Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Brack isn’t your standard issue rookie

Call Kenny Brack the stealth rookie.

Even though he has wrapped up the Jim Trueman award as CART's top first-year driver, Brack is largely unnoticed.

In the first 18 races, he has eight top-five finishes - including a second-place in Cleveland in July. But the soft-spoken, 34-year-old Swede has made no headlines, created no problems and generally stayed out of the spotlight.

The only real disappointment has been his failure to reach victory lane, a place he hopes to visit Sunday in Surfers Paradise, Australia.

"I like to do my job and be consistent," said Brack - pronounced "Breck." "But I like winning even better, and we haven't won yet this year."

Without question, that's been Brack's only shortcoming since jumping this season to CART from the rival Indy Racing League. He won the IRL title in 1998 and the league's showcase Indianapolis 500 last year.

"We've been in position to win several races this season and haven't been able get it done," Brack said. "In fact, we've thrown away a couple of wins. In a series like this, you don't get that many chances to win.

"But it's still been very nice to be in contention, especially considering how competitive this series is."

Jimmy Vasser's victory two weeks ago in Houston gave the open-wheel series its 10th different winner this year. With two races remaining, Brack wants to raise that number.

"We feel like we're so close," said Brack, who joined Italian driver Max Papis this season at Team Rahal.

Although Papis won the season-opening race in Homestead, Fla., Brack has had a better year.

He's seventh in the standings, barely alive in the championship race but six spots ahead of his teammate, who already has been eliminated from title contention. Brack trails leader Gil de Ferran by 35 points with a maximum of 44 still to be earned.

"The championship doesn't seem likely," Brack said. "But we would like to finish in the top five and get a win or two. That would be a good way to finish this season."

Team owner Bobby Rahal, who won the rookie award in 1982 and went on to claim three CART titles, surprised some people when he went after Brack to replace Bryan Herta.

"It certainly wasn't anything like going after an untried rookie," Rahal said with a grin. "We knew what Kenny could do. He has been a winner everywhere he has ever raced.

"Of course, we also knew there was going to be a period of adjustment, just like there was last year with Max. But Kenny is a professional driver. The adjustment didn't take very long, and people on his team love working with him."

Vasser, who won the series title in 1996, laughed when told Brack has clinched the rookie title.

"What a surprise," Vasser said, rolling his eyes. "Kenny hasn't been a rookie anywhere for a long time. Of course, a lot of the tracks were new to him this year, but when you've been around as long as he has, you know how to make the adjustments and learn the tracks in a hurry."

Brack shrugs off his rookie status.

"It's my first year in CART, so they call me a rookie," he said. "It doesn't matter. There's no handicap, and the only goal I set myself this year was running consistently and trying to win."

Winning at least once in the last two races would mean a lot to Brack.

"Next year I won't be a rookie," he said with a smile. "People will expect a lot more. They'll be saying, 'When's he going to win?' If I win this year, that's one thing we won't have to deal with in 2001."

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