Anthony William Brise (28 March 1952 – 29 November 1975) was an English racing driver, who took part in ten Formula One Grand Prix events in 1975, before dying in a plane crash with Graham Hill. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Born on the 28th March 1952, Tony Brise started at an early age in karts and went on to win championships in every category he attempted, rising rapidly through karting and single seaters.
He was joint British karting champion in 1969 and although he started in karts in the following year he moved into Formula Ford with an Eden. For 1971 he swapped it for a Merlyn and was on the pace straight away, winning Brands Hatch’s FFord Championship plus was runner up in the BOC Championship and there were wins at Croft, Thruxton and Lynden, four at Oulton Park and eight at Brands Hatch. He also took two Libre wins plus received a Grovewood Commendation.
1972 started with racing his Merlin in South Africa, winning at Bloemfontein and Lourenco Marques and finishing second at Kyalami. There would be wins at Mallory Park and Brands Hatch and, moving into Formula 3, in a Brabham and then a GRD, which improved his fortunes, and he was one of the top drivers in the formula.
In the following year he started with the GRD though changed to a March and won the John Player British F3 Championship, shared the Lombard North Central championship (with Richard Robarts) and was second in the Forward Trust Championship. There were wins at Silverstone, Mallory Park, Snetterton, Oulton Park, five at Brands Hatch and at the end of the season he was second (to Tom Pryce) in the Grovewood Awards.
Tony’s career almost faltered due to lack of finances in 1974 but he managed to race in Formula Atlantic. Unfortunately a crash at Snetterton wrote his car off but he was able to continue racing when offered a drive with Modus and he went on to win at Mondello Park, Silverstone and Brands Hatch plus took second place in the Monaco GP F3 support race and finished third in the John Player Championship.
Continuing in Formula Atlantic the following year, he excelled and took three wins at both Brands Hatch and Silverstone, two at Snetterton and one at Oulton Park. He won the John Player Atlantic Championship and was third in the Southern Organs Championship.
1975 saw him make his F1 debut, when he was called up by Frank Williams to stand in for Jacques Laffite at the Spanish Grand Prix in Montjuic Park. Unfortunately Tony could not have had a worse race in which to make his debut, with one prominent motor racing writer declaring the weekend one of the most terrifying he had ever experienced. It was overshadowed by protests over an unsafe track and hastily installed Armco barriers; the concerns being highlighted when Emerson Fittipaldi leant on a barrier for a photoshoot and it collapsed under him! The Grand Prix Drivers Association threatened to strike and the teams themselves helped out with repairs to the barriers but eventually, although everyone was tense, the drivers reluctantly raced. There were a number of retirements though when fellow Williams driver Arturo Merzario pulled up in an escape road, he climbed from his car and casually lit a cigarette. But on lap 26 Rolf Stommelen crashed heavily and though five spectators were killed by the flying car. Tony was running seventh when the race was red flagged a few laps later and with less than 66% of the distance completed drivers were awarded half points.
Jacques Laffite returned for Williams but after Graham Hill failed to qualify at Monaco, he stepped down from driving and Tony joined the Embassy-backed team, racing when his Atlantic commitments allowed. Over the next few races he showed a lot of promise, recording some very fast qualifying times though suffered a combination of technical difficulties and bad luck. There were retirements in Germany, Austria, Italy and the USA though he finished in Sweden, Zandvoort and France. After Tony’s crash at the Nurburgring, GH1/1 was a write-off so he took over the latest GH1/4 for the Austrian GP at Zolder.
Rolf Stommelen had returned to the team and raced alongside him in the GH1/3. Despite the appalling weather conditions the race started though as it progressed Tony, Jochen Mass and Tony Pryce were running well once they had got through the heavy spray of the opening laps. On lap 14 after a balance weight came off a wheel he was forced to pit and have the out-of-balance wheel changed. After 26 laps, alongside the heavy rain, there was now thunder and lightning and a delegation from the team managers was asking that the race be stopped. The flag was eventually shown on lap 29, with an exuberant Vittorio Brambilla taking the win. Unfortunately, after waving to his pit crew, the March slid up the wet track and hit the barriers, bouncing back into the middle of the road. Fortunately he was uninjured and continued with the front of the March crumpled. Seventeen cars would make the finish with Tony coming home fifteenth, one place ahead of team mate Stommelen. In Sweden, he was racing as high as fifth before having clutch problems though he went on finish sixth and achieve the Hill team’s first point. There were strong seventh place finishes at Zandvoort and Paul Ricard, outperforming his new team mate Alan Jones. He finished in the British GP though retired in Germany but Alan Jones took more points for the team with a fifth place finish. He crashed out of the Italian GP and then entered the first Long Beach GP, for F5000 cars. During the year, he also competed in F5000 races, taking a second and a fourth at Brands Hatch, fourth at Laguna Seca and sixth at Riverside and made a strong impression when racing Teddy Yip’s Lola T332-Chevrolet at Long Beach. The race was run in two heats and a final, and Tony won the first heat, beating Mario Andretti. In the race, Al Unser initially led but Tony took the lead on lap 3 and held it until Mario Andretti and Al Unser got past on lap 15. Tony eventually re-passed Unser and then took the lead after battling with Andretti but several laps later retired with a broken driveshaft. Mario Andretti later said of him “Jeez, that guy Brise…he was something special.”
Watkins Glen was the last round od the year, with Tony being the team’s sole entry, though his race ended on lap 17 due to an accident. A new GH2 car had been built and intended for use in 1976 and after Tony began testing in the late summer at Silverstone hopes were high for a successful season. On the 29th November 1975, Graham Hill and Tony, along with team members Andy Smallman, Ray Brimble, Terry Richards and Tony Alcock, were returning to London from southern France, after testing the GH2. Tragically, the Piper Aztec plane was attempting to land at Elstree Airfield at night in thick fog when it crashed at Arkley golf course, killing all aboard.
In 2000, at the Long Beach CART race, Gil DeFerran set the fastest lap and received the Tony Brise Memorial Trophy. The trophy commemorated Tony’s setting the fastest race lap in the first Long Beach Grand Prix in 1975.
Tony Brise – A shooting star that fell down too early – from 
Gallery F1 F Atlantic and F3 F5000
