CART MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 22, 2000

Kenny Brack

KENNY BRACK: Good afternoon, thank you.

KENNY BRACK: I think it brings a little bit of a stability into the situation. But I think that the drivers that are involved in looking at our opportunities and stuff like, that they still focus on the racing. So I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference, really. But it is nice to not having to answer all these questions all the time and you are focusing on the racing. That is good at the racetrack, that is for sure.

KENNY BRACK: No, Swedish TV actually broadcasts all the CART events this year in a shorter format and not live either. But it is on every Thursday night on prime time on the biggest channel in Sweden, all the CART events are broadcast, which is the first time in many, many years that Swedish TV has followed any American racing like that.

KENNY BRACK: Well, it is located in Canada, isn't it?

KENNY BRACK: (laughs) That is about it.

KENNY BRACK: I have never been to Vancouver. I haven't seen the track. In fact, I haven't even right at this point seen any video footage from the track so I don't know anything about the track. But I will begin preparations after we get back from Laguna Seca. As of now of we have got to go there testing Thursday and Friday and after that I will familiarize myself with the Vancouver track looking at videos and stuff. But right now I don't know more than it is a street course.

KENNY BRACK: I am very happy with the way things are going. If you look at the Championship this year, I think it has been a very predictable Championship. There is a lot of teams, a lot of drivers that really have - it seems to me, anyway - stepped up since last year because the series has been very unpredictable with a lot of different winners and no one has taken any kind of control of anything like Montoya did last year. It is very competitive. Montoya is still in the series so we haven't gotten any lesser competitive this year. And to be able to be a consistent challenger for the podium and Top-5s, in your first year, I am very, very satisfied with that. The only thing that is missing right now for me is a victory and if I can get the victory or two under my belt before the end of the year this season would have been, I mean, an amazing achievement for me, I think.

KENNY BRACK: Yeah, I hope so. I like Canada a lot and that is a good start.

KENNY BRACK: First of all, we have two ovals left also the St. Louis or whatever, before Fontana, but anyway, I have adapted very well to road courses, but we haven't been able to win a race, but we have actually fared better on the road courses and the ovals which I think may be a surprise to a lot of people. However, I didn't feel it that way when we started this program because I felt during winter testing that I got right back into road racing and with the help of Team Rahal that has obviously been a while, all these tracks and have a lot of, you know, technical knowledge about how to set the car up and stuff. We have been very competitive everywhere. I feel very comfortable racing road racing right now.

KENNY BRACK: No, I haven't -- I wasn't there for any testing. I wasn't even aware that he had tested guys from Atlantic, but I was certainly not there.

KENNY BRACK: It is hard to say. It is anyone's guess really, but I think teams are looking at the different chassis manufacturers and probably we will have to take a decision what they think is the best car right now and who of the chassis manufacturer will have the best development program for next year and possibly be on and that is probably the most -- the best you can do. I think the testing still will be enough to sort out whatever chassis you have because even if you stay with the same chassis there is going to be changes during the off-season normally anyway and you still have -- I mean, last year's car and this year's car is not the same, so you have to test all that -- spend all that time testing and try to find out what the car is doing anyway. So I don't think that that is a big impact on what -- for that decision.

KENNY BRACK: I think 22 races in an open-wheel car of the speed that a Champ Car is capable of going is an awful lot of races. After a race, it is like run running a marathon and we are basically running a marathon every Sunday. It is tough for the drivers. It is tough for the crews and but it is good for the fans hopefully and that is good. But it is an awful lot of races. And these days in racing it is not a season, so to speak, it is all year-round. We go off the last race and we have a couple of weeks off; then we start testing. So it is an all year-round sport, really, right now. I don't think it is going to change a whole lot of the workload from this year to next year although there is more races but it is less testing. This year it will be more testing and less racing. So it will probably be maybe the same.

KENNY BRACK: Well, first of all, I feel very happy being part of Team Rahal especially now since we know we are going to work together next year. We have -- we are building a good platform this year which I am sure we will have a good use even next year when we know each other even better, all that. Bobby has been a tremendous help. He brought me into CART. He knows a lot about CART Racing and that is a very nice thing to have in the team owner that a driver can ask -- I mean, I ask him about different courses we go to and try to find out what he knows and that is a big help, especially in the first year when you have never seen the courses before, some of them. As far as his involvement in the CART Series, I think that he is probably right now the best guy to do that because of his racing experience; he can see things from maybe a little different angle than just a pure businessman would do and that may be very valuable to the CART Series in the years to come. So I think it is all very good, actually.

KENNY BRACK: I think that in the short-term it won't affect the team too much because Scott Roembke and all the other guys at Team Rahal, they are very skilled individuals and can run the team but hopefully in the long run Bobby will come soon because I don't know what he will do to -- even in the long run if he wouldn't.

KENNY BRACK: Thank you.