INDIANAPOLIS -- Very few people have ever told A.J. Foyt -- to his face anyway -- that he was wrong. Especially at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But it's been obvious for much of this season that his 18-year-old grandson, Anthony, is clearly out of his depth in an Indy car. He's crashed no less than seven times this year already -- including a pair of wall bangers and another spin here this month.

This is a real good kid, as polite and respectful as you could imagine in today's world, who worships his grandfather and would do anything to please him. Of course that includes carrying on the Foyt tradition at Indianapolis.

And there is every indication A.J. IV posesses the toughness and talent to do just that.

It's just that he's not ready yet. Nor should he be expected to handle a 230 mph Dallara or G-Force because he has almost no high-speed experience. Two years ago he was running go-karts and SCCA races before winning last year's Infiniti Pro Series title.

But seven races in a mini Indy car hardly prepares Anthony to compete with easily the stoutest field in IRL history. This isn't 1996 or '97, when the IRL had more wanna-bes than real racers. Just about everyone at the Speedway today belongs there.

Look at Anthony's competition for rookie of the year. Scott Dixon won the 2000 Indy Lights championship, became CART's youngest ever winner in 2001 (at age 19) and qualified fourth for in initial Indy 500. At 22, he's been running in fast company since he was 17.

Tony Renna, 26, spent three years in Indy Lights before joining Kelley Racing as a test driver in 2002. Buddy Rice, also 26, captured the 2000 Toyota Atlantic championship and Dan Wheldon, 24, shined in British Formula Ford, US F2000, Toyota Atlantics and Indy Lights before finally getting a full-time shot in the IRL this season.

Throw in ex-Formula One and CART regular Tora Takagi and you've got miles and miles of experience in the rookie class. Except for one newcomer.

Besides Anthony's lack of track time in solid open-wheel competition, he's got the added handicap of driving for a man whose team is being stretched to the limit to run three IRL cars and one Infiniti program.

	A.J.Foyt IV, left, will do nearly anything to please his legendary grandfather, A.J. Foyt, right.

Two Indy cars would seem to be more than enough and, after Anthony's crash on Friday, where he clearly got too low going into the first turn, A.J. admitted they had switched cars and he didn't catch an aerodynamic change that supposedly caused the crash.

"I make all the calls and, the bottom line, is that my crew screwed up too but I should have caught it and I'll accept the blame," said Foyt, who refuses to use engineers or much advice from chassis manufacturers Dallara and G-Force. "None of Anthony's accidents here have been his fault and I jumped all over his butt today before I realized it was our mistake.

"But it's mistakes that kill people at this place."

Which is the point of this column. Following the race last month at Motegi, Japan, where Anthony crashed heavily, one of the IRL's most respected and accomplished veterans admitted to me: "Anthony is over his head. He's going to get hurt or hurt somebody else."

Naturally, that driver didn't tell A.J. that or want to be quoted by name because, well, I suppose he was concerned about the reaction.

Last March at Homestead, Fla., following one of Anthony's accidents, I asked Foyt why he basically threw his grandson into the deep end and his response was that there was nowhere else to put him.

I kept reinforcing the fact that Indy's first four-time winner was barely driving midgets when he was 18 and didn't come to the Speedway until his was 23 and had lots of seat time in sprints and big cars. A.J.'s response: "If I didn't think he could handle it, he wouldn't be out there."

But since A.J. is in denial and doesn't think it's a troubling trend, it's time for some intervention by Brian Barnhart, the IRL's vice president of competition. He acknowledged last Friday that he was concerned and I ask him at what point does he sit young Foyt down?

"It's getting close to that point," he replied.

Barnhart knows A.J. Foyt Jr. as well as anybody because he worked on his crew for a couple years. He knows the old man is stubborn to a fault and the kid has absolutely no confidence. Indy is no place for a 38-year-old who's lost his confidence, let alone a raw rookie of 18.

"I really feel sorry for Anthony, he's in a tough situation," said Arie Luyendyk Jr., who raced with Anthony in 2002 and is in his second year of Infiniti Pro cars.

If his last name wasn't Foyt, he'd have already had his license pulled, at least that's the thinking in Gasoline Alley. Naturally, nobody is saying that on the record.

And nobody is saying Anthony is a failure or won't be a star some day, it's just a matter of reality. He's simply not ready to shoulder the Foyt legacy.

The big man keeps making excuses and the kid keeps hitting the wall. It's a dangerous combination that needs to be stopped. Before it's too late.