State funeral for Australian race driver

MELBOURNE, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- The body of Australian auto racing champion Peter Brock arrived Tuesday in Melbourne, where a state funeral is planned.

Brock died Friday in a crash in the Targa West rally in western Australia. His navigator, Mick Hone, who survived the crash, was on the plane carrying Brock's body to his hometown along with Brock's partner, Julie Bamford.

Hone told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. he is unsure what happened even though he was in the car.

"He can do anything with a car and in this incident it didn't happen like that, so you know, I don't know why," he said. "I've never seen him not have control of the car and, you know, I don't know what it was."

Brock's agent, Tim Pemberton, said that the driver was popular around Australia.

"It was always amazing; you'd see queues of people lining up for autographs and what have you, and you'd see grandfathers, fathers and sons all dressed in Brock gear," he told the Melbourne Herald-Sun.

The funeral is scheduled for next Tuesday followed by a private cremation. Brock is survived by an ex-wife, son, James, and grandson, Oliver.

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