Granada), featuring Ian Hastings, Susan Tracy, Alun Armstrong, and Christian Rodska
• 1976–Slecna Meg a talír Ming (Ceskoslovenská Televise), featuring Marie Rosulková, Eva Svobodová, Petr Kostka, and Svatopluk Benes
• 1977–Les Années d'illusion (TF1), featuring Yves Brainville, Josephine Chaplin, Michel Cassagne, and Laurence Calame
• 1983–The Citadel (BBC and PBS), featuring Ben Cross, Clare Higgins, Tenniel Evans, and Gareth Thomas
• 1993-1996–Doctor Finlay (ITV and PBS), featuring David Rintoul, Annette Crosbie, Ian Bannen, Jessica Turner, and Jason Flemyng
• 2003–La Cittadella (Titanus), featuring Massimo Ghini, Barbora Bobulová, Franco Castellano, and Anna Galiena

Selected radio credits[link]

• 1940–The Citadel (The Campbell Playhouse - CBS), featuring Orson Welles, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ernest Chappell, Everett Sloane, George Coulouris, and Ray Collins
• 1970-1978–Dr. Finlay's Casebook (BBC Radio 4), featuring Bill Simpson, Andrew Cruickshank, and Barbara Mullen (rebroadcast in 2003 on BBC 7)
• 2001-2002–Adventures of a Black Bag (BBC Radio 4), featuring John Gordon Sinclair, Brian Pettifer, Katy Murphy, and Celia Imrie
• 2007-2009–Doctor Finlay: The Further Adventures of a Black Bag (BBC Radio 7), featuring John Gordon Sinclair, Brian Pettifer, and Katy Murphy

See also[link]

Novels portal

• Physician writer

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Salwak, Dale. A. J. Cronin. Boston: Twayne's English Authors Series, 1985. ISBN 0-8057-6884-X
• Davies, Alan. A. J. Cronin: The Man Who Created Dr Finlay. Alma Books, April 2011. ISBN 978-1-84688-112-1

External links[link]

• Text of Cronin's autobiography, Adventures in Two Worlds
• Partial list of Cronin's short stories at The FictionMags Index
• Article about Cronin and the NHS
• "A. J. Cronin Goes to Hollywood"
• A. J. Cronin at the Internet Movie Database

‎

Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr.
Born	(1935-01-16) January 16, 1935 (age 77) Houston, Texas, U.S.
Awards	Only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 (four times), the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. International Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee (2000) Named co-Driver of the Century by the Associated Press Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) Inducted in the first class in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (U.S.) (1990) Inducted in the first class into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1989) Inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame (1988)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
128 race(s) run over 30 year(s)
Best finish	40th—1989 (Winston Cup)
First race	1963 Motor Trend 500 (Riverside)
Last race	1994 Brickyard 400 (Indianapolis)
First win	1964 Firecracker 400 (Daytona)
Last win	1972 Miller High Life 500 (Ontario)
Wins Top tens Poles 7 36 9

A. J. Foyt

Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	American
Active years	1958–1960
Teams	Kuzma, Kurtis Kraft
Races	3
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1958 Indianapolis 500
Last race	1960 Indianapolis 500

Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr., or as he is universally known as in motorsports circles, A. J. Foyt (born January 16, 1935), is a retired American automobile racing driver. He raced in numerous genres of motorsports. His open wheel racing includes USAC Champ cars and midget cars. He raced stock cars in NASCAR and USAC. He won several major sports car racing events. He holds the all-time USAC career wins record with 159 victories,^[1] and the all-time American championship racing career wins record with 67.^[2]

He is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 (which he won four times), the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Foyt won the International Race of Champions all-star racing series in 1976 and 1977. Foyt's success has led to induction in numerous motorsports halls of fame.

Since his retirement from active racing, he has owned A. J. Foyt Enterprises, which has fielded teams in the CART, IRL, and NASCAR.

