A note to the fans from Kenny Brack who drove for A.J. in 1998 when
they won the IRL title and in 1999 when they won the Indy 500.
 Dear
friends,
I am propped up in my Dallas hospital bed trying to write you a race report.
Unfortunately it will be a short one since I do not have the strength nor the
imagination just yet.
Perhaps it does not matter so much because I do not remember anything from the
race anyway!
In any case I felt I needed to write a note to all you fans, who have sent
several thousand prayers via email to my team, the news papers, me and my wife.
I never knew I had that much support but I will tell you that it has certainly
helped me to get through this accident the best way possible.
I have not seen the actual accident but I have heard about it. It certainly
opens your eyes about higher powers because I am sure that God has everything to
do with me still being in this world, and if I would have had individual
accidents braking all the bones I broke and healing during this accident I would
not have had much time to be a racecar driver.! I broke 5 major bones and most
of them are complicated, back, ankles etc.
The Dallas crew of doctors and nurses worked about 15 hours to put it back
together. They did a great job and they think I have a good chance to get back
to normal. I know it will take time, several months but give me half a chance
and I will do it.
Now I will rest a little bit but I will see you soon!
Kenny Brack
kennybrack.com
Race Report: Texas Motor Speedway
 The
tough luck that plagued A.J. Foyt IV in his rookie season in the Indy
Racing League continued right to the end as engine problems in the No.
14 Conseco car forced him out of the Chevy 500 after just 62 laps at
Texas Motor Speedway Sunday afternoon.
Gil DeFerran closed out his Indy car career in victory lane winning
the race while Scott Dixon won the IRL championship. Kenny Brack, who
won the 1999 Indy 500 for A.J. Foyt, was involved in a serious
multi-car crash at the end of the race. Brack
broke his
right femur, both ankles and sustained fractures to his sternum and
lumbar vertebrae.
In the dreamerscandles.com 100, the season finale for the Infiniti Pro
Series, Ed Carpenter qualified third and finished fourth in the No 14
Futaba/Delphi Dallara. Carpenter finished third in the IPS Driver
Standings.
A.J. IV had a good start from his 19th position and began picking off
cars but by the 20th lap the car picked up a big push and he lost
several positions. The caution came out for debris on lap 30 and the
team made changes to the car which helped the car's handling. The
10.1-second pitstop allowed A.J. IV to gain two positions.
When the race resumed under green however, the engine problems began
to surface as the car began misfiring under power. Foyt IV tried to
correct the problem with his cockpit engine control switches but to no
avail.
 The caution came out 10 laps later and Foyt IV pitted several times
before finally shutting off the car while Team Conseco replaced the
electronic control unit and the coil packs which took nearly six
minutes and 17 laps. However when Foyt IV returned to the race, he
reported the engine was "still bogging down."
"Come on in, there's no sense staying out there if the engine's messed
up," said the senior Foyt. "I'm sorry son we had that problem. You
drove a good race today."
Following the race A.J. IV said, "It was a real tough season
especially for me. But having gone through all the bad stuff, I've
learned a lot. I'll take that knowledge into next year and I'm looking
forward to a good season with Team Conseco."
Prior to the start of the Chevy 500, A.J. Foyt served as grand marshal
to the Heroes of Indy race held on the inner quarter-mile track at
TMS. The field consisted of past Indy 500 winners and race
participants including Johnny Rutherford, Parnelli Jones, Gordon
Johncock, Tom Sneva and Arie Luyendyk. Duane "Pancho" Carter won the
race in one of the 10 specially constructed "Thunder Road" cars
NOTES & QUOTES: Chevy 500 at Texas Motor
Speedway
A.J. Foyt IV: Conseco No. 14 G-Force/Toyota/Firestone
 · A.J. Foyt IV on Testing at Texas: "Testing at Texas went
good. We tested two days with both the Dallara and the G-Force
chassis. On the second day, we focused on the Conseco G-Force. We
tried a few different things and picked up speed. We have a pretty
good baseline for race weekend, but we still have to work on race
setups.
· Goals for the race: My goal for the last race is to do what
we haven't done all season, run and finish in the top 10. Texas isn't
a hard track, and there's not much I can do other than hold it to the
floor, hold it on the white line and turn left. Last time, we had a
bad problem with the car pushing, but I think we've learned a lot more
about the Conseco car since then, so it should be better in traffic.
I'm looking forward to this race because it's in my home state, so I
have lots of friends and family for support. Plus we are having some
special guests coming from Conseco, so I hope we have good race for
them."
· Last year at this event, A.J. IV won the final race of the
Infiniti Pro Series and with that victory, he won the inaugural season
championship.
· At California Speedway A.J. IV finished 17th after starting
20th. A combination of problems ranging from the car's handling to pit
stops prevented a stronger finish. - Hot Shot!
A.J.'s son Larry Foyt, 26-year-old NASCAR Winston Cup rookie driver, was
selected by Cosmopolitan Magazine as one of the U.S.'s hottest bachelors and
will be featured in "Cosmo's Bachelor Bonus" in the November issue (on sale Oct.
14th). Foyt traveled to the exclusive Hamptons on Long Island (NY) for the photo
shoot/interview earlier in the summer. One bachelor from each state was
selected. Foyt, who is actually a Texan, was chosen to represent North Carolina
because of his race driver status. "I didn't quite know what to say when they
told me I was selected," said Foyt. "I had a blast in New York when I did the
interviews and photo shoot. I also got a chance to meet some of the other
bachelors and they were all pretty cool."
- Past performance for Foyt Racing at Texas Motor Speedway: In
the past five fall events at TMS, Foyt's two car team has six starts
in the top-five and four finishes in the top-five including one pole
position (1998 with Billy Boat). The best finish the team has had in
the fall is fourth with Eliseo Salazar in 2001. This year marks the
first time ever that Foyt Racing will have just one Indy car competing
at Texas Motor Speedway.
· The Chevy 500 will be televised live Sunday at 3:30 pm
Eastern on ESPN. |
