Trackside with Peter Brock
After a celebrated career spanning three decades, Peter Brock is a household name. People not remotely interested in motor sport recognise his name and his achievements.
He officially retired from motor racing in 1997, but Brock’s unrivalled popularity continued. No other driver has attracted the degree of hero worship and following as has “Brocky.”
Influenced a little by “commercial motives,” he returned to his beloved sport in 2002, aged 57, for one last fling at conquering Mount Panorama, home to this month’s Bathurst 1000 touring car race, the most prestigious event on the Australian calendar. Unfortunately, there was no fairytale ending.
Now comes the news that “Peter Perfect” will join the Holden Racing Team (HRT) for 2004 in a final attempt at achieving that magical and elusive 10th Bathurst victory. This time his motivation isn’t about money! Brock loves to race, to win, to succeed, and he loves to respond to his still expanding band of loyal and adoring fans and friends to whom he is so strongly committed.
He’s already a legend and probably the most talented, naturally gifted Australian to climb behind the wheel of a touring car, today called V8 Supercars. His domination and record-breaking achievements will not be equalled or surpassed in future years. Nine Bathurst 1000 and Sandown 500 wins plus a 24-hour Bathurst victory, Touring Car Championships, and a string of achievements covering rally, Australian Safari, Repco Round Australia Trial, along with international competition from Macau to Le Mans, are an indication of his immense talent.
Peter Brock was born into a family in which motor racing was part of life; so, not surprisingly after watching his first Bathurst race in 1966, this ambitious young man decided to get to the other side of the trackside barrier and go racing. His first car, put together in a disused chook shed, was an unlikely, ungainly Austin A30 with a Holden engine squeezed up front.
With his degree of driving skill, it wasn’t long before this aspiring Brabham was discovered by Harry Firth, team manager of the factory-funded Holden Dealer Team (HDT).
Harry describes the young Peter Brock as “someone happy with the basic things of life, but living entirely for motor racing.” He believed it was his ability to focus on the task at hand—the winning of races—that set him apart from other drivers. Brock himself says, “Once I made my mind up, all I ever wanted to do was win Bathurst.”
Other drivers acknowledged his potential. In pit lane, Brock was the most casual, laid-back and relaxed person imaginable, yet behind the wheel, he drove furiously. As Ford hero Dick Johnson said of Brock, “He’s not the sort of person to deliberately knock you off the track. . . . If he couldn’t win fair-and-square, he didn’t want to win.”
Formidable Ford opponent Allan Moffat said, “I knew I was in for a tough time the moment I came across him.” For around 10 years Moffat, then the Ford favourite, and rival Holden hero Peter Brock, went neck-to-neck on the track, rarely speaking to each other except for an obligatory polite greeting in the pits. Then came the unthinkable: Moffat and Brock joining forces, driving Holdens throughout Australia, New Zealand and in the Spa 24-hour classic.
Says Moffat, “I always liked Peter. . . . Too bad we weren’t in the same team much earlier.”
Another co-driver, Jim Richards, said, “It was everybody’s dream to drive with Peter.”
The exact reason for Brock’s unprecedented success is difficult to define, but Brock is a believer in loyalty, friendship and good communication with people, which creates a great sense of camaraderie. Behind the wheel, his level of focus and concentration helped him rise above other drivers. He was totally dedicated, but he also possessed a tremendous passion for driving.
Because motor racing is a high-risk sport, there were crashes, but no serious injuries, and over the years Brock built up a reputation for being kind to his car and not causing it to break. His co-drivers often joked that if he thought (or knew) the engine was about to expire, or some other race-threatening trouble was about to occur, that’s when he’d hand over to them!
Brock is also a precision driver; some would describe him as unspectacular. Lap after lap, he could record the exact same time and drive the same lines.
Brock is a much different person now to when he first donned helmet and driving suit. According to Harry Firth, “Peter was slightly uncouth—a bit of a larrikin and headstrong. He had a beard, long black hair, plenty of charm. . . . Being well-dressed meant a clean T-shirt and jeans.”
Today’s version is more mature. The long black locks are replaced by the grey-haired, dignified look, and he oozes confidence with each word. Peter loves to talk, and genuinely enjoys being with people, which is probably why he’s happy to spend hours surrounded by adoring fans, willingly signing autographs on anything from books to car bonnets. People of all ages, of both genders, still adore him.
