A shooting star is an astronomical phenomenon which appears suddenly in the night sky, burns brightly for a few seconds as it streaks across the heavens, then disappears from view as suddenly as it appeared. This also is an apt description of the 1950’s racing career of a Northern California businessman who burst on the fledgling West Coast racing scene and became one of the sport’s brightest stars, then had his career cut short by a racing accident that claimed his life. This is the story of Lou Brero Sr.
Brero’s life is an interesting tale when you consider he was born in Europe, immigrated to the USA with his family and was a hard working entrepreneur and family man. Then, at an age when most successful men are totally involved in their business, he decided to go sports car racing. The story begins on December 27, 1909 when Brero was born into an Italian family living in Nice, France. When Brero was three years old, his parents immigrated to San Francisco, California, where he grew up and went to school. As a young man he met Dolores, a San Francisco native he would eventually marry and start a family with.
In the late 1930s, Brero purchased a garage and gas station in the small Russian River town of Monte Rio, which was down the road from his grandfather’s garage and a few miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. Brero initially started with a few tow trucks, but he began acquiring more big vehicles in order to satisfy the jobs he was offered hauling logs for the nearby lumber mills. Claudette Brero-Gow, the second of Brero’s three children (younger daughter Christine, older brother Lou Jr.) recalls, “Dad was a very hard worker, up early and home late every day. He built his business over the years, performed the maintenance on all his trucks and was very active and physically fit.”
A NEW HOME AND A NEW DIRECTION
With the outbreak of World War II, Brero’s trucks were soon in demand by the U.S. Government, hauling material to build two large naval shipyards in the San Francisco Area. After the war, Brero succeed in renewing his transportation contracts with the logging companies and in 1947, moved his business (Breco Trucking) and family to the small, coastal town of Arcata, California, located not far from the Oregon border. At this point in his life, Brero was a successful businessman, family man and was closing in on his 40th birthday.
Over the next seven years, Brero continued to grow his business, acquiring a fleet of almost twenty trucks. Then in 1952 an unexpected event happened that changed the direction his life would take. The Brero family doctor purchased a new Jaguar
XK 120 sports car and when Brero saw it for the first time, he was stunned, never having seen anything so beautiful. He eventually convinced the doctor to sell him the car and without initially knowing it, he was about to embark on a second career and become a nationally known figure.
TRUCKS TO SPORTS CARS
Once he had the Jaguar, it wasn’t long before Brero was zipping all around Arcata’s roads, testing the car and his skill. Brero-Gow recalled, “Dad exhibited an early need for speed as a volunteer driver of the local fire truck. Unfortunately for the fireman, he drove the truck so fast they kept falling off in route to a fire!” Brero was aware of sports car racing and thought he should give it a try. Although he had no sports car competition experience, his years of driving all sorts of vehicles on a variety of good and bad roads no doubt had honed his driving skills. Using his mechanical ability, he prepared the Jag for competition and entered his first road race, and the first race of the 1954 West Coast season, at Minter Field near Bakersfield, California. Even though Brero was by then 45 years old, a rather advanced age for someone to start sports car racing, he finished a very credible 8th overall and 1st in class.
The next event was the prestigious Pebble Beach road races the following month, where Brero took the Jag to an amazing 1st place in the Cypress Point Handicap race. As reported in the National SCCA magazine SportsCar, the July/Aug 1954 issue: “The second race, novice drivers of cars over 1500-cc was a brilliantly executed tour de force by Louis Brero in an XK120M. It may be assumed that a Jaguar M is not the world’s best or fastest racing machine, but this performance by a novice driver ranks as one of the best pieces of Jaguar piloting seen since the work of Bill Breeze.”
Following his success at Pebble Beach, Brero contested several more West Coast races including Golden Gate Park (DNF), Santa Clara, Seafair (2nd) and Santa Barbara, all in his XK 120M. In the later part of 1953, Brero had purchased the wrecked, ex-Sterling Edwards Jaguar
C-Type and prepared it for competition. When the car was finally ready, Brero ran it in the very first 6-hour enduro held on the West Coast at Torrey Pines. It was an auspicious debut for the car as Brero put in an iron-man effort, driving the whole race solo and claiming 1st place overall. He finished off the season with a 5th at March Field, followed by the Cobb Mountain Hill Climb. Considering this was Brero’s first season of sports car racing, he not only put together a very good record (three 1st, one 2nd and a 5th) but he established himself as a driver to watch in the upcoming 1955 season.
Don Dickey, a very successful Porsche racer in the 1950s remembers Brero as a fair but very competitive racer, “Lou liked to win and he wasn’t above doing what he could to shake a close competitor during a race. If someone was on his tail, he would gradually alter his racing line out a few inches each lap until the fellow behind would lose control and spin out.”
