1,000 Greatest Drivers: Peter Brock

At Bathurst, he was frequently the first car on Brock.

I had difficulty deciding where to place Peter Brock on my release schedule. Although he is definitely one of Australia’s greatest drivers, he shares a birthday with Sébastien Loeb, who is clearly even more legendary, so I had to go for the anniversary of his fatal crash 18 years ago. I also thought this increased emphasis on Australian touring car drivers was fitting as we approach next week’s running of the Sandown 500, which was traditionally held on either the second or third week of September. Although none of Brock’s Sandown wins came on this date specifically, most of them happened on various dates this week.

I do think Australian Richard Petty is the best way to think about him since I don’t think the ‘70s and ‘80s competition in Australian touring cars in that era was all that great, which is why I gave him only one top 5 season. Personally, of his contemporaries I think I rate both Allan Moffat and Jim Richards higher and possibly Dick Johnson too. All three of them were probably better in the ATCC even though Brock ended up becoming the all-time win leader there for a while simply because he made many more starts, but admittedly, many fans of this discipline of racing would argue the endurance races matter more, and that’s probably true. As with Petty, I fully understand if you think based on his longevity and sheer numbers that Brock was the greatest ATCC/Supercars driver of all time, but I would personally take a few others higher. When all is said and done, I think Scott McLaughlin will have the best career from that scene although I’m not sure I’d rate him higher yet.