Charles T. "Charlie" Brockman, former president of the United States Auto Club and long time

  local radio and television broadcaster passed away on Tuesday, January 18.  He was 77.  A

  graduate of Speedway High School and later of Purdue's Engineering School in Lafayette,

  Brockman held a variety of posts with USAC almost from its inception until the current time. 

 
After serving, straight out of college, as a sportscaster at Indianapolis radio station WXLW and

  later at radio station WIRE, he became Sports Director at WLW-I TV (now WTHR) in

  Indianapolis, holding that position throughout the mid-1960s. 
He was also the anchor for the

  entire run of the MCA Closed Circuit telecasts of the Indianapolis 500 (1964-70), and was one

  of the original announcers on ABC's Wide World of Sports program, covering such events as

  the 24-Hours of LeMans and the Monaco Grand Prix as well as numerous other non-motor

  sports events.  During his radio days Brockman was a member of the Indianapolis Motor

  Speedway Radio Network team, working in the booth with the late Sid Collins, and, between

  1954 and 1959 conducting the winner's interview.

  It was Brockman who was placed in the unenviable position of fielding Bob Sweikert's emotional

 "Who got hurt, who got hurt?" questions

  in 1955, diplomatically avoiding the fact that Sweikert's friend Bill Vukovich had perished in a

  multi-car accident. And it was Brockman who shed tears along with Sam Hanks when Hanks

  announced his retirement in Victory Lane in 1957.  Brockman served as Master of Ceremonies

  for several Indianapolis 500 Victory Banquets in the late 1950s and was "MC" for every USAC

  banquet from the very first one in May 1957 until the time when he was elected USAC president

  in January 1969.  Named Director of Publicity for USAC in 1958, Brockman had already been

  "helping out" at USAC for some time on an unofficial basis. 

As a friend of former driver turned

  Director of Competition Duane Carter, Brockman had quietly been prevailed upon by Carter to

  write some of the more important press releases.  Brockman became the Secretary to the Board

  of Directors in 1963 and then Chairman of the USAC rules committee upon the death of Rhiman

  Rotz in a private plane crash in September 1967.  After serving as USAC President (1969-72)

  he continued to be involved with a variety of committees and was still an ex-officio board member

  and director emeritus at the time of his passing.

 Brockman was one of the half a dozen or so

  founding members of the American Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association in 1955 and

  was one of the original partners in the building of Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1960/61.  Other

  business ventures in the late 1960s and early '70s included a card and hobby gift shop in

  Speedway Shopping center, which was later expanded to an outlet at Lafayette Square when it

  first opened in 1968 as well as another at Greenwood Shopping Center.

 Visitation is scheduled

  from 4-6 pm Saturday, January 22, at Conkle Funeral Home, at 4925 W. 16th Street in

  Speedway, Indiana. A memorial service will follow at 6 pm.