It’s quite amazing two decades have passed since Australian racing legend Peter ‘ Perfect’ Brock passed away while competing in a tarmac rally at Gidegannup, Western Australia, but the nine-time Bathurst winner transcended the sport unlike no other.
From skidding around the family farm in Hurstbridge to winning three Australian Touring Car Championships, nine Sandown victories matched by the amount of success he enjoyed at Bathurst, Brock rose to not only in motorsport, but achieved universal fame unlike any other driver before him.
Brock was a household name, even in families not attuned to the goings on in motorsport and this came due to his affinity with people.
Chatting to normal, regular people was key to Brock’s success away from the track and this was connected to his work travelling to schools across Victoria pushing the Don’t Drink and Drive message on behalf of the RTA. This extended to running the number 05, the drink drive limit in Victoria.
Rivalries with Allan Moffat and Dick Johnson captivated not only the fans at the track or the media reporting on it, but there was a sense of importance due to the polar appeal of each. Moffat was the black hat, the Canadian was seen as the evil to Brock’s bubbly personality, while Johnson was much like his Holden contemporary in being a relaxed, somewhat relatable character as both their profiles rose through association.
Brock was Holden’s shooting star during its transition from Monaro to Torana before being dropped after winning his first Australian Touring Car Championship in 1974. This was due to Brock’s manager (also managing his soon-to-be ex-wife Miss Australia Michelle Downes) of which Holden had enough of at the time and axed the driver from the Holden Dealer Team.
Despite the setback, Brock won Bathurst as a privateer in 1975 before being welcomed back into the fold in 1978 just as the Torana A9X was about to dominate the local touring car scene.
When Holden pulled out of racing after 1979, it was a host of Holden dealers led by Adelaide’s Vin Kean who rallied together to back Brock in the ATCC and create a lucrative HDT Special Vehicles business.
Brock achieved an awesome amount during this time including two Australian Touring Car Championships (1978 and 1980), two separate Bathurst hat-tricks, the Repco Round Australia Trial and even headed to Europe in 1986 to take on the world’s best teams.
Then, Brock’s world came crashing down due to a little device named the Energy Polarizer.
It came at a time when Brock had given up the booze and cigs to conform to a more spiritual way of life courtesy of Dr Erik Dowker.
Holden was unable to back up what the Energy Polarizer was claimed to do and dropped Brock, who returned to being a privateer.
Stints with Ford and BMW followed before returning to the Holden fold in 1991 by partnering with former HDT team manager Larry Perkins in a Mobil-backed twin-attack on the ATCC.
This relationship fizzled by the end of the season, but Brock continued to run under the Advantage Racing banner until being welcomed back into the fold for 1994 by joining the beleaguered Holden Dealer Team.
Aiding in rising the team up the grid, Brock’s full-time career ended in 1997 to plenty of plaudits, but he was unable to keep away.
Further Bathurst starts in 2002 and 2004 came to nil, while he ran Holden’s reborn Monaro ran in PROCAR Australia’s Nation’s Cup, which led to a new challenge for the legend.
Holden had successfully won the inaugural Bathurst 24 Hour in 2002 and was back with two Monaros for the second edition.
Brock was joined by Greg Murphy, Todd Kelly and Jason Bright to win the final running of the round the clock spectacle.
Continuing to participate in various events including tarmac rallies, it was in Western Australia Brock met his fate as a wave of shock came over the motorsport community just as the news moved rapidly.
Australia had lost its leading motorsport legend, the King of the Mountain.