I’M WRITING TO THANK GORDON CRUICKSHANK AND MARK HUGHES FOR THEIR SPOT-ON tributes to Tony Brooks in the July issue. As a 17-year-old getting interested in motor racing, I devoured The Motor and its grand prix reports at the local newsstand despite them being a couple of months old by the time they got to the States. Somehow I got onto Tony Brooks, and he remained a favourite for all these years.
I was lucky to attend the 1959 United States Grand Prix at Sebring (the venue was Sebring and not Watkins Glen in 1959 as stated!) and was standing across the track from the Ferrari pits at the start. Away they went, but, much to my surprise and especially that of the Ferrari pits who weren’t ready, Brooks came in after just one lap to check the damage inflicted by team-mate von Trips. As the confused Ferrari members scurried around the car, I hurriedly refocused and snapped this photo. Fast-forwarding 30 years, I saw Tony at the Monterey Historics at the Aston Martin Tribute in 1989.