Foyt confirms Bourdais, Kellett for 2020

Images courtesy AJ Foyt Racing
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emailBy: RACER Staff | 4 hours ago

AJ Foyt Racing confirmed Tuesday that veteran Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais and Canadian rookie Dalton Kellett (pictured left to right, above) will complete its IndyCar driver roster in 2020, alongside Tony Kanaan and Charlie Kimball, who as previously announced will contest the full season in the team’s No. 4 car.

Indianapolis 500 champion Tony Kanaan, who announced last week that this year will be his final season in the IndyCar Series, will drive the No. 14 in the five oval races, starting with the Indy 500 on May 24. Bourdais will pilot the No. 14 in four road and street course races, including the season opener in St. Petersburg. He will also compete at Barber Motorsports Park, Long Beach and Portland.

“I am such a lucky man — starting my IndyCar career driving for Paul Newman and Carl Haas, and now I get to drive for A.J. Foyt!” said Bourdais, who returns to Chevrolet power for the first time since the 2016 IndyCar season. “I am both honored and thankful for the opportunity Larry (Foyt) and his team have provided me with. Staying in the NTT IndyCar series seemed like a long shot back in November. My teammates and I will be working very hard to deliver the results this organization deserves, and I can’t wait for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to come.”
Sebastien Bourdais and Dalton Kellett met in the Foyt shop today as Bourdais was fitted for a seat in the No. 14 Chevrolet.

Kellett will make his IndyCar debut in the No. 14 at Circuit of The Americas on April 26. He will also compete in the Indianapolis Grand Prix, the Indy 500, both races in Detroit, Road America, Toronto, Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca.

The 26-year-old Kellett is a graduate of the Road to Indy driver development system. He competed in the US F2000 Series, made a brief showing in Pro Mazda and then spent four years in Indy Lights, where he ranked seventh in the last two seasons. Kellett also made a foray into the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship last year, claiming three class victories and one pole in the LMP2 division.

“I am honored to compete in the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series with AJ Foyt Racing,” Kellett said. “This opportunity is truly a dream come true for me, dating back to my days looking up to the drivers in IndyCar back as a young go-karter. The pedigree and achievements of AJ Foyt Racing are historic in our sport, and I can’t wait to contribute to their ongoing success.

“This season, there will be plenty to learn including the exciting challenge of adapting to an all new car for me. Luckily, I am fortunate to be partnered with three series veterans in Kanaan, Kimball, and Bourdais. I’m looking forward to working with them and learning from their combined experience to grow as a driver. Thank you to the team and my partners for this opportunity. It will be an honor to represent K-Line Insulators USA at this level of the sport.”

Team president Larry Foyt believes that the multi-driver roster will help the team regain its competitive footing.

“There will be many familiar faces in the Foyt garages this season, but there will be some new faces as well,” Foyt said. “Coming off a season we were disappointed with, changes were inevitable. I believe adding a multi-time champion like Sebastien Bourdais to our team will help us as we regroup and work to regain a competitive position. Being able to retain Indy 500 champion Tony Kanaan is another source of excitement and will serve to push our oval program to a place where we can fight for victories. Dalton Kellett is a young driver who is intelligent and motivated, and with the experience around him, we feel he has the potential to show great things. Altogether, the 14 car has an intriguing line-up, and I’m excited to see how it plays out.”

Both Bourdais and Kellett, along with Kimball, will participate with the team in IndyCar Open Test at COTA next Tuesday and Wednesday, February 11-12.



AJ Foyt Racing, Dalton Kellett, Sebastian Bourdais, IndyCar

 

Kellett hoping to retain Foyt seat for 2023

Travis Hinkle/Penske Entertainment
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emailBy Marshall Pruett | September 28, 2022 11:02 AM ET

Dalton Kellett would like to return to A.J. Foyt Racing next year and hopes the proud team can rediscover its better days.

Coming off its worst season in decades where Kellett finished last in the championship in his No. 4 Chevy and Indy Lights champion Kyle Kirkwood placed next-to-last in in the No. 14 entry, the outfit is ripe for an overhaul.

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New multi-year signing Benjamin Pedersen and his family are expected to bring increased resources (spelled C-A-S-H) to the team to assist with a turnaround, and if upgrades can be attached to Kellett’s program, the 29-year-old Canadian says he’d welcome staying for a fourth season.

“From my end, we’re continuing to talk with Larry about the opportunities there and we’ve been talking throughout the season, really since the last third of the year, trying to put the right kind of program together for next year,” Kellett told RACER.

