Jack Brabham facts for kids

Quick facts for kids

Jack Brabham
AO OBE

Brabham in 1966, the year of his final world championship
Born	John Arthur Brabham (1926-04-02)2 April 1926 Hurstville, New South Wales, Australia
Died	19 May 2014(2014-05-19) (aged 88) Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Australian
Active years	1955–1970
Teams	Cooper, Rob Walker Racing Team and Brabham
Entries	128 (126 starts)
Championships	3 (1959, 1960, 1966)
Wins	14
Podiums	31
Career points	253 (261)
Pole positions	13
Fastest laps	12
First entry	1955 British Grand Prix
First win	1959 Monaco Grand Prix
Last win	1970 South African Grand Prix
Last entry	1970 Mexican Grand Prix

Sir John Arthur Brabham AO OBE (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in 1959, 1960, and 1966. He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name.

Early life

John Arthur 'Jack' Brabham was born on 2 April 1926 in Hurstville, New South Wales, then a commuter town outside Sydney. Brabham was involved with cars and mechanics from an early age. At the age of 12, he learned to drive the family car and the trucks of his father's grocery business. Brabham attended technical college, studying metalwork, carpentry, and technical drawing.

Brabham's early career continued the engineering theme. At the age of 15 he left school to work, combining a job at a local garage with an evening course in mechanical engineering. Brabham soon branched out into his own business selling motorbikes, which he bought and repaired for sale, using his parents' back veranda as his workshop.

One month after his 18th birthday on 19 May 1944 Brabham enlisted into the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Although he was keen on becoming a pilot, there was already a surplus of trained aircrew and the Air Force instead put his mechanical skills to use as a flight mechanic, of which there was a wartime shortage. He was based at RAAF Station Williamtown, where he maintained Bristol Beaufighters at No. 5 Operational Training Unit. On his 20th birthday, 2 April 1946, Brabham was discharged from the RAAF with the rank of leading aircraftman. He then started a small service, repair, and machining business in a workshop built by his uncle on a plot of land behind his grandfather's house.

Racing career

A midget car similar to those driven by Brabham

Brabham started racing after an American friend, Johnny Schonberg, persuaded him to watch a midget car race. Midget racing was a category for small open-wheel cars racing on dirt ovals. It was popular in Australia, attracting crowds of up to 40,000. Brabham records that he was not taken with the idea of driving, being convinced that the drivers "were all lunatics" but he agreed to build a car with Schonberg.

At first Schonberg drove the homemade device, powered by a modified JAP motorcycle engine built by Brabham in his workshop. In 1948, Schonberg's wife persuaded him to stop racing and on his suggestion Brabham took over. He almost immediately found that he had a knack for the sport, winning on his third night's racing. From there he was a regular competitor and winner in Midgets (known as Speedcars in Australia) at tracks such Sydney's Cumberland Speedway, the Sydney Showground, and the Sydney Sports Ground, as well as interstate tracks such as Adelaide's Kilburn and Rowley Park speedways and the Ekka in Brisbane.

After successfully running the midget at some hillclimbing events in 1951, Brabham became interested in road racing. He bought and modified a series of racing cars from the Cooper Car Company, a British constructor, and from 1953 concentrated on this form of racing, in which drivers compete on closed tarmac circuits. He was supported by his father and by the Redex fuel additive company. Brabham competed in Australia and New Zealand until early 1955, taking "a long succession of victories", including the 1953 Queensland Road Racing championship. During this time, he picked up the nickname "Black Jack", which has been variously attributed to his dark hair and stubble, to his "ruthless" approach on the track, and to his "propensity for maintaining a shadowy silence". After the 1954 New Zealand Grand Prix, Brabham was persuaded by Dean Delamont, competitions manager of the Royal Automobile Club in the United Kingdom, to try a season of racing in Europe, then the international centre of road racing.

There he became part of the Cooper Car Company's racing team, building as well as racing cars. He contributed to the design of the mid-engined cars that Cooper introduced to Formula One and the Indianapolis 500, and won the Formula One world championship in 1959 and 1960. In 1962 he established his own Brabham marque with fellow Australian Ron Tauranac, which in the 1960s became the largest manufacturer of customer racing cars in the world. At the French Grand Prix at Reims-Gueux, Jack Brabham took his first Formula One world championship win since 1960 and became the first man to win such a race in a car of his own construction. It was the first in a run of four straight wins for the Australian veteran. The 40-year-old Brabham was annoyed by press stories about his age and, in a highly uncharacteristic stunt, at the Dutch Grand Prix he hobbled to his car on the starting grid before the race wearing a long false beard and leaning on a cane before going on to win the race. Brabham confirmed his third championship at the Italian Grand Prix and became the only driver to win the Formula One World Championship in a car that carried his own name.

Brabham retired to Australia after the 1970 Formula One season, where he bought a farm.

Retirement

Brabham continued his involvement in motorsport after his retirement. Former rivals Brabham and Stirling Moss shake hands at the 2004 Goodwood Revival meeting.

Following his retirement, Brabham continued his interest in businesses in the UK and Australia, including a small aviation company and garages and car dealerships. He also set up Engine Developments Ltd. in 1971 with John Judd. The company builds engines for racing applications. Brabham was also a shareholder in Jack Brabham Engines Pty Ltd., an Australian company marketing Jack Brabham memorabilia.