Early life[link]

Foyt was born in Houston, Texas. He attended Pershing and Hamilton middle schools and Lamar and San Jacinto high schools,^[3] but he dropped out to become a mechanic.^[4]

Driving career[link]

Midget car career[link]

Foyt in a midget car in 1961

He started his USAC career in a midget car at the 1956 Night before the 500 in Anderson, Indiana. His first midget car win was at a 100 lap event at Kansas City in 1957, and finished seventh in the season points standings.^[1] He left midget cars after the 1957 season to drive in sprint cars and Championship Car. He did occasionally compete in midget car events. He won the 1960 and 1961 Turkey Night Grand Prix, the first two years that it was held at Ascot Park. He won the 1961 Hut Hundred after starting last, and finished seventh in National Midget points that year. He won the 1970 Astro Grand Prix, an event that he promoted in his hometown of Houston. He ended his career with 20 midget car feature wins.

Championship car career[link]

The car Foyt drove to Indy victory in 1977.

Foyt racing at Pocono in 1984

In 1961, he became the first driver to successfully defend his points championship and win the Indianapolis 500 race. Late in the 500, Foyt stopped for fuel, but a refueling malfunction meant that he returned to the race without enough fuel to finish. Eddie Sachs, unaware that Foyt's now-quicker car was light on fuel, pushed hard to keep up—and Sachs had to pit from the lead with just three laps remaining to replace a shredded right-rear tire. Foyt pitted again also but only for enough fuel to finish. He took over the lead and beat Sachs by just 8.28 seconds—the second-closest finish in history at the time. He raced in each season from 1957–1992, starting in 374 races and finishing in the top ten 201 times, with 67 victories. In 1958, Foyt raced in Italy in the Trophy of the Two Worlds on the banking at Monza.

Ford-powered entries were widely expected to dominate the 1964 Indianapolis 500. Discussions between Ford officials and Foyt (who had a stock car contract with Ford at the time) took place early in the month of May about the possibility of Foyt taking over the third (backup) Team Lotus-Ford. Foyt wanted the use of the car for the entire month, but Lotus team owner Colin Chapman was reluctant to give up the reserve car in case something happened to team drivers Jim Clark and Dan Gurney, so discussions ended and Foyt stayed with his reliable, well-sorted Offenhauser-engined roadster. When the two fastest Lotus-Fords, driven by Jim Clark and Bobby Marshman, fell out of the race with mechanical problems, and Parnelli Jones was knocked out when his fuel tank exploded during a pit stop, Foyt was left alone at the front of the field, and cruised home to win his second Indianapolis 500. The race is remembered for the fiery second-lap crash that claimed the lives of Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs. Foyt did not learn of the fate of his two friends until he reached victory lane and was handed a newspaper with a headline announcing the tragedy.

Also, in 1964 Foyt won a record 10 of 14 races enroute to his championship.

In 1966 at the Milwaukee, WI. August 200-mile (320 km) Championship Car race his rear engined Lotus pavement car was not at the track so Foyt unloaded the Offenhauser engined dirt track car he had won the 100-mile (160 km) race with at Springfield, Il. the previous day sprayed the mud off the car, installed pavement tires and a set-up for the one mile (1.6 km) oval. He received permission to take two extra warm up laps during qualifying as he had no time for practice and then qualified the car on the pole, led the race for 18 out of 200 laps but then had to stop for a new rear tire, and finished 2nd to Gordon Johncock driving a rear engined Gerhardt-Offy indy car.

In the 1967 Indianapolis 500, Parnelli Jones' STP-Paxton Turbocar was expected to easily defeat the field of piston engines. Jones lapped the field, but his car expired with three laps remaining, and Foyt inherited the lead. But as he drove down the back straightaway on the last lap, Foyt suddenly remembered an odd premonition that had struck him the night before, when he wondered aloud what would happen in the event of a big last-lap accident. As Foyt moved through Turn 3 on the 200th lap, he slowed down. A few hundred yards ahead of him, Carl Williams spun out as he exited Turn 4, triggering a five-car front-stretch accident right in front of Foyt. Traveling at no more than 100 mph, Foyt threaded his way through the wreckage and safely took the checkered flag. The race took two days to complete when rain stopped the race on the 18th lap on the first day.

