Brack happy with move to Chip's shop

The 35-year-old Swede, who has driven for Team Rahal for the last two years, will contest the full CART season and also drive a Ganassi entry in the Indianapolis 500. The move may also open the door for Brack to step into a NASCAR career in a few years.

"As I've said many times before, it's talent that wins championships," commented team boss Chip Ganassi. "In our championship run from 1996 to '99, we certainly had some talent throughout the team. To keep our tradition alive, we have to keep finding talent, and I think Kenny is one of the best talents in racing.

"This isn't something that just started a few weeks ago," Ganassi added. "When Kenny first came to the United States, we had lengthy discussions. Our timing was always a little bit off, but I feel what we were able to get a bit of rapport going. To be honest, I was surprised he was available. This wasn't a matter of turning away from someone else. It was taking advantage of the fact that a quality guy was available who is capable of helping win races for this team."

After narrowly missing out on the 1996 FIA Formula 3000 title, Brack's American career began to blossom in 1997 when he ran in the Indy Racing League for Galles Racing. The following year, he won three IRL races and the championship after moving to A.J. Foyt's team, and the Foyt/Brack combination was also victorious in the 1999 Indianapolis 500.

For 2000, Brack returned to his road racing roots when he left the all-oval IRL for a seat at Team Rahal in the Champ Car series. Kenny was very impressive in his rookie CART season, though he did not win a race. He leads the CART championship by a single point over Helio Castroneves after breaking his duck to take wins at Motegi, Milwaukee and Chicago.

"Obviously I'm very excited about being able to join the Ganassi team for the year 2002," stated Brack. "I'm sure many of you might wonder why I would switch from the team that has won the most races in CART this year, but I feel that Chip is running a first class operation too. There are a lot of opportunities for me with Chip's organisation in the long term.

"He has a lot of strings on his guitar," Brack added. "He has cars in CART, the Indy 500 and NASCAR, so I'm looking forward to it."

Brack is understood to have earned US$2 million with Team Rahal in 2001, and paddock sources indicate he will double his salary with Ganassi.

"That was tough, because Chip and (chief sponsor) Target have the same motto - Expect More, Pay Less," quipped Brack. "The financial side was important ­ I won't lie about that. But if a backmarker team in Formula 1 offered me three times as much money, I wouldn't go there. What's important in this business is winning, and the opportunity is to be with teams and people that know how to win."

Another element that is believed to have strongly influenced Brack's decision to jump from Rahal to Ganassi is the fact that Chip operates a three-car NASCAR team. Brack has competed in the stock car-based International Race of Champions celebrity series twice, finishing sixth in 1999 and third in 2001. Brack very much enjoyed the experience both times and has been linked to a future in NASCAR when he ends his open wheel career.

"We haven't made him any promises, but it's nice from a car owner's standpoint to at least have someone who is interested in something like that," said Ganassi. "Certainly when someone shows interest, you'd like to see them give it a shot. This is a deal for open-wheel racing, but I wouldn't see why he couldn't get into one of those cars maybe next summer to take some laps. It's easy to do. There are no plans for Daytona right now, but he could certainly do it if he likes."

Brack commented. "We'll see. As Chip said, the deal is for open-wheel. I've driven open-wheel for a number of years, but I've tried my hand at IROC and I like that environment. Who knows what we can persuade Chip into."

Ganassi's team won its first title with Jimmy Vasser in 1996, but the American was soon overshadowed by his team mate Alex Zanardi, who was an unknown quantity in America at that point. The team owner's hot streak with relatively unknown drivers continued when Juan Pablo Montoya won seven races and the CART championship in his rookie year with the Ganassi team in 1999.

However, when Montoya returned to Europe to race in F1 this year, Ganassi's two rookies Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian did not display the race-winning form he has grown accustomed to, resulting in Minassian being replaced by Memo Gidley midway through the season.

Ganassi said that while his team will continue with Toyota engines, it has not decided upon which chassis it will use in the future. He also said the team's second driver has not been determined.

"We have an option on Memo and Bruno for 2002, but no decision will be made anytime soon," he said.

Brack faces the challenge of finishing the season while competing for the title with Team Rahal. But he says he doesn't think his future move will affect his chances for the rest of the year.

"The timing of this was bad, but once the news was broken [on Monday by ESPN reporter Robin Miller] we though it was better to get it over with and out in the open," Brack said. "I think I've been very happy with Team Rahal. We have a very good relationship and we built a strong foundation together in the two years we've spent so far. We've been up front with each other and negotiated in good faith. I'll keep a lot of friends at Team Rahal from both a professional and personal standpoint, so I don't see that affecting anything. We have a championship we want to win.

"People move around, but I don't foresee anything changing for the rest of this season," he added. "We're going to win more races and strongly contend for the championship. That's our number one priority for this year."