Jack Brabham's Worst Nightmare

It's the last Grand Prix of the 1959 Formula 1 season and Jack Brabham is on the verge of his first Driver's Championship. He only needs to finish ahead of his two closest rivals to secure an F1 crown. But on the final lap, every driver’s worst nightmare becomes Jack Brabham’s reality.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Nineteen to fifty nine was just the tenth season of
Formula One. It featured eight racers on the calendar, and
rear engine cars had only recently become the norm. The
season kicked off in May at the prestigious Monaco Circuit
and ended in the United States in December. Heading into
the last Grand Prix of the year at Florida's Sebring
racewayzz he Jack Brabham was on the verge of his

(00:26):
first championship. Racing for the Cooper Car Company, Jack only
needed to finish ahead of his two closest rivals to
secure an F one crown. On the final lap of
the race, Jack was in the lead, his closest title threat,
Tony Brooks, was on his heels pushing up the grid,

(00:48):
and then every driver's worst nightmare became Jack Brabham's reality.
He ran out of fuel. Hi, I'm Tony Armstrong and
this is the ballroom where we celebrate the winners, losers
and the weird stuff between. Jack Brabham loved engines. He

(01:32):
learned to drive at twelve years old and was working
on cars and studying mechanical engineering by fifteen. Three years later,
he was a flight mechanic in the Air Force during
World War Two. After that, he ran a small repair
shop behind his grandfather's house. But even then, becoming a
racing driver wasn't on his radar. The first time a

(01:52):
friend took him to a speed car race, he thought
the whole thing was pretty wild. To be fair, those
tiny cars flying around the dirt track were death traps.
Back in the day, safety was kind of an afterthought,
I guess, But eventually Jack started to see things differently.
Jack's mate, Johnny, was a driver himself. Jack went to

(02:14):
watch him race a few times until one day when
Johnny asked if he wanted to build a new car together.
Jack agreed and the pair got to work. About five
months later, the custom built speed car was finished. Initially
it was Johnny behind the wheel until his wife convinced

(02:34):
him to give the dangerous sport away. Now he was Jack,
with the car and no driver. There was only one
thing to do but hop in the driver's seat. Jack
may have been an expert mechanic, but he was still
a novice driver. Knowing his way around an engine surely helped, though,
because he managed his first win in just his third race.

(02:57):
From there, Jack never looked back. He continued winning, stepping
up to bigger and tougher competitions until speeders just weren't
challenging enough. Jack moved on to hill climbing. Yep, that's
still a motorsport, and that gave him a taste for
road racing. He competed around Australia and New Zealand before
being lured to Europe were a career in Formula one

(03:20):
Beckond Jack Brabham made his F one debut in nineteen
fifty five, racing for British team Cooper. It took him
a while to adjust, so he also spent time in
Formula two honing his racecraft on Europe's challenging circuits, but
by nineteen fifty nine Jack had become a serious contender

(03:41):
for the F one Drivers Championship. He started the season strongly,
winning at Monaco, one of the world's hardest races. He
placed second and third in the next two before winning
the British Grand Prix. Jack could have had the championship
wrapped up early if it wasn't for the Germany and

(04:02):
Portugal GPS he was forced to retire from both. Third
place at Monza got him back on track, but the
season was still up for grabs in the last Grand
Prix of nineteen fifty nine in the USA. It was
an unusual three months between races until the season finale,
but the first ever Grand Prix in the United States
was worth waiting for. Three men were still in contention

(04:24):
for an F one championship. Jack Brabham with a five
and a half point lead ahead of Sterling Moss and
Tony Brooks two and a half points behind him. The
weekend wasn't off to a good start for Jack. He
crashed his Cooper in practice and spent the whole night
fixing the car. In qualifying, Sterling Moss got pole position,
Jack was second and Tony Brooks fourth. To claim the championship,

(04:51):
Jack had to either finish first or at least ahead
of Moss and Brooks. Moss had to place first or
second in front of Jack, and for Brooks it was
do or die. He'd need to win and rely on
other results. Race day arrived, starting on pole, saw Moss

(05:14):
set the pace early, leading the grid. Brooks was the
first challenger to falter. He collided with the Ferrari on
lap one and dropped way behind. He never recovered. Jack's
job just got a little easier. Meanwhile, Moss was flying
at least for the first six laps. He made contact
with two other cars, which saw him enter the pits.

(05:35):
A mechanical failure meant he had to retire. The championship
was Jack's for the taking. With cars retiring one by one,
Jack stormed ahead, but he still had to contend with
his Cooper teammate Bruce McLaren. The pair battled for the lead,
but surprisingly kept things pretty civil. It all came down

(05:59):
to the final lap. Jack had got into the race
with a light fuel load, giving the Cooper a small
advantage in speed and acceleration. But no strategy in Formula
One comes without a risk. As Jack pushed for the win,
his car suddenly began to sputter and rapidly slowed down.

(06:24):
Running out of fuel is perhaps the most embarrassing way
for a driver to bow out of a race, but
that's exactly the scenario Jack Brabham was now facing in Florida.
His car came to a complete stop short of the
finish line as his competitors flew past him. With Moss

(06:44):
and Brooks out of the picture, Jack had the championship
in the bag, but now he was fighting for his
own pride. Jack got out of the car and began
to push. It was pure grit and determination. He pushed
his coup at the last few hundred meters down the
track and rolled over the finish line. Jack had finished

(07:05):
the race in fourth place and won his first Formula
One drivers Championship. He collapsed beside his car, exhausted. Jack
Brabham was a world champion. Jack went on to win
two more F one crowns, the third being one in

(07:27):
a car of his own making. His success helps solidify
rear engines as the norm in Formula One, forever changing
motor racing as we know it. Sir Jack Brabham, a
world champion and AUSSI champion. Thanks for hanging out in

(07:51):
the ballroom. I'm Tony Armstrong and you've been listening to
an iHeart production. See you next time for another story
from the wonderful world of sport. Catcha