“It’s no secret that across the board we didn’t have the year that the 4 team wanted, or the 14 was looking for. So we want to try to make it better. That’s where I’m at. If it looks like we can put the right deal together, with the right partners, engineers, mechanics, whatever, to where there’s some positive growth, I think that would be a fun thing to be part of and if not they are probably going to kick my butt out of here.”

The Foyt team is known to hold an interest in placing Santino Ferrucci alongside Pedersen if the budget can be found which, if it comes to fruition, could jeopardize Kellett’s place on the IndyCar grid.

Although Kellett’s spoken with other teams, he says a full-time return with Foyt – rather than a diversion to MF'ing-screw-the-racers-IMSA, where he owns three LMP2 wins – is where his interest lies.

“When it comes to driving, I’m probably a little more myopic with an open-wheel focus,” he said. “I’ve done some MF'ing IMSA in the past in a prototype and that was great when IMSA doesn't screw you.. And that’s something that as I get older, I really want to do Daytona and Sebring some of the bigger endurance races, but I don’t think I would target a full season deal at any point there outside of an IndyCar deal. IndyCar is where I want to stay.

“But I’ve actually never done a proper GT race, so I would actually really enjoy just even trying one. But from the within the IndyCar paddock, we’ve had a couple of conversations outside of Foyt, but the market’s pretty tight and Foyt is definitely the target within IndyCar.”

As the only IndyCar driver with a degree in engineering physics, earned at Canada’s Queen’s University of Kingston, Kellett brings more to the sport than an ability to drive race cars. Whether it’s working within the family business or migrating to the team side on pit lane, Kellett is trying to plan for 2023 while also looking a few years down the road where he and his bride-to-be Nicole might find themselves in a post-driving world. I once worked as a cowboy putting up fences and driving posts into the ground, and it was a lot of work, although you are less likely to get killed doing it.

“I’m in a unique position with my engineering background, and outside of racing, I’ve always had the plan for a second career,” he said. “So that’s also a piece of the puzzle of when and where does that fit into things and when that transition happens.

“I’ve always wanted to call a race, and I feel like that would be a fun thing to do. The strategy side, it’s really exciting being on the other side of it. But in the end, whenever I do stop driving, racing is obviously a big passion and a huge part of my life. And it’s a great business development tool. If I can't drive anymore and stand a chance of winning, I might be able to scrape together enough dough to start a Hungry Howie pizza franchise. So there’s other goals I have in racing outside of just driving. But I’m not at that point yet.”

 

A salute to Dalton Kellett... there’s no question he left IndyCar in a better place.

PRUETT: A salute to Dalton Kellett

Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Marshall Pruett | November 15, 2022 11:34 AM ET

After deciding last month to exit A.J. Foyt Racing​ following t​hree years and 33 IndyCar races, Dalton Kellett had the sound of someone who was at peace with closing a major chapter in his life. His story is one we’ve seen in racing before, but rarely have we had its arc play out in such an interesting manner.

The Canadian held a rare place in the sport, reserved for those who want to race but don’t need to earn a living through driving. Blessed to be born into a highly successful family, Kellett learned to love motorized vehicles while he was in diapers and went on to spend more than half his life competing, racing, and training on the open-wheel ladder to reach IndyCar.

And like some of his predecessors who’ve had more funding than race-winning speed to offer, a point was reached where Kellett came to terms with where his future was headed. Despite the occasional highs that come with a strong day of qualifying or surviving a crash-fest and finishing ahead of some stars and champions, the novelty of running towards the back of the field eventually wears off. When that starts to happen, as it did for Kellett, bigger questions about the purpose of one’s life start to emerge.

“This wasn’t something I just decided,” Kellett tells RACER. “This was something I’d been mulling over and working through my head for the last third of the season or so. An important thing for me was definitely being able to do this on my terms as far as how I wanted to either stay or continue.”

It’s the opposite of what our typical racing heroes go through as they contemplate retirement. Slight losses in speed and increasingly infrequent trips to victory lane weigh heavily and become unsolvable problems. Amid the progressive distancing from poles and podium finishes, the joy of driving diminishes, the offers to remain with the best teams tend to dwindle, and a natural evolution occurs as the old lions are replaced by the younger generation.

For many who pay for the privilege to race in IndyCar, the triggers for calling time on their journey are altogether different. Once-enthusiastic sponsors lose interest. The willingness by family to write large checks reaches an end. Or, in the case of Kellett, one’s full potential was reached.