I first met Peter Brock while working as a part-time photographer with HDT. Like so many others, I was taken with his good looks and gregarious personality. His fans idolised him, yet he remained unaffected by hero status.
As a public personality, he knew he’d have his privacy constantly invaded. But he knew he owed something to the legion of fans who helped him achieve his goals. Without them, he wouldn’t be where he is today. His wife, Bev, says, “They love him unbelievably; they really do. I’d much rather be with someone who people love than with someone people didn’t like.” (That stands to reason.)
Brock is still very fit for someone approaching 60, thanks to a healthful diet, having forsaken his food-favourite (hamburger with the work) for vegetarian cuisine.
Both Peter and Bev became very health conscious, relying on natural foods to keep up their hectic pace, a philosophy they’d like to share with others. Brock became a vegetarian around 15 years ago, then five years later stopped eating dairy food. Fresh, organic products and non-processed food are high on his priority list, with home-made pizza using soy products among his favourites, along with pasta, salads, fresh fruit and fresh fruit juices. As Bev says, “Peter eats good, healthy food, but he does have a substantial appetite!”
Along with regular gym work, Brock keeps race-ready by competing in all types of events, from Variety Club Bashes to the Targa Tasmania. He will have a go at anything on wheels, including the occasional celebrity go-kart race.
Brock, a nonsmoker, whose favourite drink was once bourbon and coke, now bypasses alcoholic beverages for much-preferred tea or herbal tea and fruit juice. He feels very strongly about road safety and the need to not drink and drive.
“My involvement with drink-driving goes back some decades,” says Peter. Over two decades Brock campaigned his Holden Dealer Team race car under the 05 race number (which he retains), reinforcing road-safety campaigns against drink-driving.
With alcohol a contributing factor in well over 30 per cent of all car accidents, and road fatalities the leading cause of death among males 15-24 years of age, the demographic that flocked to see him drive, Brock was in a prime position to billboard the message nationwide.
Brock is also a member of RADD (Recording Artists, Actors and Athletes Against Drink Driving), an internationally recognised, nonprofit organisation established to pair celebrities and the media to create positive attitudes about road safety, particularly the dangers of drink-driving. RADD is funded by AERF (Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation) for $2 million dollars and includes prominent athletes like Pat Rafter and Layne Beachley, who, like Brock, joined forces with RADD to help save lives.
He is also Vice Patron of NRF (Neurosurgical Research Foundation), as drink-driving is a contributing factor to serious head injuries that result from road accidents. Motor-vehicle collisions are responsible for more than 50 per cent of head injuries, and some 2000 people die from such injuries each year.
Both Peter and Bev are community minded. They’ve established the Peter Brock Foundation, a project specifically designed to assist less fortunate youth. He also acted as a key motivator for the Australian Olympic team in 2000 and 2004 and sat on the board of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation. He believes in and supports projects as far removed from motor racing as the Yarra River Protection Group, lending his name and influence to the promotion of the river’s recovery.
Fauna and flora, his many dogs, painting and drawing creative pictures (of considerable artistic appeal) and his beloved Collingwood Football Club are other interests of the man.
Rural farm life is the chosen style for Peter and Bev and their children Jamie, Robert and Alexandra. Jamie has shown a keen interest in racing and has worked tirelessly building a replica of his Dad’s A30 and restoring a Torana, which they co-drove in Targa Tasmania. While he’s dabbled in racing himself, Jamie hasn’t attained quite the same degree of success as his father. However, to emulate him will always be a difficult task.
Brock’s years in motor racing haven’t always been roses. The man once voted the “most popular driver in Australia” went through a lean period in the 1980s. The infamous Energy Polarizer and the “Doctor Feelgood” (Eric Dowker) are history. And despite a very public and acrimonious divorce from General Motors, it seems that all is now forgiven. When Mark Skaife drove with Brock in 1997, he called it “a great honour.” Ironically, in 2004, the tables are turned and the former King is an invitee in the team now owned by Skaife.
At the time of publication, Brock’s last hurrah is yet to be realised. But come October, as Brock takes his first lap, he will be greeted by capacity crowds, loud cheers and applause. It’s anyone’s guess how the master will perform, but, he says, “Absolutely, I can win.”
“When I can relax and enjoy myself and not think about the event too much, the results are always fantastic.”
Peter’s philosophy is, “Through the highs and lows of life, in victory and defeat, always give your best.” And as for retirement, he cautions, “Don’t be sad. This is life—the best is yet to come.”
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