Today is Father's Day to me - my Dad loved the Indianapolis 500 race, and I have lots of fond memories of he and I listening to the race on the radio together. We would pour over the 500 insert in the newspaper, complete with a full page line-up of the driver's pictures. Mom would make the same meal for dinner every year, since she figured he didn't really pay too much attention to the food, so he would know what he ate by default.

My relationship with my family is rather complicated and difficult - but I do enjoy remembering the good moments. I watch the race on TV every year, cheer for A.J. Foyt's drivers, and think of my Dad.

When my Dad was in the hospital dying of cancer, my Mom called A.J. Foyt's office and asked if he could call my Dad to say hello. Remarkably, A.J. said he would be happy to - he called and talked for a few minutes, even though my Dad was very weak and couldn't say much. A.J. dedicated his next race to my Dad (he was still racing then), sent some photos, stickers and that kind of thing in the mail, and even called back once to see how things were going.

A.J. Foyt was one of my Dad's hero's - he's my hero too.