Michael C. Brown remembered

On Wednesday, Dec. 26, RACER lost one of its brightest and most prolific founding talents when Michael C. Brown left this life in Sun Valley, Idaho while snowshoeing on vacation with his family. Michael was one of the very best racing photographers in the world and his iconic image of Emerson Fittipaldi's Penske IndyCar graced the cover of the Premier issue of RACER in May 1992  and his beautiful work was an artistic cornerstone of our magazine's early years.

 

Michael enjoyed a long career that began in England as a schoolboy and through pluck and luck led to shooting for AUTOSPORT and ultimately RACER. Michael focused his brilliant eye on Formula 1 and the CART PPG IndyCar World Series and his images define golden eras for each series. Michael then retired and for more than a decade has devoted his time and energy to raising his young family along with his wife Jori, who is a talented photographer in her own right. Michael recently began shooting racing again and his images from the Inaugural Austin USGP in November proved he hadn't lost any of his magic. 

But Michael C. Brown was so much more than a talented artist who shared his passion for racing's beauty with the world. His family is now dealing with the loss of a special husband and father who lived his dreams, shot the world's greatest vacation photos and inspired those he touched with his loving and irrepressible spirit. Our entire team at RACER extends our deepest sympathies to Michael's family, his loving wife Jori, beautiful daughters Abrielle, Mika and son Seth who is, not surprisingly, an accomplished kart racer. 

All of us at RACER are forever grateful for Michael's contribution to our success and, most importantly, for his friendship. Thank you M.C.B., you will always be in our hearts.