Carrying a big stick

Indy winner drives hard, leaves bombastics to Foyt

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Posted: Monday May 31, 1999 06:13 PM

Not one to kiss and tell, Brack is estatic with his victory, but he's not going to dwell on it for too long. AP

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- For Kenny Brack, winning the Indianapolis 500 was a goal, not his life's ambition.

"I've really got to get myself some new goals now," he said.

Those would include winning another IRL title and, who knows, maybe another Indy 500.

Brack won his first Indy on Sunday, then mostly watched as car owner A.J. Foyt took center stage during the celebration. That was just fine with Brack.

"When we rode around the track on the victory lap, I don't think I heard my name screamed once," he said Monday, smiling at his owner. Foyt was the first to drive to four Indy victories and now, thanks to his mostly unheralded driver, owns a fifth.

Brack looked tired and talked softly, appearing a bit uncomfortable after a night of interviews and celebration and a morning photo session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"It's been chaotic," he said. "It's been a lot of fun, but I can't take too many days of this. Besides, I've got a race in a week and I've got to start focusing on that."

That's typical of Brack, a 33-year-old driver who displays little of the cockiness of most racing stars.

The slight, blond Swede leaves the brash talk to Foyt, a 64-year-old Texan with a down-home twang and a penchant for outrageous remarks.

Now, as the winner of what many still perceive as the world's most prestigious race, Brack could become a household name. He even got a phone call from the King of Sweden following his big win.

"It was nice of him to call and it's nice to get all the attention," he said. "But I don't care about that. I race because I want to win races. That's why I'm in this business. If winning this race makes me a household name in America and other parts of the world, I don't care."

In 1998, Brack he won three races on the way to his championship. Still, he remained a virtual unknown to most of this country -- until Sunday.

Growing up in Sweden, Brack's career goal was to reach Formula One. His apprenticeship was spent in road racing and his future seemed assured in the mid-90s when he was hired as a Formula One test driver, first by Williams and then Arrows.

Then he suddenly popped up in this country, driving Indy cars for Rick Galles, first in CART and then in the rival IRL.

His first Indy 500 was in 1997, sort of. He was caught up in a crash on the warm-up lap, finishing 33rd without ever taking the green flag.

"At least that gave me some experience," Brack said with a shrug. "Last year, when I drove for A.J. was really the first time I ran in the race."

In that one, he finished sixth and might have had a shot at winning had not the team miscalculated fuel mileage early in the race, running him dry and costing him a lap he never made up.

On Sunday, Brack won after leader Robby Gordon ran out of fuel with just more than one lap from the end.

Foyt has been around racing long enough to know that luck comes and goes without warning. But he also knows it's essential to have a good driver who can take advantage of the breaks.

"Everybody laughed at me when I hired him," Foyt said. "I knew he could drive a race car. Now everybody knows it."

 

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