Despite his three titles, and although John Cooper considered him "the greatest", Formula One journalist Adam Cooper wrote in 1999 that Brabham is never listed among the Top 10 of all time, noting that "Stirling Moss and Jim Clark dominated the headlines when Jack was racing, and they still do". Brabham was the first post-war racing driver to be knighted when he received the honour in 1978 for services to motorsport. He has received several other honours and in 2011, the suburb of Brabham in Perth, Western Australia, was named after him. A race circuit and an automotive training school were also named after him in the early 2010s.

Brabham at the Classic Adelaide rally in 2002.

In retirement, Brabham continued to be involved in motorsport events, appearing at contemporary and historic motorsport events around the world where he often drove his former Cooper and Brabham cars until the early 2000s. In 1999, after competing at the Goodwood Revival at the age of 73 he commented that driving stopped him getting old.

Personal life

Brabham and his wife, Betty, had three sons together: Geoff, Gary, and David. All three became involved in motorsport, with support from Brabham in their early years. Between them, they have won sportscar and single-seater races and championships. Geoff was an Indycar and sportscar racer who won five North American sportscar championships as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, while David competed in Formula One for the Brabham team and has also won the Le Mans race as well as three Japanese and North American sportscar titles. Gary also drove briefly in Formula One, although his F1 career consisted of two DNPQ's for the Life team. Brabham and Betty divorced in 1994 after 43 years. Brabham married his second wife, Margaret in 1995 and they lived on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Brabham's grandson Matthew (son of Geoff) graduated from karts in 2010 and won two ladders of the Road to Indy, eventually racing in the 2016 Indianapolis 500 and winning three Stadium Super Trucks championships. Another grandson, Sam, the son of David and Lisa, whose brother Mike also was an F1 driver, stepped up to car racing from karts in 2013 when he made his debut in the British Formula Ford Championship. The Brabham family have been involved in world-class motorsport for over 60 years.

Death

Brabham died at his home on the Gold Coast on 19 May 2014, aged 88, following a lengthy battle with liver disease. Brabham was the last surviving world champion from the 1950s era.

At his request, his ashes were scattered at the Tamborine Mountain Skywalk in Queensland Australia by his wife, Lady Margaret Brabham on 4 September 2014. Brabham was a frequent visitor to the Skywalk.

Honours and awards

• Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE; for services to international motor-car racing, 1966)
• Australian of the Year (1966)
• Knight Bachelor (for distinguished service to the sport of motor racing, 1979)
• Inductee, Sport Australia Hall of Fame (1985, elevated to Legend status in 2003)
• Australian Sports Medal (2000)
• Centenary Medal (2001)
• Officer of the Order of Australia (AO; for service to motor sport as an ambassador, mentor and promoter of safety, and to the community through support of charitable organisations, 2008)
• Inductee, Australian Speedway Hall of Fame (2011)
• Named a National Living Treasure (2012)

Racing record

Career summary

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

* Indicates shared drive with Mike MacDowel

† Indicates Formula 2 car

Formula One non-championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Tasman Series results

Complete World Sportscar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	DC	Points
1957	Cooper Cars	Cooper T39	BUE	SEB	TAR	NUR	LMS 15	SWE	VEN								NC	0
1958	David Brown, Aston Martin Ltd.	Aston Martin DBR1/300	BUE	SEB	TAR	NUR	LMS Ret	RAC 2									NC	0
1959	John Coombs Racing Organisation	Cooper-Climax Monaco T49	SEB	TAR	NUR	LMS	RAC Ret										NC	0
1967	Sidney Taylor	Lola T70 Chevrolet	DAY	SEB	MNZ	SPA	TAR	NUR	LMS	HOC	MUG	BRA Ret	PER	ZEL	VIL	NUR	NC	0
1968	Alan Mann Racing Limited	Ford F3L	DAY	SEB	BRA DNS	MNZ	TAR	NUR	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LMS					NC	0
1969	Alan Mann Racing Ltd.	Ford F3L	DAY	SEB	BRA DNS	MNZ	TAR	SPA	NUR	LMS	WAT	ZEL					NC	0
1970	Matra Sports / Equipe Matra-Elf	Matra MS650	DAY 10	SEB	BRA 12	MNZ 5	TAR	SPA	NUR	LMS Ret	WAT	ZEL					NC	0
1984	Rothmans Porsche GTi Engineering	Porsche 956B	MNZ	SIL	LMS	NUR	BRA	MOS	SPA	IMO	FJI	KYL	SAN NC				NC	0

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1957	Cooper Cars	Ian Raby	Cooper T39	S 1.1	254	15th	3rd
1958	David Brown Racing Dept.	Stirling Moss	Aston Martin DBR1/300	S3.0	30	DNF (Con rod)
1970	Equipe Matra-Simca	François Cevert	Matra-Simca MS650	P 3.0	76	DNF

Indy 500 results

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1976	Esmonds Motors	Stirling Moss	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	3001cc – 6000cc	37	DNF
1977	John Goss Racing Pty Limited	Geoff Brabham	Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop	3001cc – 6000cc	141	18th	9th
1978	Jack Brabham Holdings Pty Ltd	Brian Muir	Holden LX Torana SS A9X 4 Door	A	153	6th	6th

Images for kids

• 

  A rear-engined T51 of the type Brabham used to win his first world championship

• 

  Brabham at the 1965 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.

• 

  Brabham after winning the 1966 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

• 

  Brabham BT18-Honda of the type with which Jack Brabham dominated Formula Two in 1966

• 

  Brabham in the car before the 1966 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

• 

  Brabham in his Brabham BT33 at the 1970 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch.

See also

In Spanish: Jack Brabham para niños