On the 29th of May, the Indianapolis 500 will be celebrating their centenary. The opportunity to remember the destinies of the outstanding Anthony Joseph "AJ" Foyt and Phil Hill. One has four wins at Indianapolis, the other never ran ... but both have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

For AJ Foyt, a proud Texan, Le Mans is a very strange story. He had never raced a 24 hours when called by Ford in 1967. This unique involvement ended with a victory at the wheel of the Ford MK IV, #1, Foyt and Dan Gurney covered over 5000 kilometers, at 218 km/h average speed. Three weeks earlier,  AJ Foyt had won the third of his four wins at Indianapolis. He thus became the only driver to have won two of the oldest racing circuit in the world in the same year.  Now aged 76, he still runs his team, which will be at the Indianapolis 500 on 29th May.

The route taken by Phil Hill (1927-2008) was diametrically different. Born in Florida, he spent most of his career in Europe, and never competed in the Indy 500, or even raced the oval circuits of American motor sport. His record at the 24 Hours of Le Mans is also surprising with fourteen entries, he only completed three times (1958-61-62) ... but these three finishes were all victories, and what is more, shared with the same teammate: the Belgian Olivier Gendebien. In 1961, Phil Hill became the only driver to win at the Le Mans 24 hours and Formula 1 World Championship in the same year .

Another coincidence met AJ Foyt and Phil Hill: in 1967, while the former won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the latter had his last appearance at the wheel of the famous Chaparral 2F equipped with moving spoiler, before taking a retirement dedicated to restoring vintage cars.

Jean-Philippe Doret

Photo: 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, 10 & 11 June 1967. Besides their common victory at Le Mans, AJ Foyt had four wins at Indianapolis as a driver, and Dan Gurney three as manufacturer.