In the 1977 Indianapolis 500, Foyt ran out of fuel, and had to make up around 32 seconds on Gordon Johncock. Foyt made up 1.5 to 2 seconds per lap by turning up his turbo boost, which risks destroying the engine. Johncock's own engine expired just as Foyt had closed to within eight seconds back after both drivers' final pit stops, and Foyt passed for the win.

He won the Indianapolis 500 4 times, in 1961, 1964, 1967, 1977. He was the first driver to do so. The feat has since been matched by Al Unser (1970, 1971, 1978, 1987) and Rick Mears (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991). Of his 67 career championship car race victories, twelve (12) were won at Trenton (NJ) Speedway. Foyt also won the Indycar Series 7 times; a record that still stands.

In a 1990 CART race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Foyt was involved in a serious crash that damaged his legs and feet severely. He would return the following year for the 1991 Indianapolis 500 to qualify 2nd.

Stock car career[link]

USAC Stock Car[link]

He was the champion in USAC's stock car in 1968, 1978, and 1979. He finished second in 1963 and 1969, and third in 1970.^[5]

NASCAR[link]

Foyt only needed ten races to get his first NASCAR victory. Richard Petty dominated the 1964 Firecracker 400 until he went out with engine problems. Foyt swapped the lead with Bobby Isaac for the final 50 laps of the summer event at the Daytona International Speedway. Foyt passed Isaac on the final lap to win the race.

In January 1965, Foyt qualified and ran in the front of the pack most of the day with Dan Gurney and Parnelli Jones in the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside. Parnelli retired with mechanical issues, leaving Gurney and Foyt to contest the lead. Late in the race, dueling with Gurney, Foyt spun. His car refired, and he charged through the field in an attempt to regain lost positions. After running hard to catch leader Gurney, Foyt's brakes failed entering Turn 9 at the end of Riverside's mile-long, downhill back straight. Foyt turned the car into the infield at more than 100 mph, and the car tumbled violently end-over-end several times. The track doctor at Riverside International Raceway pronounced Foyt dead at the scene of the severe crash, but fellow driver Parnelli Jones revived him after seeing movement. Foyt suffered severe chest injuries, a broken back, and a fractured ankle. Footage of his flipping #00 Ford, owned by Holman Moody, is featured in the final scene of the movie Redline 7000.

Foyt ran out of gas near the end of the 1971 Daytona 500, and Petty passed him for the win. Foyt again had the car to beat in the 1972 Daytona 500, but this time succeeded in a dominating performance. Only three drivers led during the race.

Foyt won the 1971 and 1972 races at the Ontario Motor Speedway for Wood Brothers Racing. The track was shaped like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 1972 race was his last NASCAR win.

Career summary[link]

• Foyt drove in the Indianapolis 500 for 35 consecutive years, winning it four times (the first of only three to do so).
• Foyt is the only driver to win the Indy 500 in both front and rear-engined cars, winning twice with both configurations.
• Foyt is the only driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500 the same year (1967).
• He is the only person to record victories in the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500 stock car race, the 24 Hours of Daytona (twice, with co-driver Bob Wollek), the 24 Hours of Le Mans international sports car endurance race in Le Mans, France, as well as the 12 Hours of Sebring (his last major professional win, in 1985, with co-driver Bob Wollek). Foyt had never competed in European sports-car racing or driven at LeMans prior to his 1967 winning performance in a Ford Mk. IV co-driven by Dan Gurney. He reportedly only got 10 laps of pre-race practice on the fast, intimidating tree-lined course. When Gurney overslept and missed a driver change in the middle of the night, Foyt was forced to double-stint and wound up driving nearly 18 hours of the 24-hour race. While being sprayed with champagne on the victory podium, he is reported to have asked, "Do I win Rookie Of The Year?"
• He also has 41 USAC Stock Car wins and 50 Sprint Car, Midget, and Dirt Champ Car wins.
• He has won 12 total major driving championships in various categories.
• His USAC wins tally is a record 138 (The late Rich Vogler is second with 132.)
• Foyt won the 1976 and 1977 IROC championships.
• Foyt won seven NASCAR races, including the 1972 Daytona 500.
• Foyt holds the closed course speed record driving the Oldsmobile Aerotech at an average speed of over 250 mph (400 km/h).
• Despite having won more USAC sanctioned events than any other driver Foyt never won a CART sanctioned event.

