For many, Peter Brock was the face of motorsport in this country. Nine times a winner of the Bathurst 1000, he transcended the sport, as widely known around Australia as Prime Ministers and TV stars of the day.
To a select few, he was a colleague. For Neil Crompton, he was both.
Now known as the voice of Supercars, Crompton was just 11-years-old when he first met his racing hero. Later they ended up as teammates, and in 2006 Crompton had the awful task of speaking at Brock’s state funeral.
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Speaking to Wide World of Sports about his recently released autobiography, Best Seat in the House, Crompton detailed the extraordinary impact Brock had on him.
“Peter occupied a really special place in my life, and in my heart, and I’m forever grateful for the opportunities that he provided me,” he said.
He admits the transition from fan to teammate was “weird.”
“I was a kid hanging off the fence at Calder Park or Sandown or Phillip Island, watching what he was doing and devouring every second of it, and then ultimately we became friends and teammates, and then there was the rotten task of saying farewell,” he explained.
“He was a pretty special character in the history of Australian sport, not just motorsport, so to have lived a life alongside him was a special privilege that I’m very grateful for.”
Brock’s ability to connect with his fans is still regarded as perhaps his greatest asset. Nobody, young or old, was denied an autograph or a picture with the great man.
For Crompton, an unusual request in 1971 highlights Brock’s relationship with the motorsport community.
“I was about 11-years-old, making a contribution to a silly primary school magazine, and I asked him to describe a lap of the Calder rallycross track. I wandered up to him, a brat with a runny nose and a pencil and paper, and he was obliging,” Crompton said.
“There are plenty of other athletes and race drivers who just wouldn’t give you the time of day, and that’s not because they’re rude or arrogant, it’s just that a lot of the time they’re preoccupied, or busy. They’ve got a serious job to execute.
“One of Peter’s great personality traits, and it was the same for Craig Lowndes, was the ability to somehow do both things – drive the car and compete at a high level, and still have time mentally to devote to the fans, which is a really special thing.
“Not everybody can do that. Peter did that with me at a young age, and it just makes him 20 feet tall in the eyes of a kid. It’s brilliant.
“I’d be one of hundreds of thousands of people who experienced that along his journey.”
Fast forward to 1987, and Crompton received a phone call from Bev Brock that would alter the trajectory of his career. It was an invitation to test for Brock’s team at Calder Park, the same venue where he’d approached the legendary driver in 1971.
“To test one of his cars more than 15 years after meeting him, that was pretty special,” he explained.
“It’s one of those times where the hair on the back of your neck stands up.”
The test went well, with Crompton beating the benchmark time that Brock had set earlier in the morning. But a problem with his racing licence – he didn’t qualify for an International C licence – meant he couldn’t take part in that year’s Bathurst 1000, where he was to have shared the team’s second car with Jon Crooke.
Personal intervention from Brock failed to convince the authorities to change their minds, and Crompton could only watch on helplessly as Brock, Crooke and his replacement, Peter McLeod, finished third at Bathurst. When the top two cars were later disqualified, Brock had his ninth win, and Crompton had been denied his first.
“Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Everyone gets bored of hearing stories like that, it’s not the way to live,” he said.
“You can’t transpose things, otherwise we’d all be multi-millionaires, Prime Minster or CEO.
“You can’t worry about things that didn’t happen, so I don’t waste any time of it.
“It’s an obvious question to raise, but it’s pointless thinking about it. The truth is, I would not have been ready to do it justice, we might have backed into it, but I wouldn’t have earned it.”
Crompton would ultimately make 15 starts in the race, twice finishing in third place. Denied the drive in 1987, he never got the chance to stand on the top step of the podium at Mount Panorama.
“That is definitely a frustration. I won’t say it’s a regret, because it is what it is. You go up there and you put your best foot forward,” he explained.
“But it’s the holy grail, even now. I would love to say I was a Bathurst 1000 champion, but when I look in the mirror I know that I gave it an honest shot, I had the lead multiple times, had multiple great battles with some of the biggest names.
“I’m proud of that. There’s not many full-time drivers who get the privilege of driving there in any given year, in a country of more than 20 million people, it’s still unbelievable that I was able to set my sights on a goal of that nature and then do it.”
A teammate of both Glenn Seton and Craig Lowndes later in his career, Crompton says several of those races could easily have ended in a victory.
“There’s times where I felt I didn’t do the job that I wanted to do, but there’s plenty of times where I felt that I did, and if the circumstances had been different I might have won,” he said.
“I’m satisfied with that, there was nothing more to wring out of the car or myself, it just didn’t happen.
“The glass half full version is I was there, battling at the front with the guys that mattered. At the time you’re bitter and twisted about what happened, but you get over it.”
Now firmly ensconced in the commentary box, it’s nearly two decades since Crompton last drove a Supercar in anger at Mount Panorama.
He’ll be there again this year, with the race rescheduled to December, and like always, Brock won’t be far from his mind.
“He was a fascinating character and it’s very sad he’s not around to this day. It was only just recently we had the 15th anniversary of when we lost him, it’s staggering how fast that’s gone,” he said, his voice trailing away.
“There were lots of special moments, and I’m pleased and proud to have been a small part of his story.”
Best Seat in the House is on sale now from your favourite bookshop or online.
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