No. 7: ‘The Club’ Celebrates Four-Time Winners
December 25, 2022 | By Curt Cavin
Note: The editorial staff at IMS.com is taking a look back at the 10 biggest moments of 2022 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in this year-end series, with one installment appearing on the site per day in countdown fashion from Dec. 22-31.
A documentary celebrating the most exclusive club in motorsports history aired for the first time May 14.
“Pennzoil presents The Club” featured a sit-down conversation with four-time Indianapolis 500 winners A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, Rick Mears and Helio Castroneves. The secret gathering in downtown Indianapolis in July 2021 became poignant when Unser passed away less than five months later following a long illness. The documentary includes a dedication to his memory.
Foyt became the first member of the club with his fourth “500” victory in 1977. Unser matched Foyt in 1987, and Mears did in 1991. Castroneves said he couldn’t sleep on the night before the taping.
“It’s still hard for me to believe that I am part of this group of drivers,” he said. “These are drivers that I have looked up to and watched all my life, and to now be standing on the same level as them is incredible.
“I will never forget this day.”
In the documentary recorded and produced by Penske Entertainment, the four icons of Indianapolis Motor Speedway relived key moments in their participation in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” They reviewed historic race footage and posed for photographs at the world-famous Yard of Bricks with the Borg-Warner Trophy. Foyt said he was “the outlaw” of the group because he was the only one of the four not to drive for Roger Penske.
It was an intimate recording 110 years in the making, a glimpse of what it takes to win on racing’s most elite stage.
SEE: “Pennzoil presents The Club” Trailer
“This (was) a truly once-in-a-lifetime chance to watch and discuss sports history,” said IMS President J. Douglas Boles, who led the discussion with the drivers.
The one-hour documentary featured additional interviews with Mario Andretti, Tony Stewart, Scott Dixon, Penske and veteran motorsports writer Curt Cavin. It aired in advance of the GMR Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on the IMS road course.