Two decades have passed since Peter Brock was killed in a tarmac rally crash on September 8, 2006, at the age of 61. Yet his name remains immortal in Supercars garages, even among a generation of drivers born after his final laps.
None of the current full-time Supercars drivers ever raced against Brock, despite his second Bathurst 1000 comeback in 2004. More than half of the 24-driver field was born after the King of the Mountain retired from full-time driving at the end of 1997. The youngest, Rylan Gray, was born after Brock's death.
Nevertheless, in a Supercars promotion ahead of this year's Great Race, drivers show that the legend very much lives on. Matt Payne, who won his first Bathurst last year at 23, recalls Brock as a god-like figure. "Because of the success he had, the legend he was, the type of person he was... Anyone in Australia or New Zealand, you could ask them who Peter Brock is and they would know straight away," he said.
The Enduro Cup field includes closer links to Brock, headlined by protege Craig Lowndes, whose arrival in the mid-1990s came as teammates at the Holden Racing Team. Three current veteran co-drivers – Will Davison, Fabian Coulthard, and Mark Winterbottom – were at the start of their careers in 2004 when Brock made his last Bathurst bid.
Will Davison, a debutant that year, recalls the surreal experience of parking his Team Dynamik Holden alongside the #05 on the grid. "Brock is motorsport. Brock is Bathurst. I was drawn to the #05. It didn't matter what brand he was driving," said Davison. "There was no data back then, no onboard technology to study; they were freestylers and you could see the way he drove. He just wheeled that car."
The Brock flame has been kept burning in Supercars circles through the creation of the Peter Brock Trophy for the Bathurst 1000 shortly after his death in 2006. It was famously won by Lowndes and co-driver Jamie Whincup in that inaugural year, serving as an ever-present reminder of Brock's unbeaten record of nine Great Race wins.
"The Peter Brock Trophy for us is the biggest in our sport; it's the one everyone wants to win," said Broc Feeney. "We're very lucky to have such an icon like that which has still held on 20 years after his passing."
This year's Bathurst 1000 will celebrate Brock with displays of his previous race cars, historic vision, memorabilia, and more.
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