As the Indianapolis 500 approaches, it seemed fitting to pass along this "discovery" by some distant relatives about another distant relative
Here is the webaddress for the complete site: http://brawnerhawk.com/index.htm
We currently live just a few blocks from Clint's 7th Street and Glendale shop location, now considered Central Phoenix.
Indycar Chief Mechanic
Clint Brawner was born on December 15, 1916 and grew up in what was then the north
Phoenix. From an early age his mechanical skills were obvious as he maintained and
repaired the family's farm equipment and when he was old enough to drive he started
going to the local races and helping out in the pits.
He saw his first Indy 500 in 1938 and in the late forties he started running his own Midgets
at some of the local dirt tracks. His talent as a race car wrench was recognized and in
1950 he went to Indianapolis at a crew member before starting an unparalleled run of champ
car success in 1953, when Al Dean asked Brawner to prepare and care for the soon-to-
be-famous Dean Van Lines Specials.
By then Clint and his wife Kay had bought a house on 7th Street and Glendale, still
considered the outskirts of the Valley of the Sun, and built a race shop. That was where
Clint Brawner helped to elevate the Offy roadster and Indy racing to the pinnacle of
professional motorsports before doing the same thing with the new rear-engine cars;
specifically, the Brawner Hawk.
Driven by Mario Andretti, Brawner Hawks won USAC National Championships in 1965,
1966 and 1969, finishing second in 1967 and 1968. The Hawks found Victory Lane 30
times, the same number of pole positions Andretti earned while driving the creations Brawner
built in Phoenix, Arizona.
Clint retired in the early eighties and passed away on December 23, 1987. He left a legacy
of being a self-taught, tireless genius at engineering, fabrication and race car preparation,
epitomized by the Clint Brawner Mechanical Excellence Award presented annually every May
to one Indy 500 chief mechanic who "exemplifies the mechanical and scientific creativity,
ingenuity, perseverance, dedication, enthusiasm and expertise"
of its namesake.