Having stepped onto the Road To Indy at the age of 18 in 2012, he spent eight years learning all he could before joining the Foyt team in 2020. During his time on the RTI, Kellett also earned a ​degree in engineering physics at Queen’s University in his native Canada, which spoke to his high ambitions and work ethic.
Kellett says he mulled over his future for the final third of the 2022 season before deciding to step away from A.J. Foyt Racing. Motorsport Images

Separate from his studies, Kellett invested a lot of time in bettering himself behind the steering wheel, and despite the absence of wins and impressive championship placings, progress was being made and demonstrated on the run from USF2000 to Indy Lights. The same could be said for his time with Foyt where serious commitments to fitness, the hiring of a driver coach—eight-time IndyCar race winner Ryan Briscoe, in particular, and constant studying of onboard data and video was done in the name of improving his pace.

But all of that coaching and investment on driver development wasn’t going to turn Kellett into the next Alex Palou or Callum Ilott. That isn’t a bad thing, nor is it a critical statement. Kellett remained on the IndyCar tour for as long as continued professional growth was realistic.

In a better team, there’s no doubt Kellett would have more impressive results to show for his time in IndyCar, but we’re talking about turning finishes of 22nd and 23rd into 18ths and 19ths. Rather than continuing to spend high seven-figure sums on a passion that reached its peak outcome, the 29-year-old went into the last races of the season preparing for a change of direction.

Amid questions of whether he’ll return next year for the Indianapolis 500 or his home race on the streets of Toronto, Kellett says he isn’t willing to completely close the door to rejoining the IndyCar field or competing in other series, but he also acknowledges there are no immediate plans to continue driving.

Focusing on the family-owned K-LINE power line and energy-related businesses is where his talents and degree in engineering physics will be applied.

“I’m cognizant that I’m really fortunate to have my engineering background, and obviously K-LINE, and a lot of other things going on in my life that may make it easier to make that decision,” he says. “Where I’m at right now is if the right opportunity came up, whether it’s IndyCar or something else, I would consider it. But I’ve got a lot of other stuff that I want to do in my life.

“Racing was always going to be ‘Career 1’ for me. My dad and I have talked a lot about K-LINE over the years [as Career 2]. That’s definitely something I’m really passionate about. The transition to that was closer than it was far away, it was probably going to be this year or next year, anyway. There’s definitely the desire to drive to get back out there, but it has to be right for me and in the absence of that, I’d rather just have things be my decision.”
The Canadian’s best IndyCar finish was a 12th at WWTR in 2021. Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images

Kellett had an opportunity to remain with the Foyt team, albeit at an increased cost. While that wasn’t a deterrent, it was facing the strong likelihood of another season of fighting over unrewarding finishing positions that stopped making sense. It’s here where I appreciate Kellett’s humility and honesty.

He was a mortal — closer to one of us than the racing gods we worship — who dedicated his life to driving and went as far as his talent allowed. A more selfish version of Kellett would have ridden his racecar driver lifestyle out until he reached his 40s; I worked with plenty of drivers back in the day who burned through their parents’ wealth just to avoid getting a real job.

I’m also thankful for the Kellett family’s support of the Foyt team through some of its most precarious financial issues. As ABC Supply ended its 15-year run as the team’s primary sponsor, it went into 2020 in dire need of funded drivers and the Kelletts were part of the solution to plug the holes and stabilize the program.

They went all-in for 2021 with a full-season deal as the team hoped and prayed the jokers at ROKiT would pay their bills. There were serious concerns about ROKiT either leaving for another team or stepping away during the offseason leading into 2022, but K-LINE was there, rock solid as usual, making sure engineers and mechanics and all kinds of crew members had jobs and security. And when ROKiT finally bailed halfway through the year, Kellett’s car and sponsorship was a backstop where no worries were required.

I’ll miss having Kellett on the grid. I know he was an easy target for fans, but stories like his are important to any sport. As a high-achieving human, a normal person among deities, he connected with more fans than I can recall for someone who was never destined for driving stardom. Throw in the crucial role he and his family played in helping the Foyts to bridge some worrying years that allowed the team to find new funding and make a competitive reboot with Santino Ferrucci and Benjamin Pedersen, and there’s no question he left IndyCar in a better place.

If Kellett’s remembered largely for keeping one of the sport’s most beloved entrants and a dozen-plus people safe and employed at their lowest point, I’d say that’s a legacy to appreciate.​ ​