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Kenny Bräck
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Kenneth "Kenny" Bräck (born March 21, 1966 in Arvika, Värmland) is a race car driver from Sweden. Until his retirement from racing, he competed in the CART, Indy Racing League and the IROC series. He is the winner of the 1999 Indianapolis 500 and the 1998 driving champion of the Indy Racing League.
Early career
He grew up in the little village Glava, where his father taught him to drive cars on the lake-ice in the winters. A neighbor introduced Kenny to racing when he at 13 years of age worked in his business one summer holiday, buying him a Go-Cart.
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Encyclopedia
Kenneth "Kenny" Bräck (born March 21, 1966 in Arvika, Värmland) is a race car driver from Sweden. Until his retirement from racing, he competed in the CART, Indy Racing League and the IROC series. He is the winner of the 1999 Indianapolis 500 and the 1998 driving champion of the Indy Racing League.
Early career
He grew up in the little village Glava, where his father taught him to drive cars on the lake-ice in the winters. A neighbor introduced Kenny to racing when he at 13 years of age worked in his business one summer holiday, buying him a Go-Cart. Apart from the beginning of Kenny's career, he has managed his career himself, from finding sponsors, negotiating contracts to winning races.
Formula racing
He raced in Britain and Sweden in Formula Ford and Formula 3 (he was Swedish junior Formula Ford Champion in 1986), in Europe in Formula Opel Lotus, in Scandinavia and Europe in the Renault Clio Cup (Scandinavian Champion 1992) and in the USA in the Barber Saab Pro Series (Champion in 1993).
1994 he competed in European Formula 3000. 1995 he finished 3rd in the European F3000 championship for Madgwick Racing. In 1996 he was Arrows Formula 1 test driver but decided to leave the team after mid season concentrating on his European F3000 campaign. Despite winning the last race on the road, after a controversial Clerk of the Course decision he eventually was disqualified from the event and had to settle for the runner-up position in the championship, driving for the British team Super Nova. Had he not been disqualified, Brack would have been champion.
Indy career
He started driving in the highest rungs of American open wheel racing in 1997. He won the IndyCar championship in 1998, and the 1999 Indianapolis 500 driving for American racing legend A. J. Foyt.
He then resigned the following year from his drivers position in order to compete in the CART PPG IndyCar World Series.
CART career
In 2000, he switched to the CART circuit with Team Rahal-Letterman winning the Rookie of the Year title that year. He finished 2nd in the driver's championship in 2001, winning a season-high 4 victories and 6 pole positions.
In 2001 Bräck also had a minor role in the Hollywood motion picture "Driven", which starred Sylvester Stallone and Burt Reynolds.
In 2002, Bräck raced for Chip Ganassi Racing, and he ended the season by winning the CART season finale Mexico City G.P.
IROC
In 2001 he competed in the International Race of Champions series in the season called IROC XXV. The series is an invitation-only stock car invitational in the United States. He was finished third in the championship, the highest points position for a non-stock car driver.
Return to IRL
Bräck came back to the IRL in 2003 with his previous CART team, Rahal Letterman Racing, with a highest finish of 2nd in the race at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Japan. In the final race at Texas Motor Speedway, he suffered a serious crash that almost cost him his life. His car locked wheels with Tomas Scheckter's, flew into the catch fencing, and broke apart. Kenny's crash saw the highest recorded g-forces since the introduction of crash violence recording systems, peaking at 214 g's. He suffered multiple fractures, breaking his sternum, femur, shattering a vertebra in his spine and crushing his ankles. He spent 18 months recovering from his injuries.
He made his comeback to the 2005 Indianapolis 500, replacing an injured Buddy Rice (who, ironically, had replaced Bräck in 2003). He set the fastest qualification time in the field with an average speed of . He retired from the race with a mechanical problem.
Retirement
As of 2006, Bräck lives in Belgium and has retired from open wheel racing, although he manages young open wheel racing drivers such as Marcus Ericsson. Bräck also spends his time currently as the lead member and song writer of his rock band "Bräck", together with lead singer Franc Aledia. At the 2007 Indianapolis 500 the band Bräck cooperated with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in celebrating American racing legend A. J. Foyt as part of his 50th anniversary at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In May 2007 the band released its first album "Greatest hits, volume 1" featuring the song "Legend of the Speedway". A rock video, featuring Foyt's Indianapolis winning cars including the car Bräck won the race with in 1999 while driving for Foyt was also recorded. The video was directed by Allen Farst of Niche Productions, Dayton, Ohio.
Kenny is also on the board of directors of Scandinavia's biggest distributor of car spare parts "Mekonomen", listed on the Swedish stock exchange.
On the night of April 22-23, 2008, while on a quick visit to Sweden, Bräck's drivers license was immediately revoked by Swedish Police, after they pulled him over while Bräck was doing 181km/h on a stretch of highway where the speed limit was 90km/h.
Indy 500 results
External links
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