IRL: Team Menard to Stay With the IRL
14 October 1998
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The team also appointed Thomas Knapp as general manager. Knapp fielded a car for driver Greg Ray in seven Pep Boys IRL events this season.
"Mr. Knapp's reputation for honesty, integrity and technical expertise brings a renewed sense of enthusiasm and excitement to all of us at Team Menard for the upcoming season," team owner John Menard said.
The team's engine builder, Butch Meyer, grandson of three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Louis Meyer, will assist Knapp. The team will continue its long-term relationship with Firestone tires in 1999, Menard said. Driver, engine and chassis selection is under evaluation and should be announced shortly, Menard said. Team Menard has been a mainstay of the Pep Boys IRL since the league's inception in 1996. The team has won four IRL races, three by Tony Stewart and one by Robbie Buhl. Stewart competed in his final race for the team as a full-time driver Oct. 11 at the Las Vegas 500K, as he is moving to NASCAR Winston Cup in 1999.
THE CHAMPION:
.Kenny Brack: Brack didn't dominate the season-ending Las Vegas 500K, finishing 10th in the Power Team Racing Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear owned by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt.
But that finish, combined with troubles encountered by title rivals Davey Hamilton and Tony Stewart, was enough to deliver Brack his first Pep Boys Indy Racing League championship and the Pep Boys Million bonus. Brack finished with 332 points. Hamilton, who finished 19th in the race, was second at 292. Stewart, 14th in the race, was third at 289. Brack, from Karlstad, Sweden, became the first Swede to win a season championship in a major North American auto racing series.
"This is my biggest success," Brack said. "I've won many races, many championships, but this is the biggest achievement for me so far." Brack started to slow 10 laps into the race, and he fell from his sixth starting spot to 11th after just 15 laps with an apparent electrical problem. He entered the pits on Lap 17 and fell three laps down.
"I had another electrical box, but he might as well stay out there and get some laps," Foyt said of his strategy not to replace the electrical system in the car during the pit stop. "We were already behind by about three laps. It's hard to make up three laps even when everything is running perfect. We were too far down to try anything."
Brack also reported that the engine felt like it was running on seven cylinders instead of the full eight, possibly related to the electrical problem. But that woe cured itself, and Brack simply stayed out of trouble while it found Hamilton and Stewart. A chance at a record fourth victory this season was gone, but the championship was well within sight.
"We had a plan to stay in contention until the end, but it just didn't turn out that way," Brack said.
Brack cruised to the finish, six laps behind winner Arie Luyendyk. Still, the 202 laps he completed gave him 2,085 finished laps for the season, more than any other driver. His 10th-place finish also was his sixth straight top 10, another testament to the consistency that delivered the title. And as Brack basked in the glow of winning the title after the race, he made a statement that thrilled his fans but indicated that 1999 could be a long year for his Pep Boys IRL rivals.
"I'm going to stay here with A.J.," Brack said. "I still have a lot to learn. I like this team. It's the best team I've ever been on, and we all get along good."
THE TITLE CONTENDERS:
.Davey Hamilton: Hamilton finished runner-up in the league standings for the second consecutive year, finishing 19th in what he called the toughest race of his career. He entered the race 31 points behind leader Kenny Brack and needed to finish fourth or better to have any shot at catching Brack.
But Hamilton started 18th in the Reebok-Nienhouse Motorsports Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear and never really got going in the race. He climbed to ninth by Lap 20 but fell into the middle of the field thereafter.
The Nienhouse Motorsports team was forced to replace the entire electronic-control unit in the car on Lap 112, effectively ending Hamilton's chances of a top-10 finish. But the day only got worse from there.
Hamilton and Roberto Guerrero collided between turns 1 and 2 on the 1.5-mile oval on a Lap 129 restart. Both drivers were unhurt but eliminated. It was the first time since the Dura-Lube 200 on March 22 at Phoenix that Hamilton failed to finish in the top 10. He entered this race with eight consecutive top-10 finishes.
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