Richard Harold Brooks (April 14, 1942 – February 1, 2006) was an American NASCAR driver.
Brooks held off veteran Buddy Baker by 7.2 seconds for the Talladega win.
Brooks made his Grand National Series debut at the first Daytona 500 Qualifying Race in 1969, driving a self-owned Plymouth.
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.
The highlight of Brooks's career came at the Talladega 500, when he drove the Plymouth of Jimmy Crawford to an unexpected victory.
His best result that season was a second place, in the Delaware 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway.
He finished eight in the final points standings and left the Donlavey team at the end of the season.
Brooks had a lot of mechanical issues during the season and only managed to finish 13 of 27 races that year.
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.
40 Pontiac team from SABCO Racing, inheriting driver Bobby Hamilton and sponsor Kendall Oil.
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.