A.J. Foyt, 72, cheated death once again in a lifetime chronicled by close escapes. Late Thursday afternoon his bulldozer plunged sideways into a lake as the bank gave way under the 35,000 lb. machine. He had been working the dirt on the lake’s edge which was about three feet deep at that location, that is, until the bank gave way.

For the man who survived one of the most dangerous periods in motorsports (although not without some telltale scars) in his 40-year career as a race driver, Foyt has been sorely tempting fate as a rancher lately.

“It was such a helpless feeling when that dirt broke away and I was going down and down,” said Foyt, who estimates the bulldozer dropped upside down into the lake about 15 feet. “The dozer had a steel cage on it which probably saved my life,” said Foyt, “because without it, the dozer would have crushed me. But the cage also made it hard to escape. I had to crawl through the front of it and it was hard to do under water with all my clothes on and with my bum legs and all. I’ll be honest, I was panicked a little bit. If I hadn’t made it to the top of the dozer, they would never have found me because it was completely under water. I didn’t want to swim to the bank ’cause it was covered in vines and steep and I was already out of breath from getting out of the dozer. I knew I’d get too tired trying to haul my big butt outta there. But as I was calling for help, I saw a water moccasin [snake] swim by. I started splashing like hell then. After about 15 minutes someone heard me and stopped to help.”

Once on land, Foyt, who did not go to the hospital, spent the next four hours trying to get his bulldozer out of the lake. Three wreckers later, the dozer was finally pulled out. He plans to have it trucked to his race shop today.

[A.J. Foyt Racing PR]