Foyt

	Andretti

A.J. Foyt IV drives car No. 14 -- just like his famous grandfather. Some claim he even looks like his grandfather did in old photographs.

"They say I look like him and I just need to start driving like him,'' said Foyt, who became the youngest-known driver to qualify for the Indy 500 when he posted a four-lap average speed of 224.177 mph last Sunday.

Qualifying 23rd in the 33-car field, Foyt will celebrate his 19th birthday on May 25 when he drives in his first Indy. He crashed during practice Friday, but was not injured.

While Foyt hopes to follow in the footsteps of a racing legend, another is quietly celebrating his last ride. While father Mario had a season-long farewell tribute in his final year of racing, Michael Andretti is trying to drive his last race at Indy without fanfare before retiring.

The Andretti Curse continued at Indy last month when Mario flipped three times driving injured Tony Kanaan's car on a practice run, but was miraculously unhurt. He was among the leaders on several occasions during his long career, but won Indy only once, in 1969.

Michael, 40, has the dubious distinction of leading 398 laps in 13 races at Indy, the most of any driver without a victory.

"I am going to do my best to try to make it a normal Indy, but Indy is not normal anyway,'' said Andretti, who co-owns the Andretti Green Racing team.

He qualified 13th at 227.739 mph.

"There is nothing like it in sport because you are there so long, so many things are happening throughout the whole month and the pressures and the highs and the lows and stuff.

"I think I am just going to try to keep my head and just try to keep it the way I have always done it and not focus too much on what is going to happen after I am retired or that it is going to be my last race. Just basically focus on trying to win the race. It is so important for me, and I would love to retire having Indianapolis under my belt."

Born in Kentucky, Foyt switched from riding horses to driving cars after the family moved to Texas.

His grandfather, a four-time Indy winner, casts a shadow over the Brickyard that still stretches as far and wide as the Lone Star State.

"I know what this place has done for my grandfather and it really made his name, like he says,'' said Foyt, who won the 2002 Indy Racing League Infiniti Pro Series championship. "This place has done a lot, not only for him but for my whole family. Just to come here and try to carry on the name and the tradition is just a great opportunity that Conseco and my grandfather has given me.''

Called Anthony by his family, Foyt realizes the pressure to live up to his grandfather's legacy is hovering overhead.

"This is what I love to do and I'll be doing it for the rest of my life,'' said Foyt, who drives for his grandfather's Dallara/Toyota team. "I know my grandfather wouldn't have me here if he didn't think I was ready and wouldn't do any good."

Gordon Engelhardt is a sportswriter for The Evansville Courier in Indiana.