TRIBUTES have been paid to Dukinfield-raised Tony Brooks, reportedly the best driver never to win the Formula One title, who has died little more than two months after celebrating his 90th birthday.
Following the death of his good friend Sir Stirling Moss in 2020, Tony was the last surviving Grand Prix winner from the 1950s.
Tony, who was known as the ‘Racing Dentist’, competed in 39 F1 races between 1956-61 and finished second in the world drivers’ championship with Ferrari in 1959, having the previous year been third with Vanwall.
He won six F1 races and secured three pole positions and 10-podium finishes during his six-year F1 career.
F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali paid tribute in a statement, which read: “I was saddened to hear the news that Tony Brooks has died.
“He was part of a special group of drivers who were pioneers and pushed the boundaries at a time of great risk.
“He will be missed, and our thoughts are with his family at this time.”
Goodwood Revival tweeted: “We are sad to announce the passing of Tony Brooks, the last surviving Grand Prix winner from the 1950s.
“Known as the ‘Racing Dentist’, he was one of the greatest drivers never to have been world champion despite six Grand Prix wins. Our thoughts are with his family.”
Tony, who spoke to The Correspondent for an article to celebrate his 90th birthday in late February, believed he would have been crowned world champion in 1959 but for a series of unfortunate mishaps.
That year Tony, who was driving for Ferrari, finished runner-up to three times world champion Jack Brabham and ahead of Sterling Moss who was third.
Yet it might have been a different had Ferrari not been on strike and he had to drive a Vanwall car in the British Grand Prix at Aintree where he failed to finish.
The Grand Prix at Spa, Belgium, a lucky circuit where he has previously won, was cancelled that year while he had mechanical issues with his clutch which forced him out of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
But there were successes as he won the French and German Grand Prix and was runner-up at Monaco and third in the first-ever United States Grand Prix for Formula One at Sebring.
“I was extremely unlucky, and those events cost me the championship,” he reflected.
Tony had the previous year finished third in the world drivers’ championship with the Vanwall team and in that golden era he was also racing against legends like Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorne and Peter Collins.
And those exploits later saw Tony invited back to his hometown in 2007 by Dukinfield District Assembly for a dinner at the Astley Arms in his honour and the unveiling of a plaque at the house where he lived.
It was an eventful journey for Tony, the son of a dentist, who lived on Park Street, Dukinfield, next to the Old Chapel.
Tony, who full name is Charles Anthony Standish Brooks, was known in the sport as the ‘racing dentist’ having qualified and practiced himself as house surgeon at Manchester’s Turner Dental School.
His father Charles was a keen motorist explaining the car was ‘sacrosanct’ in the family and he bought Tony books about motor racing and he became gripped by the exploits of pre-war drivers, notably Germany’s Bernd Rosemeyer and Rudolph Caracciola.
Tony, whose cousin was former British Olympic swimmer Norman Brooks, began club racing in 1952 in his mother’s Healey Silverstone and later through friends acquired a drive in a two-litre Frazer Nash.
It was in 1955 that Tony’s racing career reached another level when he drove a Formula Two Connaught at Crystal Palace finishing fourth and the same year made his Formula One debut at the non-championship Syracuse Grand Prix which he won.
This was the first international Grand Prix win for a British car since 1924 and was the launchpad for his Formula One career.
Tony ended his career with a podium finish, third place in the first ever United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.
He was also an accomplished sports car driver, winning both the 1957 1,000km Nurburgring and the 1958 RAC Tourist Trophy with co-driver Moss, racing an Aston Martin DBR1.
He was less successful at Le Mans in 1957, due again to an accident which occurred while racing an Aston Martin DBR1 at that year’s 24-hour race.
After the end of his racing career, Tony bought a petrol station in Weybridge, Surrey, and transformed the business from having “four ancient pumps” to a retail business employing 100.
He left Dukinfield in 1958 when he was married to Pina, his wife of 63 years and a top-level basketball player for Italian side Certosa Di Pavia.
Tony leaves wife Pina, children Caroline, David, Michele, Julia and Stephanie and grandchildren Max, Dominique, Sofia, Alessandra, Stefano, Christian, Finley, Isabella, Tallulah and Ned.
His funeral was at St Anne’s Catholic Church, Chertsey, on Tuesday, May 24 followed by burial at Thorpe Cemetery, Surrey, and a wake at The Tony Brooks Pool Room, The Mansion, Ottershaw Park.