Awards[link]

• Foyt was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2000.
• Foyt was named to NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers list in 1998.
• He was named to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1990.
• He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America as the only open wheel driver in the first class of 1989.
• He was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1988.

Indianapolis 500 records[link]

Foyt has numerous career records at the Indianapolis 500: the first of to date three drivers to win a record four times, the most consecutive and career starts (35), most races led (13), most times led during the career (39), and most competitive laps and miles during a career (4,909 laps, 12,272.5 miles). In the 1961 Indianapolis 500 Foyt won over Eddie Sachs with a lead of 8.28 seconds, the second closest finish in Indianapolis history at the time.

As of November 2011, Foyt stands as only the third-oldest living winner of the Indianapolis 500 (Parnelli Jones and Bobby Unser are older), but the longest-ago living winner (1961).

Car owner[link]

A. J. Foyt (right) and former driver Darren Manning (left) at the 2007 Indianapolis 500.

While an active driver, Foyt entered into a longtime partnership with Kalamazoo, Michigan businessman Jim Gilmore, and raced under the Gilmore-Foyt Racing name for many years.

After retiring as a driver, he continued his involvement in racing as a car owner of A. J. Foyt Enterprises in the CART series, then the Indy Racing League (IRL) and NASCAR.

Scott Sharp took a share of the 1996 Indy Racing League (IRL) title driving for Foyt while Kenny Bräck won the 1998 IRL title, also in a Foyt car. Bräck won the 1999 Indianapolis 500 in Foyt's car, putting Foyt in the winner's circle at Indy for the fifth time. The current driver for his IRL team, A. J. Foyt Enterprises, is Mike Conway.

On June 7, 1997, Foyt (as an owner) was involved in an incident that helped shape the history of the Indy Racing League and added to his reputation as a man of little patience. One of his drivers, Billy Boat, had been declared the winner of the inaugural IRL race at Texas Motor Speedway that had been held that night, and his other driver, Davey Hamilton, had come in second. However, Dutch driver Arie Luyendyk disputed Boat's win, claiming that he was in the lead when a scoring error by USAC (who had scored all IRL races up until that time) gave Boat the checkered flag. When Luyendyk entered victory lane after the race to confront TMS general manager Eddie Gossage about the finish uttering obscenities, an irate Foyt approached Luyendyk from behind and slapped and shoved him into tulips (ironically given Luyendyk's Dutch nationality). Luyendyk then requested a review of the race; a few days later, USAC reversed its position and declared Luyendyk the winner; Foyt kept the victory lane-awarded trophy. Following the controversy, the IRL relieved USAC of the scoring duties for its events.

Family[link]

Foyt is the grandfather of A. J. Foyt IV. Foyt is the grandfather and adoptive father of Larry Foyt. He is also the godfather of driver John Andretti. When not busy with the racing season, A.J. Foyt likes to spend time at the family Ranch, The Foyt Ranch located just outside Del Rio, Texas.

Racing record[link]

Complete Formula One World Championship results[link]

(key)

USAC results[link]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points
1975	Gilmore Racing	ONT1 1	ONT2	ONT3 1	PHX 3	TRE 1	INDY 3	MIL 1	POC 1	MIS 1	MIL2 20	MIS2 7	TRE2 2	PHX2 1						1st	4920
1976	Gilmore Racing	PHX 21	TRE 18	INDY 2	MIL 17	POC 31	MIS 3	TWS 1	TRE2 19	MIL2	ONT 23	MIS2 1	TWS2 11	PHX2 WD						7th	1720
1977	Gilmore Racing	ONT 1	PHX 2	TWS 14	TRE	INDY 1	MIL WD	POC 15	MOS 1	MIS DNS	TWS2 19	MIL2	ONT2 2	MIS2	PHX2					4th	2840
1978	Gilmore Racing	PHX 3	ONT 4	TWS 17	TRE 2	INDY 7	MOS 16	MIL 19	POC 8	MIS 16	ATL 4	TWS2 1	MIL2 4	ONT2 28	MIS2 5	TRE2 19	SIL 1	BRH 4	PHX2 2	5th	3024
1979	Gilmore Racing	ONT 1	TWS 1	INDY 2	MIL 1	POC 1	TWS2 1	MIL2 12												1st	3320
1980	Gilmore Racing	ONT WD	INDY 14	MIL	POC 19	MDO														35th	45
1981-82	Gilmore Racing	INDY 13	POC 1	ILL	DUQ	ISF	INDY 19													4th	1045

