David Brabham
Flies The Earth Flag!
David Brabham is one of the most accomplished racers of his
generation, with a Formula One ride in the early 1990s followed by victories at
LeMans and Sebring and an American Le Mans Series
championship last year. Well traveled and worldly wise, Brabham
was born in England, raised in Australia and has competed everywhere in
between. Brabham, 44, is a big picture kind-of-guy
who is as passionate in raising money to fight malaria as he is dedicated to
his successful racing career. He could be driving a Ferrari around town, but
chooses the more efficient Volkswagen Golf. On his driver's suit, where most
drivers wear a flag representing their home country, Brabham
instead has a patch of the planet Earth. "We are human beings, we don't
belong to a country, we all live on the planet Earth.
... it just works for me to think that way,'' he
explained. One summer day six years
ago -- back before it was Hollywood hip or politically correct or even
considered racing reasonable -- Brabham sat down and
composed a letter to American Le Mans Series founder Don Panoz
and series president Scott Atherton asking them to help make the sport of auto
racing more "green."
Brabham implored the two powerful men to be aware of
the growing problems of global warming and carbon emissions and consider how
racing has contributed to the problem. More importantly, he wanted racing to
start contributing to a solution. ".... Because the illusions we have
created for ourselves have made our emotions too strong in the path we are
going, I would like to see motor racing take the plunge and change its thinking
about the way it goes about racing,'' Brabham wrote.
So as Brabham suits up for the ALMS sports car opener
Saturday, the historic Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring -- at the same track
where his legendary father, Sir Jack Brabham clinched
the 1959 Formula One title -- he can take great pride in knowing that his concerns
are being addressed. He's helped motivate the American Le Mans Series to be a
leader in environmentally conscious racing.
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