Dick Brooks

Dick Brooks
Born	Richard Brooks (1942-04-14)April 14, 1942 Porterville, California
Died	February 1, 2006(2006-02-01) (aged 63)
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Awards	1969 NASCAR Grand National Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series career
358 races run over 17 years
Best finish	6th (1977)
First race	1969 Daytona 500 qualifier No. 1 (Daytona)
Last race	1985 Coca-Cola World 600 (Charlotte)
First win	1973 Talladega 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 150 0

Richard Brooks (April 14, 1942 – February 1, 2006) was an American NASCAR driver. Born in Porterville, California, he was the 1969 NASCAR Rookie of the Year, and went on to win the 1973 Talladega 500. Brooks held off veteran Buddy Baker by 7.2 seconds for the Talladega win. After he retired, he served as a NASCAR sportscaster for a brief period of time. His Grand National statistics include the win at Talladega Superspeedway, 57 top fives, 150 top tens, 4 top-ten points finishes (1975 through 1978), and 358 career races. Although Brooks only won one NASCAR race, he was a popular figure in that league of motorsports. Brooks drove for the underfunded Junie Donlavey team throughout his racing career.

Career[]

Brooks made his Grand National Series debut at the first Daytona 500 Qualifying Race in 1969, driving a self-owned Plymouth.^[1] Brooks had a solid year, and with 12 top-tens he finished 21st in the final standings. This also meant Brooks became the rookie of the year. He continued to drive his Plymouth in 1970 and scored 15 top-five finishes in 34 races, improving to 13th in the final points standings. Brooks came close to winning the 1970 Georgia 500, but eventually finished third to Richard Petty and Bobby Isaac after having led 133 laps.^[2] In 1971 Brooks moved to the team of Mario Rossi, driving the No. 22 Dodge. In 15 races with the team Books scored 12 top-ten finishes. His best run of the season came at Darlington were he finished second to Buddy Baker.

For the next two seasons, Brooks did not have a full-time ride and practically picked up whatever ride came up. Brooks started the 1972 season at the Atlanta 500, driving the No. 90 Ford for Junie Donlavey. Brooks made three additional starts for Donlavey with a best finish of eighth, at the Winston 500. Brooks also drove five races for Marvin Welty but failed to finish any of them. Brooks only finished one other race that year, when he drove for Bill Champion at the Texas 500.^[3] Brooks started out his 1973 season driving the No. 6 Owens Racing Dodge to a third place finish at the Daytona 500. He returned to Donlavey and drove eight races for that team in 1973. The highlight of Brooks's career came at the Talladega 500, when he drove the Plymouth of Jimmy Crawford to an unexpected victory. Brooks was not supposed to drive Crawford's Plymouth, but after officials ruled that Crawford did not have enough experience on the big speedway, Brooks took over the ride.^[4]

Without a ride for the 1974 season, Brooks started to field a self-owned Dodge. Of the 16 races that Brooks entered that year he finished three times. His best finish of the season was in the Volunteer 500 at Bristol International Speedway.^[5]

Brooks returned to Donlavey for the 1975 season, driving the No. 90 Ford once again. In 25 races Brooks scored 15 top-ten finishes of which he finished six in the top five. His best result that season was a second place, in the Delaware 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway. Brooks also finished in the top ten in the final points standings for the first time.^[6] He continued to drive for Donlavey Racing in 1976. Brooks scored 18 top-ten finishes that year and he finished 10th in the final points standings for the second year in succession. Brooks continued his good run for Donlavey Racing in 1977. He scored a total of 20 top-ten finishes that season of which he finished seven in the top five. He finished sixth in the final points standings, which would turn out to be a career high.^[7] Brooks had another good year in 1978, with 17 top-ten finishes. He finished eight in the final points standings and left the Donlavey team at the end of the season.

Brooks moved to the team of Nelson Malloch in 1979, driving the No. 05 Oldsmobile and Chevy. Brooks had a lot of mechanical issues during the season and only managed to finish 13 of 27 races that year. Brooks scored eight top-ten finishes during the year and finished 22nd in the final points standings. He stayed with Malloch for the 1980 season but left the team after he only finished five of the first 16 races. Brooks entered in three more races that season, which he drove for Banjo Matthews.^[8]

Brooks only drove five races each season in 1981 and 1982 before reuniting with Donlavey for 1983. After finishing fifth in the Daytona 500, he had several other solid runs. After four races, Brooks led the point standings for the only time in his NASCAR career. Brooks also led the most laps in the third race of the year, at Rockingham, but retired on lap 384. This was the only time in Brooks's career that he led the most laps during a race.^[9] Brooks faded to 14th at season's end. In 1984, the Donlavey team struggled to keep up with the better-financed teams and Brooks finished 15th. After driving three races for the Petty Enterprises team in 1985, Brooks left. His final NASCAR race was behind the wheel of a Rick Hendrick-owned car in the 1985 World 600 where he finished in tenth place.^[10]

Midway through the 1994 season, Brooks purchased the No. 40 Pontiac team from SABCO Racing, inheriting driver Bobby Hamilton and sponsor Kendall Oil. Hamilton left for Petty Enterprises in 1995, and Brooks fielded the No. 40 for Greg Sacks, Rich Bickle, Shane Hall, Andy Hillenburg, Randy LaJoie, and Butch Leitzinger, but after a season which saw the car lead only two laps with a best finish of 12th, Brooks sold the team back to SABCO.

