To Cobra fans, meanwhile, Peter’s the guy who took the brick-like Shelby Cobra roadster and turned it into the slippery Cobra Daytona Coupe – the first American car to beat out the European regulars and grab the FIA’s GT World Championship, motorsports’ ultimate prize in worldwide sports-car racing. Today Pete credits that shape to the 1930s research of Wunibald Kamm’s group, plus some very careful reading of the FIA and ACO rulebooks in search of every loophole. However the credit is shared, America got its first World Championship-winning sports car, and Peter got a firsthand education in negotiating the world of provincial race officials. That education was about to serve him well.

 

Datsun devotees love to remember the Peter Brock of Brock Racing Enterprises during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s; that fun-loving hipster who, behind his crowd-pleasing polka-dot scarves and hip-hugging slacks, coolly called the shots as BRE’s 510 coupes decimated the Alfas and Porsches of the Trans-Am 2.5 series The whole thing only happened because Pete, on something of a lark, had turned a rear-engined, Japanese-market Hino economy car into a bored-out Cal Club Production-class killer. The big boss back at Hino in Japan was so thrilled he offered Brock a contract both for running a Hino race team and designing new Hino sedans. Pete grabbed it. When Hino was absorbed by Toyota soon after, he flirted with that company over a Toyota 2000 GT racing team, but that was no dice. Shelby snatched the 2000GT contract for himself, leaving Peter to woo Toyota’s rivals over at Datsun. End of story: Datsun backed Peter’s new BRE team, and BRE used Datsun’s cheap 2000 Roadster to utterly blow away the super-expensive 2000GT. 

 

In Japan, Peter’s become a serious motoring celebrity. His success with BRE earned him a lot of respect, while his outrageous Hino Samurai Group 7 prototype – a wildly showy mid-engined GT for the prestigious Japan GP series – made him a cult hero.

 

The list goes on. Hang-gliding nuts remember this guy as the design and business genius behind Ultralight Products (UP), the world’s biggest hang gliding company during that sport’s late-‘70s/early-‘80s heyday. Peter once reminisced to me, “I was messing around all day with racecars, just trying to get ‘em to stick to the ground. Then one day I go by this giant dune, and these guys are jumping off the thing with nothing – with a couple of sticks and a garbage bag. And they’re flying! I saw that and I thought ‘boy oh boy: To hell with trying to stick stuff down to the ground!” 

 

And of course racers – specifically, I’m thinking here of Corvette C5R racers – think of him two ways. First, as one of the very few guys who can go to an event, size up what really matters, and transmit that knowledge back to the non-racing public. Second, as an old hand himself who’s already solved a lot of the problems that they’re starting to face today. Everything from cranky ACO scrutineers to ongoing corporate relationships to sneaky driver strategies, Peter’s already been there. That’s not a bad friend to have cruising around in your neighborhood at the races.

Personally, I think of Pete in a few different ways. First and foremost, he’s a good friend I regret not spending more time with – one of those guys who’s always in a great mood, always fun to hang around with, and always dependable for some laughs. He’s also freakishly well rounded. Art, literature, physics, and aerodynamics… this guy has got strong thoughts on all of them, and he knows of what he speaks. Second, I think of him as the best competition shooter and writer I’ve ever worked with. Since taking on the mantle of automotive journalist in the mid-1990s, Peter has quickly become one of the most respected and widely published competition reporters in the world.

Finally I think of him as a good object lesson. Here’s a man who’s never stopped looking and never stopped asking the interesting questions. That trait has led him into a bunch of successful careers, any one of which would be a good lifetime’s achievement for most folks. And after a seriously devout dedication to bachelorhood, it’s led him into a marriage that’s making him happier than I’ve ever seen him before, and this was always a chipper guy.

 

So what have we got? In highlights alone, we’ve got a hugely influential Corvette stylist; a World Championship racecar designer; a Trans-Am winning team owner; and an A-list photojournalist; and one happily married lucky S.O.B. You could also throw in Art Center professor, book author, engine developer, competitive race driver, and general all-around rabble-rouser if you like. 

 

In short, we’re talking about a guy who proves the value of never being afraid to explore the next thing down the road.

 

Jay Lamm

Editor, Corvette Magazine