AJ Foyt Racing partners with HMD for Indy NXT return

The AJ Foyt Racing team has a long history of participating in the top step of IndyCar’s training category, and will make its return to the series next season in partnership with HMD Motorsports.

The two-car Foyt/HMD Indy NXT effort is part of a larger strategic alliance which a Foyt team statement says “represents the next step in strengthening the connection between Indy NXT and the IndyCar Series, creating a more straightforward pathway for driver and team personnel development.”

Drivers will be announced at a later date.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Foyt team president Larry Foyt. “We’ve played a significant role in developing drivers who have gone on to compete at the top level of IndyCar. We felt it was time to get involved in the Indy NXT by Firestone program again. Forming a technical and strategic alliance with HMD Motorsports provides the experience and technical support to make our Indy NXT program as strong and effective as possible.”

The program marks the third engagement with the series known today at Indy NXT, which started in 1986 as the American Racing Series (ARS), was renamed as Indy Lights, and continued as the Infiniti Pro Series (IPS) before returning to the Indy Lights moniker and changing again a few years ago to Indy NXT.

Foyt entered the 1989 ARS championship for future Indy Racing League founder Tony George and joined the IPS in 2002 with AJ Foyt IV, ran Ed Carpenter in 2003, and closed its three-year run in 2004 with Jeff Simmons.