Checkered flag for Sir Jack
It’s been a decade since the GC’S own three-time Formula One world champion died
Sir Jack Brabham was the fastest man on wheels during his heyday at the dawn of the modern motorsports era.
A Formula One superstar, he won three world driver championships and cemented his legend in the 1950s and 1960s, a particularly dangerous period when deaths on-track or in testing were all too frequent.
His legend lives on and his exploits remain fondly remembered today, 10 years since he died suddenly on the Gold Coast at age 88.
Sir Jack woke early at 4am on the morning of May 19, 2014 and at breakfast with his wife, Lady Margaret Brabham.
“He hadn’t been ill at all, he just went. We’re so grateful for that. There was no pain, nothing, he just went,” Lady Margaret said at the time.
“I took his breakfast in early because he was awake and I went back in about half an hour to get the tray and he was gone.
“The last thing he said to me was ‘darling, I want a sleeping pill’ – I had to say ‘no, it’s almost time to get up’. It was 4am, but he didn’t know what time it was.”
Sir Jack’s death was a shock despite the ill health he had experienced during the last years of his life.
He had only made his last public appearance the day before he died.
Tributes flooded in from across the political and motorsports world, including his own son David, himself a Formula One driver in the early 1990s.
“He lived an incredible life, achieving more than anyone would ever dream of and he will continue to live on through the astounding legacy he leaves behind,” he said at the time.
Fellow Aussie Mark Webber, who had long stints at Red Bull Racing, Williams and Minardi, said Sir Jack had been the inspiration for his own career.
“He was inspirational,” he said at the time.
“He provided me with endless support and advice over the years and became a close confidante – even right up until the last couple of years when, after hearing the rumours that I might move to Ferrari, he told me he would be very disappointed if I went there because for him, it was the absolute betrayal because they were his motivation – the ones he wanted to beat in his day.”
At his death, Sir Jack was the oldest Formula One champion and the last left from the 1950s when the championship began.
He had outlived all of his fellow winners from that era – legendary figures like Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Juan Manuel Fangio and Mike Hawthorn as well as contemporaries including his one-time teammate and close friend Bruce Mclaren.
The Bulletin’s then-motorsports writer Paul Gover wrote Sir Jack’s obituary and said his legacy went far beyond his three world titles, which he scored in 1959, 1960 and 1966.
“He was a hugely talented engineer, a persuasive and successful businessman, a talent spotter and a committed and passionate father and grandfather,” he wrote.
“He was also an old-school Aussie who came up the hard
way, conquered the world, then relaxed into old age as a genuine statesman.
“Brabham was champion again, the only driver to achieve the feat in a car bearing
their own name, and his teammate Denny Hulme repeated the dose in 1967.
“Brabham – nicknamed Black Jack’because of his impressive stubble – joked about
his advancing years and even wore a fake beard as he raced into his 40s in Europe, but was still a championship contender and race winner until his final F1 season in 1970.
He spent his final years on the Gold Coast and helped rescue the 2009 Super GP event.
His ashes were spread at Tamborine Mountain.