Dick Brooks
| Dick Brooks | |||||||
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| Born |
Richard Brooks April 14, 1942 Porterville, California | ||||||
| Died | February 1, 2006 (aged 63) | ||||||
| Cause of death | Pneumonia | ||||||
| Awards | 1969 Rookie of the Year | ||||||
| NASCAR Sprint 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) | ||||||
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Richard "Dick" 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 point finishes (1975 through 1978), and 358 career races.
Although Brooks only won one NASCAR race, he was a popular figure in that particular league of motorsports. Driving for the underfunded Junie Donlavey team, Brooks finished 10th in points in 1975 and 1976. A sixth place point finish in 1977 was the highest Brooks ever finished. After finishing eighth in the points in 1978, Brooks left the Donlavey team and drove for others in 1979 and 1980.
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. The rest of the season was not as good though and Brooks faded to 14th at season's end. 1984 was more of the same as the Donlavey team struggled to keep up with the higher financed teams and Brooks finished 15th. After driving three races for the Petty Enterprises team in 1985, Brooks left the ride. 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.
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.
External links
- Dick Brooks driver statistics at Racing-Reference
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