SVRA: Brabham back in a Brabham at the Brickyard Invitational

Friday, 17 June 2016

Mark Dill / Images by Randy Harbaugh (top) and Mark Dill
Not since the 1969 and '70 Indianapolis 500s has a driver named Brabham raced a car of the same name at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In those days it was Sir Jack Brabham, aka "Black Jack," knighted by the Queen of England, a three-time Formula 1 world champion and the driver of the 1961 Cooper-Climax that launched the rear-engine revolution at IMS. Jack Brabham is also the only man to design a car and then drive it to the world championship. Until this weekend he was the only Brabham to race a Brabham racecar at the Speedway.
****************************************
see post #105 in this very thread, for Jack Brabham Senior
https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/g...history-3.html
*********************************************

That changes as Sir Jack's son Geoff straps himself into a 1971 Brabham BT-35 Formula Three racecar this weekend at the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association's Brickyard Invitational.
You could say Geoff, an accomplished driver in his own right with victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 12 Hours of Sebring and 23 other IMSA wins, came about the opportunity as a result of his dad. After Jack's passing in 2014 just before the first Brickyard Invitational, SVRA officials announced a special trophy in his memory. The idea was to present the award to the owner of the best example of a Brabham racecar at each Brickyard race meet. Geoff was asked to make the trophy presentation at the Saturday evening banquet in the track's Pagoda Plaza. The winner last year was long-time vintage racer Ron Hornig who has been in the game since 1992.
Ron has three BT-35s, all immaculately prepared. One of them is already Gold Medallion certified, the SVRA's strictest classification for authentically prepared racers. The one Geoff is driving this weekend carries the special distinction of having once been campaigned by former Ferrari F1 driver and Indianapolis 500 veteran Stefan Johansson. When Geoff presented Ron with the Brabham Trophy last year the two ended up in a special conversation. Geoff shared that he had only raced a Brabham one other time in his life, in an historic event that was a prelude to a V8 Supercar race in Australia some 15 years ago. He also told Ron that no one in his family other than his father had ever owned a Brabham.
"The more I reflected on that conversation, the more I thought it wasn't right," Ron says. "A few weeks later I reached out to him and offered him a ride. I really didn't know what he would say. Now that we're here I just hope he has fun, and has a great Father's Day."
"I'm going to enjoy this," says Geoff (left). "I'm here to have fun, and just to experience the cars that my father drove is really important to me."
Like all vintage drivers, Geoff – who is also racing a B Production 1963 Corvette in the feature event of the weekend, Saturday's "Indy Legends" Charity Pro-Am – understands the "flag-football" culture of vintage racing. The job is to go fast, make a clean pass if you can and enjoy the competition. Still, when drivers are dicing on the track very few can deny the competitive juices start to flow. In the only other race Geoff drove a Brabham – that exhibition down in Australia – one of his competitors was his father.
"Dad drove me out to the pit wall when I tried to put a pass on him," Geoff says with a smile born of a fond memory, not a complaint.
For Geoff to remember his father this Father's Day weekend is certainly appropriate. Joining him in his double-header adventure is his son Matt, one of the most recently minted Indy 500 veterans with his 22nd-place finish in last month's 100th running of the historic race. Speaking of history, Matt made a little of his own by becoming only the third person to become a third generation driver in the iconic contest. Two other legendary family names, Vukovich and Andretti, are in that club.
"I was cleaning his helmet all last month," Geoff quips. "He needs to help me for a change."
Left to right: Jeremy Hornig, Ron Hornig, Matt Brabham and Geoff Brabham.
The BT-35 Geoff will pilot is virtually pristine. When he and Ron agreed months ago to give it a go, a painstaking process of preparation ensued. The No. 2 BT-35 Ron is driving has full FIA documentation. Ron's no stranger to delivering some of the best-prepared cars in a paddock. At the SVRA's Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival two weeks ago, Steve Earle – founder of the Monterey Motorsports Reunion – presented Ron with another trophy for "Best Presentation and Performance." The recognition also earned a premium bottle of champagne right from the heart of Wine Country.
Ron takes tremendous pride in his cars and vintage race team. He purchased the first of his three BT-35s in 2004, painted it blue and campaigned it in various vintage race events for five years. In 2009 he discovered the history of his car. It was one of two racers from the Torsten Palm Swedish race team from the early 1970s. Palm was the 1971 Formula 3 champion of Sweden. The discovery also established the connection to driver Stefan Johansson, who won Sweden's 1973 F3 championship. The new information also piqued Ron's interest in acquiring the second team car.
The search for the team car required two years. It was located in Sweden, secured and transported to America for restoration by J.D. McDermott of Front Range Motorsports. Ron had McDermott restore both cars to the original yellow livery and car numbers of the Torsten Palm team. Usually Ron, a serious vintage racer who races to win and finished third in his class at the SVRA national championships last year at COTA, brings both cars so he has a backup. With Geoff in one of the seats this weekend there won't be a second chance.
Obviously Ron, whose son Jeremy is also joining him this weekend, has a great respect and love for Brabham cars. The turn of events that makes Geoff Brabham his teammate this weekend has him a bit in awe.
"It just feels like I have gone to another level of racing," Ron says, stressing that he makes that comment out of deepest respect for the Brabham family. "J.D. and I have gone to every effort to make the cars equal. This means so much. I don't have a lot of regrets, but I do regret not going to the effort to meet Jack Brabham. There will never be another one like him."
While Ron never met Jack Brabham, he'll never deny he is creating an extra special lifetime memory with the great champion's son this Father's Day weekend.