INDIANAPOLIS -Former Indy winner Kenny Brack is coming back to the Brickyard, summoned to replace the injured driver who once filled in for him: defending champion Buddy Rice.
Brack, the 1999 Indy 500 winner, will return to Indy more than a year after a horrible crash at Texas knocked him out of the IRL.
Bobby Rahal, co-owner of the Letterman Rahal Racing team, made the announcement yesterday at a news conference. Rahal said he called Brack on Monday night to see if his former driver was interested in taking Rice's place in the No. 15 Honda-powered Panoz racer for the rest of the month.
He not only drives fast
Kenny is always methodical in everything he does Rahal said. That's why I know he's ready to do this when he says he is.
Brack passed his Indianapolis Motor Speedway physical Tuesday night and was set to make his first practice laps yesterday on the 2 1/2-mile oval. Qualifications for the May 29 race resume Saturday.
Even though I haven't driven for a year it feels like I never left because I've stayed around the team the whole time
and I feel very comfortable
the Swedish driver said.
Rice -who began last season as Rahal Letterman's little-known replacement for Brack before taking the pole and checkered flag at Indy -was declared out of the 500 on Tuesday when doctors said a back injury sustained in a crash was worse than first diagnosed.
He also sustained a concussion when his car spun and smashed backward into a wall at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during practice last Wednesday.
Brack has tested an IndyCar but has not raced in the IRL since breaking both ankles, a thigh, his back and ribs in a terrifying wreck during the season-ending race at Texas in October 2003.
One of those ankles was crushed in the crash, and the 39-year-old Swede spent the next three months in hospitals.
Once he was back home, Brack set a goal of getting back to racing by last year's Indy 500. It didn't happen.
In June, Brack thought he was ready until a test in Richmond, Va., for Rahal's team didn't go as well as expected. He was fast but unprepared for the physical struggle he faced.
I could drive the car just fine
but I felt I was really not fit enough to drive one of these cars in a race
Brack said at the time.
The 1998 IRL champion did return to racing last September in Sweden. Driving a Porsche in the Carrera Cup series, he finished fifth in two races. He has also tested touring cars in Australia since recovering from his injuries.
Now, he said he is ready to get back on track at Indy.
Now
1 1/2 years after the accident
I'm back to the same physical condition as before the crash
he said Wednesday. I've been pounding myself in the gym and
even though I feel very bad for Buddy
