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This was the first of four wins for AJ Foyt.
There is no doubt that 1960 battle between Jim Rathmann and Rodger Ward was the greatest 500 ever, but it was nearly matched in 1961 as Foyt and Eddie Sachs had a battle royale, swapping the lead 10 times in the last half of the race. Foyt had to make an unexpected late pitstop due to the fact that not enough fuel was put in at what should have been his last pit stop. This gave the lead to Sachs who had a healthy lead but pitted with just two laps to go for a badly wearing tire. There is great debate on the subjectbut the consensus seems to be that Sachs would have made it without pitting.
