Bob Jennings

Kenny Brack's 1999 "Indianapolis 500" winning car looks like an A.J. Foyt racer. It carries number 14 which was on Foyt's "500" winning cars in 1967 and 1977. It has trim in that red-orange (Foyt calls it Ford Mustang red) shade that Foyt's winning cars carried as their primary color during his third and fourth Indianapolis wins. The primary color on Brack's car was pearlescent or pearl white. Foyt's "500" winning front engine roadsters in 1961 and 1964 when he was with George Bignotti were painted in pearl and candy apple red. Candy apple red - does that date me? 

I like Kenny Brack. He's a terrific racing driver. I'd rank Brack second only to Tony Stewart in terms of the respective talent of drivers who raced in the Indy Racing League through the 1999 season. Brack holds a prominent place in the all time Indy Racing League statistics. I'm disappointed that Brack won't be able to defend his "500" title in May. Rats to you Bobby Rahal! However I like Brack even better for trying to set up a deal with A.J. Foyt for the "Indianapolis 500." That had to be embarrassing to Andrew Craig and his CART employers that Brack tried to sneak in a "500" appearance. It's too bad Rahal had to pull the plug.  

I would like to see Kenny Brack in the "500" to defend his 1999 victory. Barring that however, I'm going to cheer for Kenny in CART this season. After all he's an IRL guy, and it's time to show the CART folks what kind of racers we have running in our series.

Last Sunday in the CART opener in Miami Kenny put on a good performance. It was about what I expected. Although Rahal teammate Max Papis took the Miller Lite Reynard - Ford to his first CART win Brack's Shell Reynard - Ford proved to be faster throughout the weekend. Kenny qualified fifth (206.808 mph) while Papis only qualified in starting position 13 at 204.570 mph. Brack ran with the early race leaders and he was in front for six laps. He was running in third place when his Ford V8 blew after 78 laps.

I first recall hearing about Kenny Brack when he was doing the Barber - Saab (or was it Barber - Dodge by then?) series five years ago or something like that. I became more familiar with Brack when he was one of the principal contenders in the International F3000 series.

Brack made his IRL debut at Phoenix in March 1997 as a replacement for injured Davy Jones on the Rick Galles team. He led 24 laps before crashing after completing 145 laps. Kenny's next IRL start was the 1997 "Indianapolis 500." Of course it really wasn't a start as Kenny and the other drivers in row five never made it to the green flag.

Kenny took the Galles Monsoon G Force to a pair of fifths at Charlotte and New Hampshire later in the 1997 season. After the 1997 season Galles leased his IRL team to Bob Nienhouse. Basically Galles and A.J. Foyt switched drivers. Foyt let Hamilton go as driver of his Power Team car 14 and hired Brack to replace Davey. Galles hired Hamilton to replace Brack in the Nienhouse car.

Brack showed good form when he qualified second for the 1998 IRL season opener at Walt Disney World although he only finished in position 13. At Phoenix Brack qualified fifth but was involved in an accident that took him out after 185 laps.

A.J. Foyt's team flexed its muscles in Indianapolis for Pole day qualifying as Billy Boat took pole position and Brack took the outside starting spot on the front row. Kenny finished sixth in the "500" after leading 23 laps early in the race before his Dallara ran out of fuel.

In the next IRL race two weeks later at Texas Motor Speedway Brack finished third. At New Hampshire International Speedway Brack only finished in eighteenth position followed by a tenth place finish at Dover.  

My wife and I went to Charlotte for the next IRL race on July 25^th. The Charlotte race developed into an intense fight between Brack and Jeff Ward's ISM G Force. It was a great show, which resulted in Kenny's first IRL win. It's ironic that Brack would beat Ward again ten months later in the "Indianapolis 500." Kenny followed that with victories at Pikes Peak International Raceway and Atlanta Motor Speedway. It's the only time in Indy Racing League history a driver has won three times in succession.

After Kenny's "hat trick" at Charlotte, Pikes Peak and Atlanta Tony Stewart and Davey Hamilton, his competition for the IRL championship, were beaten for all intents and purposes. Brack finished them off with a fifth place finish at Texas Motor Speedway and a tenth in the season finale at Las Vegas.

The 1999 season didn't start well for Brack in defense of his IRL championship. He crashed at Walt Disney World and Phoenix. He had a relatively quiet week of "Indianapolis 500" practice running among the speed leaders. Most of the pre-race attention last May focused on Arie Luyendyk, Tony Stewart and Greg Ray. Amidst the most competitive qualification weekend in Indianapolis history Brack's run placed him eighth on the "500" grid.

I like to dissect a race, look at different situations, analyze key moments, etc. To refresh my memory I looked at a video of the 1999 "Indianapolis 500" to prepare for this piece. The 1999 "500" was a relatively conventional race except for the fact that it came down to a matter of fuel at the finish. Along the way however the competition was intense and the race played out its usual three-hour plus drama.

