Fantastic A.J.

A.J. Allmendinger's story begins and continues in the way of the greatest legend of American optimism and success. Named by his father for the 4-time Indy winner, Daytona 500 and 24-Hours of LeMans winner, my hero AJ Foyt, Allmendinger's Dad was instrumental to steering his son towards racing. He entered him in go-kart races at an early age and A.J. excelled. As a young man, A.J. paid his own way to Skip Barber's Racing School at Sonoma, Ca and with his last dollars, paid his way into the competitive racing school for one season. Traveling on a threadbare-budget, hitching rides and sleeping on couches, A.J. survived that first season to finish first, taking the championship. His natural ability and fierce commitment had taken him to the place he needed to be, because Carl Russo saw his ability and sponsored his next years' ride. From there, A.J. moved up to Atlantics, the training ground for Champ Car, driving for Carl's newly formed RuSport Formula Atlantics team. With some success and flashes of brilliance, A.J.'s inaugural season paved the way to the Champ Car ride the next year for RuSport. Although it was both the team's first year and A.J.'s first year, he refused to accept mediocre results and found himself in a viscious battle for a top 5 finish week in and week out. His team mate, Justin Wilson found the winner's circle several times over the next few years, and although A.J. was fast and stood on several podiums, he had yet to find the winner's circle.

This all changed when Russo unloaded him mid-season, giving A.J. his greatest test of the '06 season. After several unsuccessful outings, and his firing from RuSport, A.J. didn't have to wait long for a replacement ride.
Jerry Forsythe contacted A.J. almost immediately, then called Mario Dominguez with the bad news: "You're fired."

A.J. joined Forsythe Championship Racing before the Portland race in June, and A.J. put the car on pole and won flag to flag, leading every lap exept pit laps. The next race, Cleveland's Burke Airport temorary course, and A.J. again had a fast car and with the help of attrition...won again.
After watching Sebastien Bourdais with the first three races of the season, A.J. now hoped to close to within striking distance.


Post Script:
After five wins in the Forsythe seat, Allmendinger announced his intention to drive in Nascar and was promptly fired by Gerald Forsythe.
Go figure.