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den 29 augusti 2003
Scoring points again
Dear friends,
At last I get around to write a this report again. It has been a hectic summer period with back-to-back races, testing and other necessary stuff and it has not been much time left for other things. But now things have slowed down to a more manageable situation again and I am sitting on an airplane somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean on my way back to Sweden for a few days before the next race.
Depending on how you view things a lot has happened and a lot has not happened since the last report. We have been plenty busy with racing and testing trying to get the car to go faster. Unfortunately we have retired with mechanical gremlins three races in a row, Michigan, St. Louis and Kentucky so one can say we went from bad to worse but luckily not without a return ticket.
In Nazareth we finally got to the checkered flag again and scored a fifth place finish. Although we were plenty fast in St. Louis in qualifying (started second) and should have finished a little better in Nazareth too had we not had a incident running over a wheel in the first pit stop which dropped us from 6th to 15th, fifth-sixth is pretty much were we are today. Because of our retirements we have dropped to 7th in the standings but my goal is to better that before the end of the season. But we have made one important difference over the summer period. I feel we are fifth-sixth now because of our own speed, not because of luck, like in the beginning of the season. The big teams like Penske, Ganassi and Team Andretti-Green still have the upper hand on us but at least we start to make some headway.
Next race is in Chicago in little over a week. We tested there a couple of days ago. We did not get to run any race simulations since we had a mechanical problem in the afternoon but in general the test went well and the car felt pretty good so hopefully we can challenge for a good result there too.
Apart from actual on track stuff a lot of other things have also happened. Renewal of driver contracts for one. Sam Hornish will replace Gil De Ferran in Team Penske. I cannot say that I am surprised by this move. Team Penske is a first class team and probably one of the few who, in today’s tough economic climate, can afford to pay for a top driver like Hornish.
I am a littler surprised and touched over Gil’s retirement. Gil and myself have raced together for nearly our whole careers. I especially remember one episode from a race in Spa, Belgium in 1990 or 1991, in a series called Opel Lotus. Most of the top drivers you read about in Formula One and IndyCar’s today from that era competed in this series back then so it was fierce competition to say the least.
Gil drove, together with David Coulthard, in Jackie Stewart Racing and I drove for a Swedish team, Tommy Jagerwall Racing.
Anyhow, before the first lap was over I had eliminated both of them due to combats on the track. David broke his leg and Gil my nose…
Well not really, but at least he looked like he wanted to do so afterwards.
He says he wants to stop racing “while the music is still playing.” Well, since I just put the band together and started playing there is no reason to believe it will stop anytime soon!
Speaking of music, next week we are going to release the CD we recorded in Nashville.
That has been a very exiting project, one that came as a total surprise when Pioneer phoned me up and asked if we would like to make a record and we were on our way. My first recording!
Thanks to my fantastic band members and great producers I have to say, even looking at it from my usual critical view, it sounds really good. There are a variety of music styles on it. Personally I like “Me & Bobby McGee” and “Rocker” the best but “Sweet home Alabama” performed with original Lynyrd Skynyrd band member Ed King who also wrote it, is also high on the list. You can read about the band and listen to sound bits under “Music” on www.kennybrack.com and if you decide to buy it, all profits go to charity.
Like I mentioned in the beginning, I am on my way to Sweden. I have not been back there since February as the season with testing and racing has been incredible intensive. But now it’s starting to slow down a little bit, the races are two weeks and more in between. I will only be able to spend a few days there, which shrunk to even less since we were delayed out of Chicago. But I hope to catch the last few breaths of the fabulous Swedish summer. Nothing compares to that.
My wife though has been there the whole month of August.
As you can imagine this has given me an excellent opportunity to dust off my skills from my bachelor days again. Before I got my bearings set perhaps one could trace a little “rusty-ness”.
Two friends from my home village, that surprisingly fittingly came to visit me during this period, and myself searched for coffee-sugar for over 1 hour before we gave up and went to the Gentlemen’s Club to borrow some. And trying to locate the vacuum cleaner and other vital appliances, it’s, well, like being on a treasury hunt in your own house. You never know what you are going to find, and where!
Talk to you soon,
Kenny
kennybrack.com
KB
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