This was published 8 years ago
Matthew Brabham in bid to follow in family's tyre tracks
By Mark Fogarty
Sydney Matthew Brabham will attempt to follow in his famous family's tyre tracks with an Australian-backed entry for next year's Indianapolis 500 motor racing classic.
Brabham, 21, is the grandson of the late triple Formula One world champion Sir Jack and the son of accomplished international racer Geoff, both of whom competed in the Indy 500.
The chequered flag
His bid to make the 33-car field will be in a car entered by colourful Gold Coast motor sport identity Brett "Crusher" Murray and backed by Sydney-based international fluid transfer solution specialist Pirtek.
Getting Brabham on the grid will cost "around the $1.5 million mark", according to Murray, who has been working on the deal for eight months.
Pirtek Team Murray has formed a technical alliance with the KV Racing Technology IndyCar team, which is co-owned by US-based Australian entrepreneur Kevin Kalkhoven.
Brabham will try to qualify for the 500 in a Dallara-Chevrolet prepared by KV Racing, which won the 2013 Indy 500 with Tony Kanaan.
The 2016 Indianapolis 500, to be held on May 29, is set to be the biggest in the history of the event, marking the 100th running.
Staged at the giant Indianapolis Motor Speedway – a 4 km rectangular superspeedway with four banked corners – the Indy 500 is known as "The Greatest Spectacle In Racing" and is the world's biggest one-day sporting event, attended by more than 200,000 people.
Brabham will also contest the lead-up Indianapolis IndyCar Grand Prix on the IMS road course, which utilises the Speedway's main straight in reverse and a series of corners through the infield, on May 14.
He will try to become just the third third-generation driver to qualify for the Indy 500, joining the legendary American Andretti and Vukovich racing families.
Jack Brabham started the rear-engine revolution at the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, finishing ninth in his modified F1 Cooper. He contested the 1964/69/70 Indy 500s in cars of his own design and construction.
Geoff Brabham, winner of the 1992 Le Mans 24 Hours sports car endurance classic, competed at Indy 10 times from 1981-93, with a best finish of fourth in '83.
US-born, Gold Coast-raised Matthew Brabham has been racing in the US for the past four years, winning two of the three junior championships that are the training grounds for the IndyCar Series.
Although he hasn't had the funding to continue in the second-level Indy Lights series this year, Brabham has had two promising IndyCar tests with the Andretti Autosport team.
He is racing this weekend in the Stadium Super Truck supporting races at the V8 Supercars season finale Sydney 500 at the Sydney Olympic Park street circuit.