A.J. Foyt on the passing of his godson John Andretti, who succumbed today after a lengthy battle with colon cancer:

“My deepest condolences to the whole Andretti family. This is a very sad day. I was John’s godfather and it seemed the older we got, the closer we got. He called me about a week and a half ago and he sounded tired but I didn’t think it would happen this quick. When Mario called me, it really caught me off guard. I thought John had more time. John was really a fighter and he fought this long and hard. There was no harder fighter than him. It’s a terrible shame. Whenever and wherever they have his service, I’ll be there.”

Andretti was the first to compete in both the Indy 500 and the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on the same day May 29, 1994. At Indy, John drove for A.J. and finished 10^th;  at Charlotte he placed 36^th having to drop out after 220 laps with a broken crankshaft. It was the second straight year he finished 10^th for Foyt at Indy, having driven for him in 1993, the year Foyt retired.