Sir John Arthur "Jack" Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1955 to 1970.

Brabham was a Royal Australian Air Force flight mechanic and ran a small engineering workshop before he started racing midget cars in 1948.

In 1962 he established his own Brabham marque with fellow Australian Ron Tauranac, which in the 1960s became the largest manufacturer of custom racing cars in the world.

He then started a small service, repair, and machining business in a workshop built by his uncle on a plot of land behind his grandfather's house.

[7] Brabham competed in Australia and New Zealand until early 1955, taking "a long succession of victories", including the 1953 Queensland Road Racing championship.

[6] During this time, he picked up the nickname "Black Jack", which has been variously attributed to his dark hair and stubble, to his "ruthless" approach on the track,[8] and to his "propensity for maintaining a shadowy silence".

His crowd-pleasing driving style initially betrayed his dirt track origins: as he put it, he took corners "by using full [steering] lock and lots of throttle".

He shipped the Bobtail back to Australia, where he used it to win the 1955 Australian Grand Prix before selling it to help fund a permanent move to the UK the following year with his wife Betty and their son Geoff.

He bought his own plane and on gaining his licence began to make heavy use of it piloting himself, his family, and members of his team around Europe to races.

At the Portuguese Grand Prix at Monsanto Park, Brabham was chasing race leader Moss when a backmarker moved over on him and launched the Cooper into the air.

According to Gerald Donaldson, "some thought [his title] owed more to stealth than skill, an opinion at least partly based on Brabham's low-key presence.

He won from the front at the Dutch, French, and Belgian Grands Prix, where title rival Moss was badly injured in a practice accident that put him out for two months.

He then came back from eighth place to second at the Portuguese Grand Prix after sliding off on tramlines and won after race leader John Surtees crashed.

[28] Mike Lawrence writes that Brabham's expertise in setting up the cars was a significant factor in Cooper's 1960 drivers' and constructors' titles.

[29] Coventry Climax were late in producing the smaller 1.5-litre engine required for the 1961 season and the Cooper-Climaxes were outclassed by new mid-engined cars from Porsche, Lotus, and championship-winners Ferrari.

He spun numerous times in South Africa, and at Monaco, his engine blew up at the start, and the win went to his teammate Denny Hulme.

At the German Grand Prix, he had a huge battle with Amon, and Brabham eventually finished ahead of the New Zealander, by only half a second.

At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Brabham had to finish second, only a few car lengths behind John Surtees, who took his last GP win.

But Jim Clark was simply too fast during the whole weekend, and dominated the race from pole to win, with Brabham finishing over 1 minute and 25 seconds behind.

He returned to racing before the end of the year, but promised his wife that he would retire after the season finished and sold his share of the team to Tauranac.

Finding no top drivers available despite coming close to bringing Rindt back to the team, Brabham decided to race for one more year.

Brabham was about to hold off the onrushing Rindt (the eventual 1970 F1 champion) when his front wheels locked in a skid on the sharp right turn only yards from the finish and he ended up second.

While leading at the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, he ran out of fuel at Clearways and Rindt passed him to take the win while Brabham coasted to the finish in second place.

As well as running the new venture, he continued his interest in businesses in the UK and Australia, including a small aviation company and garages and car dealerships.

Although the original organisation went into administration in 1992, the name was attached to a German company selling cars and accessories in 2008, and an unsuccessful attempt to set up a new Formula One team the following year.

Jack drove as a guest driver in a Rothmans sponsored Porsche 956 co-driving with 1984 British Formula 3 champion and Scottish Aristocrat, Johnny Dumfries.

The pair, driving a car with an in-car camera showing Jack up close and personal at the wheel for the first time, were not classified as finishers after only completing 108 laps.

In addition to the deafness caused by years of motor racing without adequate ear protection, his eyesight was reduced due to macular degeneration and he had kidney disease for which by 2009 he was receiving dialysis three times a week.

[41] Brabham's grandson Matthew (son of Geoff) graduated from karts in 2010 and won two ladders of the Road to Indy, eventually racing in the 2016 Indianapolis 500 and winning three Stadium Super Trucks championships.

Another grandson, Sam, the son of David and Lisa, whose brother Mike also was an F1 driver, stepped up to car racing from karts in 2013 when he made his debut in the British Formula Ford Championship.