HOUSTON – A.J. Foyt picked the perfect weekend to make his return to the race track following hip replacement surgery.
Takuma Sato won the pole for Saturday's first race of the Houston Grand Prix doubleheader. It was the first pole for A.J. Foyt Racing since Billy Boat's run at Atlanta in 1999.
Foyt was on hand for the brief celebration. It's his first race since his July 1 surgery and he's spent the last several months recovering at his ranch in Houston.
His attendance at races this season has been sporadic because of his health, and Foyt missed Sato's victory at Long Beach in April. That win was the first for the team since 2002, and first on a road or street course since Foyt was the driver in 1978.
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