1955 – THE KURTIS
During the off season Brero sold the C-Type, but still had his trusty XK 120M to prepare for the first race at Stockton in March where he suffered a rare DNF. At Pebble Beach he finished 4th behind the Ferraris of Phil Hill and Sterling Edwards, and Ken Miles’ R-2 Special. He was now racing among the big name drivers on the West Coast, and in order to stay competitive he purchased a well-used, Kurtis 500S-Cadillac. By the time Brero was finished preparing the car, the Cad engine developed 410 hp and became known as “The Dog” due to its dodgy handling, but it was a car he could muscle around a race course.
Photo: Brero-Gow
Unfortunately, the Kurtis was not ready for the next race at Santa Rosa so Brero raced a borrowed Osca to a 7th-place finish in class. The Kurtis was finally ready for the Seafair Road Races near Seattle, but it was not the debut Brero had hoped for. He suffered a DNF when he ran off the course and flipped over avoiding a slower car. With the Kurtis repaired, Brero raced to a 2nd-place finish at Buchanan Field; a 1st at Salinas Airport and a 2nd at Sacramento. For the Torrey Pines race, Brero decided to accept his friend Bob Gillespie’s invitation to co-drive his Lancia Spyder, and the duo finished 6th. To that point in 1955, Brero was enjoying a successful year with only one finish outside the top ten driving four different cars. However, the season wasn’t over just yet. Along with several other West Coast drivers, Brero decided to head for Nassau in the Bahamas for the second annual Speed Week. Racing against some of the top drivers in the world, including de Portago, Gregory, Hill, Kimberley, McAfee and Moss, Brero would more than hold his own.
NASSAU – THE FERRARI
Before going further, it is important here to digress for a bit and talk about the car Brero brought to Nassau. The car, a Ferrari 375MM (No. O286AM), was purchased two months earlier from Alan Guiberson of Southern California for a reported $3,500. The Ferrari had great provenance even back then, having been driven by such legends as Villoresi, Ascari, Farina, Chinetti, de Portago and then several notable American drivers. In fact, Brero had raced against the car at March Field (Hill, 1954),Torrey Pines (Shelby, 1955) and Seafair (Miles, 1955).
Brero entered three races at Nassau in the big Ferrari—the 30-lap Governor’s Trophy where he finished 4th behind de Portago, Hill and Sherwood Johnson. The second was the five-lap all-Ferrari, Ascari Memorial Trophy race where he finished 3rd behind de Portago and Hill. In the feature 60-lap Nassau Trophy race, Brero was dueling with the leaders until lap 34 when his engine overheated and he was forced to retire. Nassau had been a great experience, and established Brero as one of the top drivers in the U.S., plus it showed he was capable of running with the best international drivers.
Upon returning home to Arcata, Brero decided to focus on his other two racecars, the XK 120M and Kurtis Cad for the next season. The well-used Ferrari was eventually put in storage and not raced again by Brero. It would not see the light of day for the next 39 years, becoming the object of endless rumor and speculation until it was purchased in 1995 for a reported seven figure sum.
Photo: SFR Archive
1956 – A BUSY YEAR
By the time Brero returned from Nassau the new racing season was about to begin. By now, Brero’s reputation as an elite driver was well known and brought an invitation from well-known West Coast car owner Tony Parravano to drive one of his Ferraris at the opening race at Torrey Pines. Unfortunately, Brero was disqualified in the 6-hour enduro for receiving a push start after a pit stop.
Another car owner from California, Albert Browne, contacted Brero to co-drive his D-Type Jag at the upcoming Sebring 12-hour race. This D-Type was another interesting car that would make history many years later when it sold for in excess of four million British Pounds in 2008. The Jag was the first production-line car of its type, and had been shipped to noted Southern California Jaguar distributor Charles Hornburg who sold it to Browne. Brero would be co-driving with another Northern California racer and friend, Sammy Weiss. Before the race, Browne asked Brero to have the car repainted from the factory British Racing Green using the American racing colors of blue and white. The result was a rather unique combination of a blue hood and head fairing with five vertical blue strips on each side over a white body.
At Sebring, the two Californians would be racing against the world’s best, including Hawthorn, Fangio and Moss in factory-backed cars. The team of Brero/Weiss ran consistently in the top ten until the 68th lap when they retired the car due to clutch failure. Once again, Brero showed he could take an unfamiliar car and run with the best drivers of the time.
After Sebring, Brero embarked on a busy race schedule, competing in 11 races and one hillclimb racing Browne’s D-Type, his trusty Kurtis Cad and the XK 120M. He raced at Stockton (1st), Pebble Beach (4th) and Santa Rosa (2nd) before embarking on three out-of-state races at Ft. Worth (DNF), Elkhart Lake (2nd), Beverly, Massachusetts (DNF). Returning to the west coast he endured a DNF at Arcata, an event he organized and promoted, then won at Buchanan Field, took 2nd at Seafair and won his class at the Cobb Mountain Hill Climb, where he raced two cars, a Jag XK 120M and a borrowed Maserati. His first run in the Maserati ended near the finish line in an off-course excursion. Brero-Gow describes what happened next, “when Dad’s car left the course, it entered an apple orchard and hit a tree. The collision resulted in a quantity of apples dropping onto the car and as my Dad removed his helmet, he was conked on the head by an a few apples giving him a mild concussion.” Brero recovered to drive his Jag to the fastest time in his class and second fastest time of the day overall.
