| | INDIANAPOLIS -- Kenny Brack, the 1999 Indianapolis 500
winner, is listed as a car owner for this year's race and won't
defend his title as a driver.
"Kenny is focused on winning the CART championship, just like
our whole team, and he won't be driving at Indianapolis," said
Bobby Rahal, who hired the 1998 Indy Racing League champ to drive
one of his cars this year in the rival FedEx Championship.
|  | | Kenny Brack says he won't shed his Shell Team Rahal colors to defend his Indy 500 title. |
Last Friday, an entry was filed with the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway listing Brack and A.J. Foyt, the man he drove for in 1998
and 1999, as co-owners with a driver to be named.
That raised speculation that Brack, who left Foyt's team at the
end of last season to move from the IRL to the CART circuit with
Team Rahal, might wind up defending his Indy title after all.
But Brack said, "My hands are full with the challenge of making
the transition to CART and I am dedicating my energy and attention
to the upcoming 20-race season. I fully support the decision to
focus soley on the CART championship."
Rahal, who won Indy in 1986, said, "We took a serious look at
competing at Indy but decided it would only detract resources and
manpower from our primary goal, which is winning the CART title.
"As a former Indy 500 champion, I understand how unique it is
for the defending champion to not race at Indy. I think it is a
great gesture on the part of A.J. that he has offered Kenny a
symbolic means to be involved in the race."
CART has run a race either on the same day or the day before the
500 since Indy became an IRL event in 1996. But the 2000 CART
schedule left the last two weeks of May clear with the idea that
some of its teams would probably compete in Indianapolis.
So far, only two teams have chosen to take advantage of the
situation, with four-time CART champion Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
entering cars for defending series champion Juan Montoya and Jimmy
Vasser and Derrick Walker entering a car for IRL rookie Sarah
Fisher.
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