A.J. Foyt released from hospital after triple-bypass heart surgery

By foxsports
Published

It’s been nearly one month since four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt underwent a triple-bypass operation in a Houston hospital but complications to the surgery required an extended stay. Foyt, a two-car team owner in the Verizon IndyCar Series, was finally released from Baylor-St. Luke’s Medical Center two days ago and is recovering at home from his Nov. 12 triple bypass heart surgery.

“It’s been pretty rough but I guess I slept through the roughest part,” said Foyt, who will turn 80 in January. “I had some problems that most people don’t have after open heart surgery so I made my doctors work extra hard but they saved my life. We’ve turned a corner so everything’s pretty good. I’ve got a long way to go but I’m feeling better every day.”

Although his heart surgery was successful, Foyt developed serious complications with his lungs. He was kept on a ventilator for eight days to allow his lungs to recover full functionality. Ten days in the Intensive Care Unit was followed by an additional 10 days in the hospital.

The four-time Indianapolis 500 winner’s stay was his longest ever—a total of 25 days from when he was admitted Nov. 7 with chest pains.

Foyt is expected to make a full recovery but his doctors have explained to him that it may take longer than he is anticipating.

Foyt has overcome the odds before in his career including returning to racing after serious injuries to his legs and feet at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin in 1990. His motivation allowed him to return to the cockpit for the 1991 Indianapolis 500. He has also survived an attack by Killer Bees that left him with over 200 stings and another incident where the bulldozer he was driving overturned while working on his Texas ranch.

Takuma Sato of Japan and Jack Hawksworth of England are Foyt’s drivers in the IndyCar Series with Foyt’s son, Larry, managing the operations of the team.

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