The final event of the year was a return to the Nassau Speed Week where he entered four races in the D-Type Jag. In the five-lap Governor’s Trophy sprint race he finished 4th behind Shelby, Fitch and Hill. In the longer 20-lap Governor’s Trophy race, he drove the Jag to a great 3rd behind Shelby and de Portago. On Sunday, he placed 2nd to John Fitch in the five-lap Jaguar race and with an overheating engine, finished 18th in the 60-lap Nassau Trophy race.
When the final SCCA national point standings were calculated for 1956, Brero had finished 6th in the C Modified Class, not bad for a driver who was essentially a privateer driving cars prepared in the Brero garage in a small coastal town in northernmost California.
1957 – THE FINAL YEAR
The year 1957 brought about another birthday. Brero, now 47 years old, had increased his racing schedule, a pattern he followed each of the two previous years. In the off season, he prepped the D-Type he had purchased from Browne. At the first race in Pomona, Brero took the D-Type to a 5th place finish overall (1st in class) on Saturday and in a downpour on Sunday, finished 7th overall (1st in class).
After a short break in February, Brero embarked on an ambitious series of races in March, beginning with an invitation from noted Southern California car owner, Tony Parravano, to drive one of his Ferraris at Paramount Ranch where he finished 10th overall and 3rd in class.
One week later, Brero smoked the field in his D Jag at Stockton, finishing 1st overall and lapping the entire field up to the 2nd- and 3rd-place finishers. Another race driver at Stockton, Gordie Glyer, remembers Brero from that race. “I was having trouble with my Ferrari disc brakes,” remembers Glyer, “and my friend Sammy Weiss took me over to see if Lou could help. I had not met Lou before, but knew of him as a top driver and one who was very friendly and helpful. While he did not have the parts I needed, he gave me some good technical advice. He was a wonderful fellow.”
Not finished with the month of March yet, he accepted an invitation from East Coast car owner George Tilip to co-drive his Ferrari with Masten Gregory in the Sebring 12-hour race. These two drivers were part of the Ferrari entries that included Hill/von Trips, Collins/Trintignant and Musso/de Portago, elite company indeed. Throughout the race, the Brero/Gregory car continually diced with the leaders and eventually finished in 4th place overall, 3rd in class and first American drivers. They finished behind Fangio/Behra, Moss/Schell in Maseratis and Hawthorn/Bueb in a D Jag. Based on his finish in this race plus the invitation to drive a top-flight Ferrari, Brero was now clearly ranked among the world’s best drivers.
THE MASERATI-CHEVROLET
After Sebring, it was back to Arcata to prepare the D Jag and have it shipped to Hawaii for the First Annual Hawaii International Sports Car Speed Week, April 19-21, held on Dillingham Air Field. This promised to be a good event considering several other top drivers were entered including Chuck Daigh, Carroll Shelby, Lance Reventlow, John von Neumann, Ken Miles, Bob Oker, Jay Chamberlain and Elliot Forbes-Robinson.
It should have been a week of parties and racing similar to the Bahamas Speed Week and it was, up to Brero’s Saturday race when the D Jag encountered an engine problem and was forced out of the race. There was still some reason to celebrate as Lou Brero Jr., driving the Maserati-Chevrolet of old friend Bob Gillespie, won the novice qualifying race. This same car would play a key role the following day.
Without his D Jag to drive in Sunday’s feature race, Brero was offered Gillespie’s Maserati-Chevrolet for the event. However, not having driven the car before, Brero wanted a little track time to become familiar with it and was allowed to enter at the back of the pack for the start of the day’s second race. He trailed the field for two laps, gradually increasing his speed. On lap three, it happened. Booming down the front straight, the driveshaft failed, rupturing the fuel tank and filling the cockpit with gas which immediately ignited.
Engulfed in flames, Brero steered the car away from the crowd and toward the infield, where he bailed out as the car slowed. His heroic effort to stay with the car until it was headed away from the spectators saved countless lives. He was rushed to the local hospital, but succumbed to his burns that evening. The sport had lost a world-class driver and a true gentleman.
Brero was remembered by those who raced against him for his sportsmanship and as a person who would gladly share his car preparation and racing knowledge with competitors. He was universally liked by race fans and other drivers for his jovial demeanor in the paddock and hard but fair racing on the track. In his short three and a half years of racing between 1954 into 1957, Brero entered 43 races, finishing 5th or better an astonishing 55 percent of the time against the best drivers of the day. Recognizing these fine qualities, the San Francisco Region of the SCCA established the Lou Brero Memorial Trophy, given each year to the regional driver who best displayed Brero’s attributes. The trophy was retired in 1969 and given to his wife Dolores. It now has a prominent place in the Brero-Gow home.
