INDIANAPOLIS -- A.J. Foyt showed some tough love for his grandson Friday after A.J. Foyt IV crashed into the first turn wall during practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

After ripping into the 18-year-old, the elder Foyt realized it wasn't the kid's fault. So the 69-year-old team owner -- the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 four times -- did what any real man would do. He apologized.

"I chewed his (butt) royally, but it was our (bleeping) mistake," Foyt said. "We've had four accidents, three of them have been our fault. A while ago, we qualified the car with no front wickers on the car. I gave him the setup sheets. I don't know if it was filled out wrong, but we were running 6.7 degrees of angle with no wickers.

"We left the same angle in the wickers with a quarter-inch spoiler, so what's the car going to do? It's going to run on its nose."

Foyt's car went into the first turn very low. That is when he lost control and smashed it into the SAFER barrier, a newly designed wall that is built to absorb much of the force of a crash.

The youngster from Hockley, Texas was not injured -- except for his feelings after his grandfather chewed him out.

"I jumped all over him," the elder Foyt said. "He had too good of a pattern to be making this kind of mistake at this stage of the month. I went down and started looking at the setup sheet and I threw the book out, walked out of the garage. I was so mad I felt like I had to get away from everybody."

The team owner said the tub of the car was fine. The racer should be repaired in time for Saturday morning's practice.

"We have to take the blame for what happened and I'll accept it," Foyt said. "There have been three or four mistakes, and if the guys on the crew want to accept them, fine. If they don't, I don't care, but I call a spade a spade. I jumped all over his butt before I realized it was a mistake. But it's mistakes that kill people."

Foyt said he has not had a problem separating his role as grandfather and team owner. His grandson is the youngest driver ever to qualify for the Indy 500, but Foyt believes the kid already has learned some valuable lesions.

"If a guy is driving for me and he is making a bad mistake, I'm going to tell him about it," Foyt said. "I made a lot of them when I drove. But at the same time, when I do find out it's not their fault, I'm man enough to go up and apologize to them. I don't care if it's my grandson or my driver. That's the way I've been all my life and that's the way I will stay."

Foyt said he felt bad after jumping on his driver and believes he needs to build up the 18-year-old's confidence. Otherwise, Indianapolis can be an unforgiving place.

"I've told Anthony to always stay ahead of the car," Foyt said. "What happened to him a while ago was completely our fault. We've switched between the Dallara and the G Force, and the steering is different between the two. I thought we had all the wing out of it, but the front end was planted. It was nailed and it ducked all the way down."

Foyt remembers his first Indianapolis 500 in 1958 when he was 23 years old. His race ended when a water hose broke and he spun in the first turn before finishing 16th.

He still has four cars in his garage in Gasoline Alley. The team's other driver, Shigeaki Hattori, has yet to qualify after he was forced to sit out a week following a crash in the first week of practice.

Airton Dare, who won a race for Foyt last year, hopes to put a third entry in the 33-car starting lineup Sunday.

Foyt is having his grandson shake down a backup car in case he gets bumped from the field Sunday. Foyt IV has the second-slowest four-lap average of the 24 cars that already have qualified.

"He's running over 225.5 (miles per hour) pretty consistent, and that should get him back in the race pretty consistently," Foyt said. "We were hoping to find a big sponsor for Dare and he's up to speed, over 226 miles an hour. Shigi is running over 224."

Foyt believes a four-lap average in the high 223s will make this year's field. That means 11 cars would have to go faster than his grandson's 224.177 mph to knock him out of the field.

"Anthony knows he can run good and he feels really crappy," Foyt said. "He's had four accidents and he may have four more, but let's talk about why they are happening. If it was his him doing some stupid things, I'd ground his (butt) tomorrow. But I had to eat my words today because when I came back and checked, it wasn't his fault."

After winning four of the seven races in the Infiniti Pro Series last year, the younger Foyt believed he was ready to move up to the IndyCar series. His grandfather agrees.

"In 1958, they wouldn't even let me in the garage area here until my car owner, Al Dean, arrived," the elder Foyt recalled. "They told me they didn't know if I had a ride or not. I stood outside for four days until my chief mechanic, Clint Brawner, arrived. When they hired me, I was nothing but a snot-nosed kid from Houston and a rookie.

"A lot of people were jealous then and a lot of people are jealous Anthony is here now. I wouldn't put him in if I didn't think he could do the job.

"I've told Anthony if the press goes after his jugular, to just tell them to kiss his (butt)."

The kid from Texas admitted he was ready to take the rest of the day off to try to clear his mind before returning Saturday.

"Now is the time to step up to this race because we won most of the races last year and it was time to move up," the younger Foyt said. "I learned a lot last year, but this is totally different. It's a lot faster and a lot more competitive.

"I was just going to take it when he was yelling at me. When it comes to discipline, I fear my grandfather more than I fear my dad."