Brian Redman – A Legend Walks Among Us

Brian Redman in the BMW 3.0 CSL at Mosport. [Photo by Jack Webster]

 

By Jack Webster & Eddie LePine

This weekend the HAWK International Challenge with Brian Redman is taking place at historic Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. You should be there. It is one of the finest vintage racing events in the entire country at one of the finest tracks in the world. There will be hundreds of historic race cars, everything from small sedans to F5000, GTP prototypes, CanAm and Formula One.

And there will be our host, the legendary Brian Redman, who in all likelihood has driven just about every type of car that will be competing in this weekends races.

Brian Redman is a legend, a true living legend in motorsports. The man has done it all, driven it all, won countless races, won championships and continues to this day to be an outstanding ambassador for motor racing.

Brian raced and won races in the legendary Gulf Porsche 917 for John Wyer Racing, he was a Ferrari factory driver, taking victories in the famous Ferrari 312PB, he raced the Ford GT40 and won Kyalami, Brands Hatch, Monza and Spa, among others. He had victories in the Porsche 908 at Brands Hatch, Monza, Spa, Nurburgring, Watkins Glen and the brutal Targa Florio. Redman also raced in Formula One, for teams such as BRM, McLaren and Shadow. He is even immortalized in the Steve McQueen racing movie “Le Mans”, where in the actual 1970 race he drove the famous #20 Gulf Porsche 917K.

Brian won the very first Long Beach Grand Prix, then a F5000 event, in what was to become his signature series. He was F5000 champion for three consecutive years – 1974, 1975 and 1976, racing with and defeating the likes of Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Jody Scheckter and David Hobbs in those championship years.

Redman was the very first IMSA GTP Champion, taking the Lola T600 to the championship in its debut season in 1981.

He also raced for Group 44 in their beautiful Jaguars in GTP and for BMW in the awesome 3.0 CSL.

Brian Redman even piloted the legendary Sunoco Porsche 917/30 CanAm car in its final race at Mid-Ohio in 1974 for Roger Penske.

By the way, he also won the 24 Hours of Daytona 3 times and the 12 Hours of Sebring twice, to go along with his 4 endurance wins at Spa and multiple wins at the Nurburgring, Brands Hatch, Monza and the Osterreichring.

These are just some of the highlights of his career – to list all of his races and accomplishments would take a book.

The man has done it all, and survived a very dangerous era in the process. We are very lucky to have Brian Redman as a living legend, walking among us and sharing with us outstanding stories of his racing exploits, always told in Redman’s understated, matter-of-fact and hilarious style (complete with impressions of the participants). No one tells a better racing story than Brian Redman.

It is likely, had he not taken an interest in vintage motor racing, that we would not be enjoying many of the events we have today. One thing is for sure – we wouldn’t be here this weekend, enjoying the racing and historic cars at the HAWK at Road America and reveling in the company of one Brian Redman.

When you see Brian this weekend at Road America, be sure to say hello and thank him for all he has done, and continues to do for racing.

Great job, Brian.

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