Brabham motor racers keep it all in the families

This year Matthew Chase Brabham came fourth in the Indy Lights series.

IT’S pretty hard not to be a race driver if your name is Brabham. Twenty-year-old Matthew Chase Brabham is Geoff’s son and Jack’s grandson.

Matt started racing aged seven, winning 21 races and the NSW state title. Last year he was Pro Mazda Series Champion and rookie of the year driving for Andretti Autosport. This year he was fourth in the Indy Lights series. Both series are feeders for IndyCar.

When Mario Andretti, father of Andretti Autosport owner Michael Andretti, was at the beginning of his F1 career he raced against Jack Brabham. Both were world champions. Geoff Brabham raced against Mario and his son Michael, and his son Matt races in the same team as Michael’s son Marco. And you thought stuff like this only happened in Tasmania.

So what you wouldn’t have heard (because Formula E cars sound like Scalextric slot cars) is that Michael Andretti called up Matty B  late last month to take a quiet last-minute drive in Malaysia. While he probably did race a bit too aggressively, given his whole experience in the Renault Spark battery powered thing was limited to practice, qualifying and racing, finishing lucky 13th and setting some top lap times, it shows the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Sorry for another Tasmanian reference.

Talking of IndyCars, Toowoomba’s Will Power is the 2014 champion. IndyCars are the premier league of US racing. Will’s father Bob was very handy in an open wheeler himself. As yet Will has no children so there are no more comparisons to the Brabhams.

Will, 33, and a very tough competitor, started his career in a Datsun 1200, went through Formula Ford, Formula Holden, British Formula 3, the A1 GP series and Champ Car before getting a full-time IndyCar drive in 2009. Of course not only is Marco Andretti racing against Will (Marco came sixth) but Sydney’s favourite son, Ryan Briscoe, ended the year in 11th.

In Formula 1 there was only one Australian this year. Perth’s Dan Ricciardo took third in the world championship behind Lou Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Mercedes only lost three races this year. Red Bull took those and Ferrari didn’t win one. In the manufacturer’s championship it was Mercedes, Red Bull, Williams-Mercedes with Ferrari in fourth.

F1 is an even unhappier place than Ferrari. Small teams are dropping out. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone settled a bribery case in Germany for $120 million. Ecclestone said Vladimir Putin was a first-class person and should run Europe or America. Putin’s Moscow is said to be paying Ecclestone’s F1 $57m to host a race, even more than Melbourne pays. FIA President Jean Todt told a media conference he has no power to change the regulations even though, “I am convinced that Formula 1 is far too expensive, and that something should absolutely be done.”

Clearly we all need to move closer to big person in the sky. One way is to ride to goodness on the Harley-Davidson Softail Classic blessed with the signature of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and later given to Pope Francis. Bonhams is selling the bikeway to heaven for charity in ungodly Paris in February. It is suggesting a reserve of only $25,000.

I wouldn’t be praying to get it this cheaply given that in the same auction this year someone took just six minutes to bid his way to sainthood, paying $460,000 for Pope Frank’s 2013 Harley Dyna Super Glide.

You know, some weeks, after writing all this stuff, I think the world has gone completely mad. Maybe you, me, the Brabhams, the Andrettis, the Powers and Ryan Briscoe are the only sane ones left.

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