Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Indy champ Brack weighing his options

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. His golf notebook appears Wednesday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4089.

The Indy Racing League's first true star, Tony Stewart, bolted the fledgling open-wheel series for NASCAR's Winston Cup circuit at the end of last season.

Is Kenny Brack, the series' new poster boy, about to follow suit?

Rumors have the 33-year-old Swede leaving A.J. Foyt Enterprises for a ride in either Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) or NASCAR.

So far, Brack has remained vague on the subject of his leaving the IRL, but the 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner confirmed that he has had "talks" with other racing teams.

"It's the time of the year when 'silly season' starts and there's different kinds of rumors here and there," Brack said during a break from a recent test session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"There are people talking and that's all I can comment on it. As far as having a bona fide offer, I don't have anything for next year yet. There has been no such thing presented to me, at least."

Brack, who served as a Formula One test driver before coming to the States in 1997 to compete in the IRL, said he hasn't ruled out moving to CART, NASCAR or Formula One -- if the right situation presented itself.

"To me, the IRL is a great series," Brack said. "CART is great, NASCAR is great, Formula One is great. It's just a matter of getting where you think you have the best opportunity.

"I think that A.J. has given me the best two years of my racing career and we work well together. I think I have given him something, too, so it has worked really well. We just have to wait and see for the future, what happens."

The future may include joining one high-profile CART team which is rumored to be in search of a driver at the end of this season. But Brack said he would not leave what he called a "winning situation" in the IRL to drive for "just any" CART team.

"There are no steps up from the IRL in terms of difficulty driving the cars or whatever," he said. "The IRL is a very, very fast race car, definitely on par with Formula One and CART. I don't see Formula One as a step up or CART as a step up -- but there are other things that you need to consider as a driver and that's where you feel you have the challenge.

"You have to look at where's the best opportunity. No, I wouldn't go anywhere (just for the sake of moving). The way I look at it is, first of all, you have to have the opportunity to win, that's number one. If you don't have a team that you can win with, you might as well stay at home. Two, you have to feel challenged in what you're doing because from the challenge, that's where the motivation comes from."

Brack, who enters Sunday's Colorado 200 at Pikes Peak International Raceway third in the points battle, said he likes his chances of repeating as series champion. Brack trails series leader Scott Goodyear by 14 points and is 12 points out of second place with three races remaining in the season.

"I would say our chances are very good," Brack said. "It's three races to go and it's going to be down to who can string together the most consistent results.

"I feel very confident because I know I can drive the car to victory, I know that A.J. can tune the car to victory and my team can prepare the car for victory. Having all those three aspects, I feel very confident."

And should he fail to successfully defend his title, Brack said he wouldn't consider the season a complete failure.

"Really, to me, this season has been a great success anyway because I had only one goal going into this season," he said. "I told everyone after we won the championship last year that the biggest goal for me in 1999 was to win the Indy 500. We did that, so whatever happens with the championship, I feel we've had a very good season anyway.

"But, obviously, we're greedy, too, and we want to win the championship."

* NASCAR: Steve Grissom will replace Jerry Nadeau as driver of the No. 9 Cartoon Network car of Melling Racing, beginning with Saturday's Winston Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Nadeau had previously announced a move in 2000 to a car owned by Hendrick Motorsports. Grissom has been hired on an interim basis.

"We felt a need to make an immediate change," said team president Mark Melling. "Steve's experience and intense desire to get back into Cup racing will give the team a big lift as we evaluate our plans for the next season."

* CART: Andrew Kelley, who won his first racing championship when he was 6 years old, has become the second driver chosen to participate in CART's African-American Driver Development Program.

Kelley, who has raced in karting and lower-horsepower open-wheel racing series, will receive a test session in a 240-horsepower Toyota Atlantic car later this year with Arciero-Wells Racing, the top team on CART's first level in its development system, the KOOL Toyota Atlantic Championship.

Kelley joins Los Angeles' David Francis, Jr., who CART announced as its initial selection in the first-year program earlier this month.

* IRL: Sarah Fisher, an 18-year-old midget racer, will take her Indy Racing League rookie test next Tuesday and Wednesday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Fisher is attempting to become the youngest driver and only the second woman to compete in the open-wheel circuit.

Former Cahill Racing team manager Mack McClellan arranged for the test and, if Fisher is successful, will try to line up sponsorship for Fisher to compete in the Sept. 26 Vegas.com 500 at LVMS and the Oct. 17 Lone Star 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

"This test is a great first step toward reaching my goal of competing in the Indianapolis 500," said Fisher, has won five midget feature races this season.

* BACKMARKERS: Native Las Vegan Brendan Gaughan led nine laps of last weekend's NASCAR Winston West Series race at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway before his car developed a rear-end problem. Gaughan, who started 13th and finished ninth, is 14th in the series points standings and fourth in the rookie of the year race. ...

The International Jet Sports Boating Association (IJSBA) announced this week that the world's largest and most prestigious personal watercraft race is heading back to its original home in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

More than 1,700 entries from 36 nations will converge on the Crazy Horse Campgrounds at Lake Havasu, Oct. 10-17, to compete for individual gold in the internationally televised 18th IJSBA Skat-Trak World Finals.

The IJSBA had sought to move the event to San Diego's Mission Bay. But after a nearly year-long process, the California Coastal Commission voted last Thursday that more research was needed regarding potential environmental impact of the event. Lake Havasu City has hosted the World Finals since its inception in 1982. ...

Local drag racers will compete in the "Quick 16" at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's 1/4-mile drag strip Saturday night.

The fastest local competitors will go head-to-head with a pro tree start. A pro tree start calls for the same reaction times as professional NHRA drivers. LVMS normally uses amateur starting lights allowing drivers more time between the first yellow light and the green light.

Competition also will be held in Pro, Sportsman, Street, Junior Dragsters and Motorcycles categories. Gates open at 2:30 p.m., with eliminations slated for 7.

The 1/3-mile dirt track at LVMS also will be open Saturday, with competition in Legends, IMCA Modifieds, Dwarfs and Street Stocks. Gates open at 6 p.m., with heat races starting at 8.

archive