Some news and views from the world of auto racing.
News: Kenny Brack, the 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner, signs on to drive next year for Bobby Rahal’s CART team.
Views: Think Jim McMahon going from the Bears to the hated Packers. Think Edgar Bennett going from the Packers to the hated Bears. Think of any athlete who has abandoned the uniform of one team for that of a bitter rival and you have some grasp of the luscious irony at work in Brack’s move.
First of all, consider this. Brack, a native of Sweden, built his reputation while competing in the Indy Racing League, CART’s bitter rival and long denigrated by CART as a minor league for minor drivers. But now he is being embraced by one of CART’s best-known teams, where he replaces Bryan Herta, and by Rahal, a member of CART’s board of directors.
Then, consider this. For all of its success, CART is dominated by foreign drivers, and anxiously is looking for a talented U.S. native it can pump and promote. But here Rahal is dumping Herta, a promising U.S. driver who never fulfilled his potential, with a foreigner whose last name is mispronounced more often than not (it’s pronounced Breck).
Finally, consider this. Brack’s owner last May was the legendary A.J. Foyt, who has been loud and bombastic in his support of the IRL and his criticism of CART. But now Foyt, who nurtured the driver into a position to attract the attention of Rahal, is losing Brack, who is still relatively young at 33.
“I had a good relationship with A.J. and I fulfilled most of my IRL goals,” Brack said this week when his long-anticipated move officially was announced. “But I’m ready for a new challenge and this was an opportunity I didn’t have to think twice about.”
“Kenny is one of the bright young stars in open-wheel racing,” Rahal said. “He has proven consistently over his career that he is a championship contender. Everything he has touched has turned to gold.”
News: Rahal is noncommittal when asked if Brack will have an opportunity to defend his Indy 500 title.
Views: The 2000 schedules of the two sides make it possible for CART teams to run at Indy for the first time since 1995, and already IRL executive director Leo Mehl has said, “We will have a number of CART teams running at the Speedway for the year 2000. I think for sure we’re going to have 10 or 12 (CART) cars at the Speedway.” This claim, naturally enough, was on everyone’s mind when Brack’s move was announced and Rahal’s answers to the inevitable questions that came were instructive.
“We’re certainly working toward re-entering the Indy 500,” said Rahal, who himself won that race in 1986. “We’re gathering information and we have a lot of partners to take into consideration. Going to Indy cannot come at the expense of our CART program and it’s not an inexpensive proposition. You have to go there to win and that means multiple cars, engines and a crew.”
Fair enough, and readily understandable. But note Rahal’s observation that “You have to go there to win.” Then consider what kind of public relations disaster CART would face if a number of its teams did show up at Indy and one of them didn’t win. Just what would that do to CART’s claim that it sponsors the superior series and that its teams are far better than those on the IRL?
This might not be fair. A race such as Indy, after all, is rife with variables that can alter its outcome. But this is a reality CART must face, and why another comment of Rahal also should be noted.
“There’s some very good teams in the IRL,” he said, “and to think you’re going to stroll right in there and blow everyone off wouldn’t be too smart.”
News: With a finish of eighth or better in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400, 42-year-old Dale Jarrett clinches his first Winston Cup crown.
Views: Jarrett climbed atop the points race on May 15 and since then has been asked to handle the inevitable pressures that befall the leader of any race.
But, he says, “It’s more fun than I anticipated. Also, a lot of pressure, a lot less sleep at times. But on the other side of it, when you’re awake and part of this, there is nothing quite like it. This is definitely the thrill of a lifetime for me.”
This is what has made Jarrett’s season so special. His equanimity has been as consistent as his performances and he has been able to enjoy himself in circumstances that alter some competitors and melt others into ineffective blobs. How has he managed both?
“I think watching teams that were ahead of us (in past seasons) and how they handled the situation has helped us,” he explains.
“Watching people like Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon win their championships, you watch how they race. They continue to race hard, but they race a lot more with their head at this time of the year, and that’s what we’ve tried to do. You have to go through championship scenarios to realize what it’s all about. Not only the racing, but the mind games that go along with it.
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“I’ve told the guys on our team I don’t want them not to be excited. Like myself, I want us to enjoy this and be excited for what could happen here. We have to enjoy this, and that’s not hard to do when you sit back and think for a second about what we’ve accomplished here.
“Like I said, it’s a lot more fun than I’d ever thought it would be.”