Sir Jack Brabham:
A Champion and a Gentleman
It was important to me, as it was the first time I had been involved in something that taught some discipline and sharing with others.” These words, spoken by motor-racing legend Jack Brabham, were surprisingly not about racing cars but Cub Scouts as a youngster. Later in life, Brabham was to apply this discipline to his motor-racing skills, learning to drive quickly, learning to drive economically—and learning not to crash cars!
Today’s generation of Formula One fans relates to Ferrari star Michael Schumacher from Germany, a six-times world champion, but several decades ago, one Australian excelled in this prestigious sport. Several Australians have since dabbled in F1, but only one other, Alan Jones, became a world champion.
Jack Brabham, an only child, grew up in Hurstville, Sydney, where his parents ran a greengrocer business. His father was a motor enthusiast. Young Jack was a quiet achiever, leaving school at 15 to become an apprentice motor mechanic. He joined the Australian air force as a mechanic, for flying was to become his second passion in life, progressing to his own engineering business, then becoming involved in building and racing midget speed cars. As a driver, after many sometimes difficult years, he became one of the most outstanding and highly regarded Formula One drivers of his era.
Famous British rival Stirling Moss was most complimentary about Brabham’s keen competitiveness yet extreme fairness, saying, “How could such a nice bloke out of a car grow such horns and a tail inside one? He was a great Australian sportsman, everything we Poms came to expect . . . no quarter asked and absolutely none given. The greater side of Jack’s character was his natural sportsmanship.”
Moss recalled a time his Cooper broke a tail shaft and with no replacement, it meant he’d miss the final race. “Jack immediately offered his spare . . . knowing full well that I could beat him in the event—which I did! But Jack accepted that with a laugh, such was his sporting nature.”
Fellow competitors and friends regarded him as tough and relentless in racing, but always fair.
He’d never deliberately cause anyone to crash in order to prevent them winning (as opposed to the antics of some today). He was also unassuming, remaining totally unaffected by fame to the present, considering it wrong to brag. As one who’s met and spoken to Sir Jack on many occasions, I’ve always been impressed by his reserved, almost shy personality. He is always a gentleman, approachable, humble and modest—not the normal mould of racing-car driver!
Having caught the motor-racing bug, Brabham achieved success in Australia then set sail for Britain, seeking greater challenges. He soon made his mark as a Cooper works driver, where his ability as a gifted, “grassroots” engineer came to the fore, helping Cooper develop a world-beating race car.
In 1959, Brabham achieved what no other Australian had to that point—he became the Formula One World Champion. The following year, he proved to everyone that the Cooper Climax–Brabham combination was unbeatable, clinching his second title. Then with an uncanny insight and understanding of new opportunities, he joined forces with another inspired Australian Ron Tauranac, who became his business partner, car designer and constructor of Brabham race cars in Britain.
Struggles and hardship followed, but eventually they produced a world-beating Brabham, with a little help from Repco friends in Australia. Six years later he took out his next title in the Repco–Brabham, joining racing legend Juan Fangio as a triple Formula 1 world champion. Most importantly, Brabham became the first driver in history to win the title in a car of his own construction.
But his success didn’t stop there! Next year, Brabham’s team-mate, New Zealander Denny Hulme, claimed the title in a Brabham BT20 after a year long battle with his boss, but in true fashion Brabham was the first to congratulate Hulme!
In another unusual and sporting gesture, Brabham took young Kiwi Bruce McLaren under his wing, sharing his secrets of success, showing him how to drive on different tracks and teaching him to pace himself and his car.
It wasn’t only Formula 1 that grabbed Brabham’s attention. He became intrigued with America’s greatest but most dangerous event, the Indianapolis 500. Brabham’s custom-made European-styled Cooper-Climax set a new trend, pioneering the rear-engined race-car revolution. He had to endure such comments as “I wouldn’t drive them, no matter what!” from the Americans.
It was at Indianapolis that he experienced his greatest motor-racing scare, driving through a fireball from a car wreck that killed two drivers, one a close friend, which stopped the race. This tragedy probably contributed to his wife Betty’s determination to keep their boys Geoff, Gary and David away from car racing. Although she didn’t succeed there, she had more success encouraging Jack to retire.
Brabham’s career was so successful because of his talents as a driver—despite his somewhat unconventional and spectacular style that so endeared him to the crowds—and as a practical person. His father, Tom, a staunch supporter of his son’s racing, also began to have second thoughts about the wisdom of his continuing, as so many drivers and friends had lost their lives in accidents. He sided with Jack’s wife and mother, urging him to quit before his luck ran out.
At the end of the 1970 season, they bought a farm outside Melbourne, then upgraded to a larger property beyond Wagga Wagga and settled into country life. There, one of the few flaws in Jack’s character began to emerge, as life on a farm didn’t do much for their marriage. As Jack admits, “I regarded my retirement as premature, and still do. For us, early retirement wasn’t a comfortable period.”
As for Betty’s desire to wean the boys away from motor racing, that didn’t work either, as all three took up the sport even though Jack was heard to admonish them: “Son, this is a racing car and your mother doesn’t want you to drive ’em.”
Brabham and his partner built some 600 cars over the years. Being a shrewd businessman, he became involved with everything from car dealerships to aviation.
He says that among his proudest memories are being presented with his first Formula 1 Grand Prix trophy by Princess Grace in Monaco; being knighted by the Queen in 1979 for services to motor sport; seeing his sons achieve in motor racing; and, in 2000, running a leg of the Olympic torch relay in Byron Bay. Another proud memory was seeing his trusted and conscientious friend Ron Tauranac, “the only man I’d ever go into partnership with,” also recognised for his contribution to motor sport and receiving the Order of Australia.
Brabham is proud that so many of his countrymen were involved in his success. “It was a great Australian effort . . . with a fabulous engine and crew and for Australian motor racing and Australia, it was a fantastic effort all round. For our car to beat Ferrari [who were on top and had been for a few years], it was a fantastic feeling inside.”
At age 78, and other than being a little deaf, he lives a comfortable and healthy life on Queensland’s Gold Coast. He attributes his good health to many years of “clean, restful living, never having put myself at any risk . . . eating simple food, never having smoked a cigarette . . . plus the occasional slice of good luck.”
He still loves to race cars, and takes part in demonstration runs and rallies. He says he believes Mark Webber has great potential, but needs a better team. He considers Michael Schumacher to be the best Formula 1 driver ever, while the person to watch is Will Davison, grandson of one of Brabham’s former opponents, Lex Davison.
As to his opinion of today’s win-at-all-cost attitudes and the demise of genuine sportsmanship, he sums it up simply: “We raced for fun in those days.”
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