Tom Brown, who formerly was "loaned" to Bettenhausen Motorsports when that team first purchased cars from Penske Cars Ltd., will return in a full-time capacity as a chief engineer for the Alumax-sponsored IndyCar team, it was announced today.

"We’re delighted to have Tom rejoin our team," said team owner Tony Bettenhausen. "There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that Tom’s return will be a major step in moving our team to a higher level of competitiveness."

"It’s great to be back with this team," said Brown. "Now we’ve got to step up- we’ve got to take the team forward."

Brown, a 36-year old native of Troon, Scotland, has been with Penske Cars Ltd. Since 1985. In the past three years, he has engineered the cars of Emerson Fittipaldi and Jan Magnussen, who replaced Fittipaldi after the Brazilian driver was injured in the Marlboro 500 in July.

A graduate of Stratclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland, Brown has also been involved in the design and development of every Penske chassis since 1985 when he first worked on the PC-15.

Brown’s first contact with Bettenhausen Motorsports came in 1991, when the team purchased a pair of 1990 Penske/Chevrolets. Part of the purchase agreement involved engineering support from the factory and Brown was given the position. He remained an at-large engineer until the end of the 1993 season when Penske Racing decided to field a three-car effort for Fittipaldi, Al Unser Jr. and Paul Tracy.

Fittipaldi was paired with Brown and gave the Scotsman his first personal victory as engineer when he won the Phoenix 200 in 1994. Fittipaldi concluded the ’94 season with eight podium finishes and two pole positions to finish second in standings to Unser.

Last year, Fittipaldi’s season was highlighted by a win at Nazareth and a third at Phoenix. This past season, Fittipaldi and Brown became part of the new Hogan-Penske team with the Brazilian driver qualifying on the front row and scoring fourth-place finishes at Nazareth and Milwaukee. Brown and his wife, Alison, are the parents of three daughter, Suzi (8), Kay (5), and Fiona (2). He replaces Bernie Marcus, whose final race with the team was at Laguna Seca.