How a shy dental student became a British F1 hero

Success can bring about many changes in people. Some become big-headed and obnoxious – others mature and become even more likeable and interesting than they were before – and a very few change not at all. Tony Brooks, to my mind, falls into the second category.

Here is a young man who took up motor racing purely for fun, without any thought of joining the ‘big league’. But, to his surprise and satisfaction, he now finds himself looked upon as one of the greatest racing drivers in the world. How then, has this unsought state of affairs affected him?

Tony first hit the headlines in 1955 with his brilliant victory at Syracuse in the Connaught. After the race he slipped away from the pits, changed out of his overalls into his everyday clothes, and returned to mingle, unnoticed, with the excited crowd.

When the press finally cornered him, they were surprised, to say the least. Instead of the exuberant, colourful personality that racing drivers are apparently expected to be, they found a shy, unassuming and rather serious young man, wondering what all the fuss was about and wanting to get home as soon as he could, so that he could continue studying for his finals. What was he studying? Dentistry! Here indeed was the story journalists dream about, and they made the most of it.

The newspapers next day told of the shy young Manchester dental student, who had come up from nowhere to defeat the crack Italian Maserati racing team on their own ground, a young man who had no time for the pretty girls and bright lights because he was studying to be a dentist.

All this was very true, and most of it is still true today. He is very nearly five years older, of course, and he is no longer a student. He does have time for pretty girls, but only two, one being his wife, Pina, and the other their five-week-old daughter, Caroline!