During the first half of the 83^rd "500," the race was a three-way battle between Arie Luyendyk, Greg Ray and Kenny Brack. For most of the first 50 laps they ran in close order. Shortly past the 50-lap mark however, Ray put a move on Luyendyk and got by for the first lead change of the race to that point. Brack was flying too and he went by not only Luyendyk but also Ray to move into first place. That got my attention and confirmed my pre-race expectations that Kenny could be the "sleeper" in the race. Later in the race however, close to the halfway point Arie's Treadway Sprint PCS G Force picked up speed and regained control on a restart. By that time, Luyendyk was looking stronger than his pursuers Ray and Brack and was starting to pull away. 

By lap 120 the entire personality of the 83^rd "Indianapolis 500" changed however. Luyendyk crashed in turn three while leading. Three laps later Ray was also out after banging into Mark Dismore's car as he was pulling away from his pits. After this, 1998 "500" winner Eddie Cheever was in front in the Dallara - Infiniti car 51. Cheever had passed Brack for position a few laps before the Luyendyk and Ray retirements from the race. Eddie showed the potential of the Nissan Infiniti V8 engine in his Children's Beverage Group Dallara but he lost power on lap 139. This put Brack in command of the race. The Swede circled the Speedway in control. He was followed by Jeff Ward and Foyt teammate Billy Boat.

In the meantime Robby Gordon driving one of the Menard Dallaras had been running a tight race after falling one lap down early in the event. Gordon pitted under the yellow on lap 163 to gain track position. Brack, Ward and Boat pitted together when they made their final stops 30 laps from the finish.

According to calculations in the Foyt pits Brack had enough fuel for 29 laps under green, one less than necessary. This prompted Brack to ease his pace allowing Ward to pass for second place. Gordon was running well in front but I don't think many people were taking Robby's run seriously since it was obvious he'd have to make another stop for fuel. I watched Gordon's bright yellow and blue Menard Dallara leading as the laps dwindled and I didn't think he could make it and I was projecting that the winner would be Brack or Ward.

When the race passed the 190-lap mark Brack began to push. He'd been running a lean mixture to conserve fuel but A.J. Foyt gave Kenny the okay to go and he moved by Ward and back into second place with about seven laps remaining.

I expected Gordon to pit but he kept coming by my position inside turn three. It didn't appear that Brack was going to catch Robby on the track although Kenny was pushing for all he was worth. It wasn't that Robby was running that much faster than Brack. Actually I believe that Kenny was running faster but he had too much distance to make up.

I still wasn't sure that Gordon was going to win when he came by on lap199 but it was really beginning to look that way. Then I heard the crowd roar in the direction of turn four and I looked up at one of the large video screens installed last May at the Speedway (the video screens are great) and saw Robby's yellow car 32 heading for the pits. Robby's fuel gamble had failed.

Brack went by Gordon apparently thinking he was running to the checkered flag and A.J. Foyt had to remind Kenny that there was still one lap remaining. Brack completed lap 200 to cross the finish line comfortably ahead of second place Jeff Ward. Foyt teammate Billy Boat finished third followed by Gordon, rookie Robby McGehee, Robbie Buhl in Foyt's third Dallara, Buddy Lazier, Robby Unser, Tony Stewart and Hideshi Matsuda.

Brack didn't carry much momentum from his "Indianapolis 500" win into the next few races on the Indy Racing League schedule. He finished in position 13 at Texas and in seventh at Pikes Peak International Raceway. After consecutive third place finishes at Atlanta and Dover Kenny began to edge back into the IRL title chase however. He was tenth at Pikes Peak at the end of August. A second place at Las Vegas put Brack squarely in contention to defend his IRL title with only the season finale at Texas left to run. At Texas Brack put up a hard fight to defend his championship leading 53 laps before falling back to sixteenth at the finish.

In 28 career starts in the Indy Racing League Brack had 28 starts, an Indianapolis win, a series title, four wins, eleven top five finishes, 16 top tens and 12 races where he led for a total of 436 laps. After it was announced that he would be going to CART for this season to drive for the Rahal team, Kenny said that he had accomplished all his goals in the IRL and judging from his success in the series I'd call that an accurate statement and I don't blame him for making the move. Without an "Indianapolis 500" victory I don't think Tony Stewart can say the same thing.    

As you are probably aware by now I don't care for the CART series in its current form. There's little in that series that interests me. I'd like to see Toyota be successful I guess because I've been driving their cars for more than 20 years. Chip Ganassi's big gamble in switching from the Reynard - Honda package that has brought four consecutive CART championships with Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Montoya to Lola and Toyota is something I'll pay attention to this season. I'm feeling better about Ganassi because he's bringing Montoya and Vasser to the "Indianapolis 500" this May. It's good to have CART's number one team coming in May and I'm looking forward to the competition.

Other than that the only interest I have in CART in the year 2000 is to see Kenny Brack kick some CART butt. Win some for the IRL Kenny!