Who Was Peter Brock?
Peter Brock won the Bathurst 1000 nine times. No one else has won it more. He was Australian, born in Richmond, Victoria in 1945, raced almost entirely for Holden across more than 35 years, and was known as Peter Perfect, Brocky, and above all as the King of the Mountain.
The nine came in two clusters. He won the first in 1972, driving the whole race alone, and added another in 1975. Then came three in succession with Jim Richards in 1978, 1979 and 1980, and three more with Larry Perkins and John Harvey in 1982, 1983 and 1984. The ninth arrived in 1987. He also won the Sandown enduro nine times.
He was three times Australian Touring Car Champion, in 1974, 1978 and 1980, and won the Bathurst 24 Hour in 2003 in a Holden Monaro shared with Greg Murphy, Jason Bright and Todd Kelly. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1980 and entered the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 2001.
He died in a rally car. On 8 September 2006, three kilometres from the end of the second stage of the Targa West rally at Gidgegannup in Western Australia, Brock left the road and hit a tree. He was 61. Victoria gave him a state funeral, and the Bathurst 1000 winner’s trophy has been the Peter Brock Trophy ever since.
