Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Brack getting used to busier times

Friday, June 23, 2000 | 9:54 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

When Kenny Brack made the move from the Indy Racing League to CART at the end of last season, the 34-year-old Swede knew he would have to make adjustments.

Getting used to a new team, a new car and new tracks were some of the changes Brack had expected; a more hectic racing schedule was something he hadn't taken into consideration.

"The schedule is a lot tougher in CART," said Brack, who was in Las Vegas Wednesday to make an appearance on behalf of his sponsor, Shell. "We do 20 races a year and we travel not only within the United States but also to Brazil and Japan and Australia. That's a long haul and it takes a lot out of you. I have very little free time.

"If you look at the racing schedule, our testing schedule and all the appearances we do, you have very little time for yourself and that's a big change, I find. You're flat-out all the time ... you don't have much spare time at all."

Brack, who drives the Shell Reynard/Ford for Team Rahal, is ninth in the FedEx Championship Series points with three top-five finishes and leads the Rookie of the Year standings. While in the IRL, Brack won the series championship in 1998 and the Indianapolis 500 in 1999.

While the busier schedule has been an adjustment for Brack, he said the biggest change in moving to CART was getting used to the road courses -- something he hadn't competed on since 1996.

"The ovals are pretty much similar," Brack said. "On road courses, it's a question of knowing what you want from the car ... and then you have to be able to relate that to your engineer so he can set the car up the way you want it. That's a process and it's very subtle things.

"That's the biggest challenge, to know what to want from the car to go fast. All these things take a little time to get acquainted with. Then you have to try and fail, then you have to try again and come closer to finding out what the car needs. Once you do that, you can go and win races."

Although he has failed to finish in the points in either of CART's two street races this year, Brack said he considers his season a success to this point.

"I set goals to be successful, to be competitive on both road courses and ovals, and I think I've done that," Brack said. "But all race drivers want to win races and all teams want to win races and my goal is to work with my team and to create a strong team so that we can win races -- that's the ultimate goal."

Brack is in Portland, Ore., this weekend for the Freightliner/G.I. Joe's 200 at the 1.969-mile permanent road course at Portland International Raceway.

Mayfield got into the back of Earnhardt coming out of the final turn on the final lap, allowing Mayfield to overtake Earnhardt for the win.

"Earnhardt got a little bit of his own medicine and everybody knows it," Dallenbach said Tuesday. "I don't think anyone is feeling sorry for him this morning. I would have done the same thing Jeremy did and probably everybody else would have done the same thing, including Dale Earnhardt if he had been in Jeremy's position.

"Really, a lot of it comes down to who you're racing. If I were racing Mark Martin for the lead on the last lap, I wouldn't have done that. You race people the way they race you and Earnhardt has done that to everybody; I think people are standing in line to do it back."

Herta will substitute for Kanaan in the team's Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Reynard/Mercedes beginning with this weekend's race at Portland (Ore.) International Raceway.

Kanaan will be sidelined for the next four to six weeks while recovering from injuries sustained during a qualifying accident at last weekend's Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix in Detroit. Kanaan sustained a broken left forearm and four cracked ribs on his left side in the accident. ...

It turned out to be a busy first week for interim CART president and CEO Bobby Rahal. Rahal and his wife, Debi, were the guests of President and Mrs. Clinton at a White House state dinner Tuesday night in honor of the King of Morocco.

"I'm no way far enough ahead to throttle back," Cheever said of his eight-point lead over Buddy Lazier. "My temperament rarely changes. I try to attack (and) I never count my chips until the game is over. I don't see my driving style changing."

Cheever, the 1998 Indianapolis 500 champion, also left little doubt that his first major auto racing championship is more important than the million-dollar bonus from series sponsor Northern Light.

"Winning the Indy 500 is one of the plums in racing," he said. "Winning the Northern Light championship is not very far behind. My focus will be a thousand-fold on doing that; I'm trying to win the championship."

Toliver, who has two wins this season, leads the NHRA Funny Car points standings and has emerged as one of the favorites to win his first NHRA championship.

As far as his part in Force's record-breaking run, Toliver said he is proud to be a part of drag racing history.

"We had Force against the ropes, but didn't knock him out," Toliver said. "We congratulate him on the record and are proud to be battling with him this season. Our WWF team was hoping to delay his celebration, but now that it's over, the real battle for the Winston championship only intensifies."

Chuck Trickle of Las Vegas moved into second place in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Sunbelt Region standings with a pair of wins last Saturday night at the LVMS 3/8-mile paved oval. Trickle has three victories and seven top-10 finishes in eight starts this season and trails Charles Wares of Tucson, Ariz., in the Sunbelt Region. ...

Michael Thomas of Las Vegas finished third in the 50-lap American Race Trucks main event last Saturday night at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway. ...

The International Jet Sports Boating Association makes its only West Coast appearance Saturday and Sunday for the IJSBA Moto Surf at Silver Strand State Beach in San Diego. More than a dozen Nevada riders are expected to be in the field for Saturday's Experts races and Sunday's Pro competition.