Later life and death[]

Brooks lent his name to a series of car dealerships in North and South Carolina.

After complications from a plane crash in late 2004, Brooks died of pneumonia on February 1, 2006.^[11]

Motorsports career results[]

NASCAR[]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time * – Most laps led)

Grand National Series[]

NASCAR Grand National Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	NGNC	Pts	Ref
1969		32	Plymouth	MGR	MGY	RSD	DAY 16	DAY	DAY 32	CAR 12		BRI	ATL 40	CLB		GPS	RCH	NWS 18	MAR 16	AWS 7	DAR 30			CLT 33	9		MCH 24		GPS		DAY 28	DOV		TRN 8		BRI 25			ATL 10	MCH 31		BGS	AWS 3	DAR 7	HCY 6	RCH 24	TAL 5	CLB	MAR 35	NWS 8	CLT 6	25	AUG	CAR 6		MGR 24	TWS 5	21st	1780	[12]
1970				RSD 33	DAY 7	DAY	DAY 19	RCH	CAR 3		ATL 26	BRI 5	TAL 13	NWS 5	CLB	DAR 2			CLT 31	4	MAR 5			2		GPS 3	DAY 5		4	TRN 4	BRI 26	3	NSV 35	ATL 26	CLB 17		MCH 3	TAL 40			DAR 8	4	RCH 9	DOV	NCF	NWS 26	CLT 30	MAR 16	MGR 3	CAR 39	LGY							13th	2460	[13]
		86	Dodge																			MCH 37	RSD 30
1971		22	Dodge	RSD	DAY	DAY 3	DAY 7	5	RCH	CAR 5	14	BRI 3	ATL 14	CLB 3	GPS 3	5	NWS 3	MAR 23	DAR 2		TAL			CLT 10	DOV	MCH 8		HOU	GPS	DAY	BRI			TRN	NSV	ATL	BGS		MCH	TAL	CLB																	36th	939	[14]
		95	Chevy																																							22
		66	Pontiac																																								DAR 39
			Ford																																									MAR 26	CLT 39	DOV	CAR
		32	Plymouth																																													MGR 20	RCH	NWS	TWS

Winston Cup Series[]

