McLaren Signs Indy Racing Champ Kenny Brack As Development Driver
By Paulo Acoba
McLaren automotive picked up one of the best drivers in the world to develop some of its best sports cars.
Autosport named him among the Top 50 drivers to have never raced in Formula 1 and now McLaren is calling upon that expertise. According to McLaren Automotive earlier today (Sept. 28, 2015) they announced they’ve hired former Indy Racing drivers champion Kenny Brack to further hone and refine its Sports Series lineup of cars. The Sports series offerings include the McLaren 540S and 570C. The Super Series includes the McLaren 650S and 675S and the Hyper Series is just the big Mac a.k.a. the P1 (and P1 GTR.)
Kenny Brack has an extensive racing history that stems all the way back to early Formula racing programs that saw the promising young driver reach the pinnacle of motorsports racing in Formula 1 by becoming an test driver for the Arrows Formula one team. Brack then moved onto Indy racing where he saw a large part of his racing success by winning the drivers championship in ’98 and taking the checkered flag in the Super Bowl of Indy Racing, the Indy 500 in ’99.
After a brief three-year stint in CART racing that saw Brack snag Rookie of the Year in 2000 and a second place overall finish in the drivers championship in 2001, Brack went back to Indy Racing. After suffering a crash that had a force spike around 214 g’s and recovering over a year, Brack retired from the IRL altogether after briefly returning to set a qualifying lap (which happened to be the fastest lap of the day mind you.) But that doesn’t mean his skills aren’t of use in modern sports cars today. According to McLaren,
"No stranger to a McLaren, Kenny Brack has taken to the track in models old and new over the past few years. In 2014, he drove the famous Goodwood Hill at the Festival of Speed with the McLaren F1 GTR ‘Longtail’, and joined the grid at the 73rd Goodwood Members’ Meeting which saw 16 examples of the McLaren F1 GTR take to the track. This summer, he joined McLaren Automotive as a guest driver at the Festival of Speed to pilot the track-only McLaren P1™ GTR."
Check out that video below!