Gary Brabham’s F1 career consisted of just two unsuccessful pre-qualifying in 1990. He came up through the ladder system of Formula Ford, Formula Three and Formula 3000, where he proved himself a talented hard charger.
His Formula One ‘break’ came with the hopeless Life team in 1990, an outfit so pitiful that even at full tilt it was some 15 seconds off the pace of its pre-qualifying rivals. Gary lasted two races with the team and even that was probably too long, before throwing in the towel and looking elsewhere.
He later raced in America, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring sports car race in 1991 and made a couple of CART IndyCar appearances in his home event at Surfers’ Paradise.
In 2009 Brabham was found guilty of indecent dealing of a child under 12 years but the conviction did not become public knowledge at the time. Seven years later he was found guilty on one count of rape and six of indecent treatment of a girl who was aged six at the time.