Indianapolis ? Kenny Brack showed no fear. He proved he could go fast. Now, if only he could find another car to race.

Brack’s stirring comeback at Indianapolis – he jumped in Buddy Rice’s machine on short notice and went faster than anyone in qualifying – was just a one-race deal for the driver who nearly died in an October 2003 crash.

“I wanted to prove to myself that I could still race, and I think it showed this last couple of weeks,” Brack said. “It is my choice to pursue the next options in my racing career. I showed that I am back and ready if I want to do it.”

Rice, who couldn’t defend his 2004 Indy win because of injuries in a practice crash, is expected to return to Rahal Letterman Racing’s No. 15 car at the next event – June 11 in Texas.

That leaves Brack looking for a ride.

The comeback at Indy didn’t include a storybook finish. Despite having the fastest speed in time trials, the 39-year-old Swede had to start 23rd because he didn’t qualify until the second weekend.

Brack slowly picked off several slower cars – getting as high as 11th – before a wobbly nut in the steering column knocked him out of the race after just 92 laps. He finished 26th out of 33 cars.

“Considering the short time to come here and getting ready, we had a good Indy 500,” said Brack, who won the race in 1999. “I didn’t feel bad in the car. In fact, I was confident with the car. Gee, I hadn’t raced an Indy car in 19 months. But it all came back to me, and I felt racy.”

Rahal Letterman’s other drivers, Vitor Meira and Danica Patrick, finished second and fourth behind winner Dan Wheldon. Team officials believe Brack would have worked his way toward the front if the car had held up.

Brack was Rahal Letterman’s top driver when the team shifted to the Indy Racing League in 2003. Then came the final race of the season, and the horrifying crash that almost took his life.

Bumped from behind at 220 mph, Brack’s car went pinwheeling through the air and basically disintegrated when it struck a catchfence. One ankle was crushed, the other broken. He also broke his back, thigh and ribs, requiring three months in the hospital while doctors pieced him together.

In the meantime, Rahal Letterman hired Rice as Brack’s replacement, a move that essentially became permanent when Rice won last year’s Indy 500. Brack tested for the team last summer at Richmond, showing plenty of speed, but didn’t feel he had recovered enough to handle the rigors of a race.

Brack finally reached that point around the beginning of this year, but Rahal Letterman already had Meira as its second driver and was committed to putting Patrick in a third car.

There’s no chance of bumping Patrick out of her ride, of course. The 23-year-old rookie quickly has become the most recognized driver in the series, thrilling fans at Indy by qualifying fourth, leading 19 laps and holding on for the highest finish by a woman in the race’s 89-year history.

As for adding a fourth car at Rahal Letterman, it’s just not possible.