Brown named as AJ Foyt Racing’s engineer for Veach

Veach, who was due to make his IndyCar debut at this year’s “500,” actually made his first start at Barber Motorsports Park, subbing for the injured JR Hildebrand at Ed Carpenter Racing. But Veach, who finished third in last year’s Indy Lights championship, has made no oval starts in IndyCar.

Brown, who founded his own motorsports company, ACB Consulting Ltd., in 2010, said: “I’m honored and excited to be working with A.J. Foyt, a true legend of the Indy 500. I want to give Zach a springboard towards his future success.”

Brown began his career with March Engineering in 1984 as a project engineer in Formula 3000, moved with the team into Formula 1 as race and design engineer, before switching to Brabham in 1991.

The following season he became the assistant technical director and head of aerodynamics at Galmer, which won the 1992 Indy 500 with Al Unser Jr.

His five years at PacWest Racing (1993 – ’98) saw him build a team from scratch along with the late John Anderson, and he then spent seven years as chief engineer and race engineer at Panther Racing which yielded two IRL IndyCar titles with Sam Hornish Jr. Brown worked at Chip Ganassi Racing as lead race engineer with Dan Wheldon in 2006 and 2007 and as the team’s aerodynamicist (2005-2010). During this time, the team won 34 races and two more Indy 500s.

Larry Foyt, team president, said that Brown’s extensive expertise in aerodynamics would also help the team as a whole.

“The addition of Andy to our engineering department, even if only for a month, is a great fit for our team,” he commented. “Andy has worked with top teams in the past and he has been integral to their success. His close friendship with our technical director Will Phillips made this deal possible and we are thrilled.”

Andy O’Gara will head up the team as crew chief and race strategist, his second year in this role having worked with the third Foyt car in 2016, then driven by Canadian veteran Alex Tagliani.