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1972	Donlavey Racing	90	Ford	RSD	DAY	RCH	ONT	CAR	ATL 40	BRI							MCH 27								MCH 40	NSV									49th	1023.5	[15]
		66	Pontiac								DAR 35	NWS	MAR
	Donlavey Racing	98	Ford											TAL 8
		73	Ford												CLT 36	DOV		RSD 33	TWS 35	DAY	BRI	TRN	ATL 38	TAL 40
	Seifert Racing	45	Mercury																								DAR 32	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 40
	Bud Moore Engineering	15	Ford																														CAR 34
	Champion Racing	1	Ford																															TWS 17
1973	Owens Racing	6	Dodge	RSD	DAY 3	RCH																													27th	3200.7	[16]
	Donlavey Racing	90	Ford				CAR 5	BRI							CLT 9	DOV	TWS	RSD	MCH	DAY 9	BRI	ATL
			Mercury						ATL 7	NWS														NSV 32		RCH 27	DOV	NWS 8	MAR
		98	Ford								DAR 11	MAR
		22	Plymouth										TAL 23	NSV									TAL 1
		61	Chevy																						DAR 9
		32	Dodge																											CLT 34	CAR 7
1974				RSD	DAY 9	RCH	CAR 12	BRI	ATL 24	DAR 29	NWS 24	MAR	TAL 29	NSV	DOV	CLT 27	RSD	MCH 19	DAY 15	BRI 7	NSV	ATL	POC	TAL 29	MCH 8	DAR 34	RCH 16	DOV	NWS	MAR	CLT 36				27th	267.52	[17]
		28	Chevy																													CAR 31	ONT
1975	Donlavey Racing	90	Ford	RSD	DAY 22	RCH 4	CAR 4	BRI 19	ATL 4	NWS 8	DAR 25	MAR 8	TAL 3	NSV	DOV 29	CLT 7	RSD	MCH 7	DAY 6	NSV	POC	TAL 38	MCH 20	DAR 26	DOV 2	NWS 11	MAR 6	CLT 35	RCH 3	CAR 29	BRI 6	ATL 7	ONT 8		10th	3182	[18]
1976		95	Chevy	RSD 33																															10th	3447	[19]
	Donlavey Racing	90	Ford		DAY 41	CAR 24	RCH 26	BRI 6	ATL 7	NWS 7	DAR 35	MAR 5	TAL 12	NSV	DOV 7	CLT 7	RSD	MCH 6	DAY 8		POC 31	TAL 3	MCH 29	BRI 7	DAR 6	RCH 8	DOV 6	MAR 6	NWS 6	CLT 9	CAR 8	ATL 29	ONT 4
	Langley Racing	64	Ford																	NSV 29
1977	Donlavey Racing	90	Ford	RSD	DAY 5	RCH 27	CAR 22	ATL 23	NWS 6	DAR 9	BRI 2	MAR 6	TAL 7		DOV 5	CLT 8		MCH 7	DAY 9	NSV 5	POC 5	TAL 39	MCH 6	BRI 4	DAR 34	RCH 8	DOV 8	MAR 26	NWS 8	CLT 6	CAR 5	ATL 37	ONT 6		6th	3742	[20]
	Langley Racing	64	Ford											NSV 22			RSD 12
1978				RSD 15												NSV 14	RSD 26																		8th	3769	[21]
	Donlavey Racing	90	Mercury		DAY 5								TAL 15						DAY 36		POC 7	TAL 9	MCH 6		DAR 25					CLT 10		ATL 12	ONT 9
			Ford			RCH 5	CAR 28	ATL 6	BRI 19	DAR 35	NWS 8	MAR 27		DOV 9	CLT 19			MCH 7		NSV 8				BRI 4		RCH 5	DOV 6	MAR 13	NWS 9		CAR 5
1979		05	Olds	RSD 33	DAY 27	CAR 3	RCH 28	ATL 10	NWS 13	BRI 22	DAR 9	MAR 21	TAL 37			CLT 39	TWS	RSD		DAY 9			TAL 11		BRI 20						NWS 25				22nd	2622	[22]
			Chevy											NSV 27	DOV				MCH 10		NSV 19	POC 20		MCH 29		DAR 7	RCH	DOV 26	MAR 15	CLT 8		CAR 15	ATL 40	ONT 7
1980		7		RSD 22		RCH 29	CAR 16	ATL 5	BRI 27	DAR 5	NWS 27	MAR 26		NSV 30	DOV 17	CLT 15	TWS 27	RSD 31	MCH 33	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI										27th	1698	[23]
			Olds		DAY 36								TAL 9
		41	Chevy																							DAR 10	RCH	DOV	NWS	MAR	CLT 10	CAR 31	ATL	ONT
1981			Buick	RSD	DAY 16	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	NWS	DAR 15	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT 36	TWS	RSD	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT				61st	-	[24]
		13	Ford																													CAR 21	ATL 13	RSD
1982				DAY 38	RCH	BRI 28	ATL 34	CAR	DAR 32	NWS	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	POC	RSD	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	NWS							48th	347	[25]
		8	Pontiac																										CLT 24	MAR	CAR	ATL	RSD
1983	Donlavey Racing	90	Ford	DAY 5	RCH 13	CAR 8	ATL 6	DAR 19	NWS 20	MAR 8	TAL 14	NSV 25	DOV 15	BRI 21	CLT 37	RSD 5	POC 28	MCH 12	DAY 32	NSV 14	POC 15	TAL 7	MCH 21	BRI 21	DAR 31	RCH 13	DOV 32	MAR 16	NWS 15	CLT 37	CAR 18	ATL 31	RSD 34		14th	3230	[26]
1984				DAY 26	RCH 19	CAR 23*	ATL 14	BRI 30	NWS 11	DAR 31	MAR 11	TAL 30	NSV 9	DOV 35	CLT 13	RSD 12	POC 20	MCH 11	DAY 38	NSV 27	POC 11	TAL 35	MCH 18	BRI 3	DAR 6	RCH 10	DOV 7	MAR 11	CLT 13	NWS 11	CAR 30	ATL 17	RSD 24		15th	3265	[27]
1985	Petty Enterprises	1	Ford	DAY 22	RCH	CAR 20	ATL 38	BRI	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL	DOV																						53rd	249	[28]
	Hendrick Motorsports		Chevy											CLT 10	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL	RSD

Daytona 500[]

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1969		Plymouth	33	32
1970			13	19
1971		Dodge	8	7
1973	Owens Racing	Dodge	9	3
1974		Dodge	23	9
1975	Donlavey Racing	Ford	5	22
1976			9	41
1977			15	5
1978		Mercury	32	5
1979		Oldsmobile	8	27
1980			41	36
1981		Buick	38	16
1982		Ford	15	38
1983	Donlavey Racing	Ford	10	5
1984			12	26
1985	Petty Enterprises	Ford	11	22

24 Hours of Le Mans results[]

24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1976	Donlavey Racing	Dick Hutcherson Marcel Mignot	Ford Torino	NASCAR	104	DNF	DNF
1982	Stratagraph Inc.	Hershel McGriff Tom Williams	Chevrolet Camaro	IMSA GTO	141	NC	NC

References[]

External links[]

• Dick Brooks driver statistics at Racing-Reference