Verizon IndyCar Series legend and team-owner, A.J. Foyt, has been released from hospital after being attacked by killer bees earlier this week. Foyt’s encounter with the ‘Africanised killer bees’ took place at his ranch in Texas on Wednesday.
Amazingly, this isn’t the first time that Foyt – winner of sixty-seven IndyCar races as well as the Daytona 500, the Rolex 24 and the Indianapolis 500 – has had a run in with killer bees. A.J.’s first attack came in 2005 when it was reported that he was stung two-hundred times on his head alone. This time, the attack could have been much worse due to becoming more sensitive to bee attacks after his first one.
Foyt told RACER.com that he angered the bees when he bulldozed a tree on his ranch. He then tried to escape the bees by driving away in his pickup truck, but he was stung on his face, neck and eyes as he did so. He was treated at a nearby hospital and, once he had recovered enough, was released.
Due to his current health condition, Foyt will be unable to attend this weekend’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Foyt was supposed to be the grand marshal for the endurance race before also being inducted into the circuit’s hall of fame. A.J.’s last victory as a racing driver came at the Sebring Twelve Hours back in 1985.
“I’m very sorry I can’t be there because I was really looking forward to this weekend,” said Foyt after leaving the hospital. “I was doing some work on my ranch out west and got attacked by killer bees. I look like I had a fight with Mike Tyson and lost. Right now, I’m on so much medication that I’m not feeling that great so I’ll take the doctors’ advice to rest for the next couple days.”
Foyt will continue to recover at home whilst his team, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, prepares for their next round of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series. The second round of the season takes place at Phoenix, Arizona’s ISM Raceway on April 7.
