Kenny Bräck

Unfortunately, on Race Day, in the final pace lap before the green flag, Bräck was caught up in an accident with Stéphan Grégoire and Affonso Giaffone and finished 33rd after being unable to continue.

In September Bräck took pole position and won the RAC Tourist Trophy race at the Goodwood Revival in a Shelby Daytona Coupé 1964 together with 9-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen.

Kenny Bräck (born 21 March 1966) is a Swedish former race car driver.

Until his retirement from racing, he competed in the CART, Indy Racing League and the IROC series.

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 and the Renault Clio Cup (Scandinavian Champion 1992) and in the US in the Barber Saab Pro Series (Champion in 1993).

In 1994 he competed in the International Formula 3000.

In 1995 he finished third in the International F3000 championship for Madgwick Racing.

In 1996 he was Arrows Formula One 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, Bräck would have been champion.

Bräck debuted in the IRL in 1997, making his first start for Galles Racing at Phoenix, replacing Jeff Ward, and finishing 11th after an accident.

Over seven starts, he had two top-5 finishes at Charlotte and New Hampshire.

Leading up to his Indianapolis 500 debut in 1997, he showed initial promise early in May.

He posted the fastest time on the second day of Rookie Orientation, posting a lap speed of 205.597 mph. He ended up qualifying 15th for the race, in a unique year in which 35 cars formed the starting grid.

He won the 1998 Indy Racing League championship and the 1999 Indianapolis 500, becoming the first Swedish driver to win the race.

In 1998, he moved to drive for American racing legend A. J. Foyt.

The new team paid dividends, as he won three consecutive races on his way to the IRL championship in 1998.

In his 1999 title defense, he finished runner-up to Greg Ray, including a win at the 1999 Indianapolis 500.

After the 1999 season, he left Foyt's team to compete in the CART FedEx Championship Series.

In 2000 he switched to the CART series, joining Team Rahal and being awarded the Rookie of the Year, finishing fourth in the overall standings.

In 2001, he finished second in the driver's championship, winning a season-high four races and taking six pole positions.

However, he did not have much success on road circuits which is what ultimately cost him that year's title to Gil de Ferran.

In 2001 Bräck also had a minor role in the Hollywood motion picture Driven, which starred Sylvester Stallone and Burt Reynolds.

In 2001 he competed in the International Race of Champions series in the season called IROC XXV.

The series is a stock car invitational in the United States.

He finished third in the championship, the highest points position for a non-stock car driver.

In 2002, Bräck raced for Chip Ganassi Racing, and he ended the season by winning the CART season finale Mexico City G.P., which turned out to be his only win in major North American open-wheel racing on a road or street circuit.

He survived one of the racing sport's biggest crashes at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003, where he recorded the highest horizontal g-force ever survived by a human being at 214 g0.

Eighteen months later he made a comeback at the Indy 500 and set the fastest qualifying time of the field.

He retired from IndyCar racing after the race.

Bräck moved back to the IRL in 2003 with previous CART team owner, Bobby Rahal and his Rahal Letterman Racing team.

Bräck finished second place 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.

In 2009, he made a comeback to rally, competing in Rally X at X-Games 15 and winning Gold.

Bräck still drives occasionally and won The Dukerie's Stage Rally in Nottingham, England with co-driver Emil Axelsson in June 2011.

The duo also won the Swedish classic The Midnight Sun Rally in July 2011.

In September 2013 Bräck won The Whitsun Trophy race at the Goodwood Revival in a Ford GT40 together with Red Bull Racing's Adrian Newey.

Born in Arvika, Sweden, he grew up in the small village of Glava, where his father taught him to drive cars on the lake-ice in the winters.

A neighbor introduced Bräck to racing when he was 13 years of age, working in his business one summer, buying him a go-kart.

Apart from the beginning of Bräck's career, he has managed his career himself, from finding sponsors, negotiating contracts to winning races.