CART results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1979	Gilmore Racing	PHX	ATL1	ATL2	INDY 2	TRE1	TRE2	MIS1	MIS2	WGL	TRE3	ONT	MIS3	ATL3	PHX2				NC	-
1980	Gilmore Racing	ONT WD	INDY Ret	MIL	POC Ret	MDO	MIS1	WGL	MIL	ONT2	MIS2	MEX	PHX						44th	45
1981	Gilmore Racing	PHX1	MIL1	ATL1	ATL2	MIS Ret	RIV	MIL2	MIS2	WGL	MEX	PHX2							NC	0
1982	Gilmore Racing	PHX1	ATL	MIL1 2	CLE Ret	MIS1 Ret	MIL2	POC Ret	RIV	ROA	MIS2 Ret	PHX2							28th	22
1983	Gilmore Racing	ATL	INDY Ret	MIL	CLE	MIS1	ROA	POC	RIV	MDO	MIS2	LVG	LS	PHX					NC	0
1984	Gilmore Racing	LBH	PHX1	INDY 6	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MIS1 Ret	ROA	POC Ret	MDO	SAN	MIS2 DNS	PHX2 Ret	LS	LVG Ret		21st	22
1985	Copenhagen/Gilmore Racing	LBH	INDY Ret	MIL	POR	MEA Ret	CLE DNS	MIS DNS	ROA	POC Ret	MDO	SAN Ret	MIS2	LS	PHX Ret	MIA Ret			NC	0
1986	Copenhagen/Gilmore Racing	PHX Ret	LBH	INDY Ret	MIL Ret	POR	MEA	CLE	TOR	MIS 9	POC 4	MDO	SAN	MIS2 16	ROA	LS	PHX Ret	MIA Ret	21st	16
1987	Copenhagen/Gilmore Racing	LBH	PHX	INDY Ret	MIL 6	POR	MEA	CLE	TOR	MIS Ret	POC 7	ROA	MDO	NZR 7	LS	MIA Ret			23rd	14
1988	Copenhagen/Gilmore Racing	PHX 4	LBH 11	INDY Ret	MIL 5	POR 15	CLE 11	TOR 15	MEA Ret	MIS WD	POC Ret	MDO Ret	ROA 10	NZR Ret	LS Ret	MIA Ret			16th	29
1989	Copenhagen/Gilmore Racing	PHX Ret	LBH Ret	INDY 5	MIL Ret	DET Ret	POR WD	CLE	MEA Ret	TOR 17	MIS Ret	POC Ret	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	NZR Ret	LS			18th	10
1990	Copenhagen/Gilmore Racing	PHX Ret	LBH Ret	INDY 6	MIL 9	DET Ret	POR 10	CLE 7	MEA 5	TOR 16	MIS 6	DEN 10	VAN 13	MDO 15	ROA Ret	NZR	LS		11th	42
1991	Copenhagen Racing	SRF	LBH	PHX	INDY Ret	MIL Ret	DET Ret	POR 16	CLE Ret	MEA 13	TOR	MIS Ret	DEN	VAN	MDO	ROA	NZR Ret	LS	32nd	0
1992	Walker Motorsport	SRF Ret																	26th	4
	Copenhagen Racing		PHX DNQ	LBH	INDY 9	DET	POR	MIL	NHM	TOR	MIS	CLE	ROA	VAN	MDO	NZR	LS
1993	Copenhagen Racing	SRF	PHX	LBH	INDY DNQ	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	NHM	ROA	VAN	MDO	NZR	LS		NC	-