John Buffum (born October 4, 1943 in Wallingford, Connecticut) is the most successful U.S. rally driver ever, winning 11 national titles and 117 national championship events.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  American |
| Born | October 4, 1943 Wallingford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| World Rally Championship record | |
| Active years | 1973–2000 |
| Co-driver | Wayne Zitkus Robin Edwardes "Vicki" Doug E. Shepherd John Brown Ian Grindrod Neil Wilson Fred Gallagher John Bellefleur Steve Greenhill |
| Teams | Libra Racing British Leyland Audi MIT Motorsport |
| Rallies | 18 |
| Rally wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 2 |
| Total points | 38 |
| First rally | 1973 Press on Regardless Rally |
| Last rally | 2000 Rallye de Portugal |
Career
From 1977 to 1980, when British Leyland dropped out of U.S. racing, he won both the SCCA ProRally series and the North America Rally Championships. In 1981, he competed with an Audi 80 and Peugeot 504, but they were not competitive compared to Rod Millen's factory Mazda RX-7 rally cars.[1]
In addition to his North American schedule, Buffum cherry-picked rallies in Europe, where he became the first and still the only American to win a European Rally Championship event, taking the 1983 Sachs Rally in West Germany and the 1984 Cyprus Rally, both with Audi Quattro. He also ran the 1969 Monte Carlo Rally in a Porsche 911. Buffum is the only driver in the world to compete in at least one World Rally Championship event in five continuous decades (1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and 2000).
He also helped restart the Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race in 1990 and served as Chief Steward of the hillclimb from 1990 to 2000, again in 2011 and again in 2017.[2]
Since the late 1980s, Buffum has owned and managed Libra Racing based in Colchester, Vermont. He has been responsible for building cars for the Hyundai Factory rally programme in the US and has worked alongside Vermont SportsCar on their Subaru Factory programme as a consultant. In 2009, he built the first open class Mitsubishi Evolution X, to campaign in the Rally America national series and the Canadian Rally series.
In 2014, Buffum was elected to the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame.
Complete WRC results
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Libra International Racing | Ford Escort RS1600 | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | MOR | GRE | POL | FIN | AUT | ITA | USA 4 | GBR | FRA | N/A | N/A | |
| 1974 | Libra International Racing | Ford Escort RS1600 | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | GRE | FIN | ITA | CAN | USA Ret | GBR | FRA | N/A | N/A | |||
| 1976 | English of Bournemouth | Ford Escort RS1600 | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | GRE | MOR | FIN | ITA | FRA | GBR Ret | N/A | N/A | ||||
| 1977 | British Leyland | Triumph TR7 | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | NZL | GRE | FIN | CAN 4 | ITA | FRA | GBR | N/A | N/A | |||
| 1978 | British Leyland | Triumph TR7 | MON | SWE | KEN | POR | GRE | FIN | CAN DSQ | ITA | CIV | FRA | N/A | N/A | ||||
| Spantape / Louvercurtain | Ford Escort RS1800 | GBR Ret | ||||||||||||||||
| 1979 | British Leyland | Triumph TR8 | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | GRE | NZL | FIN | CAN | ITA | FRA | GBR Ret | CIV | NC | 0 | ||
| 1980 | British Leyland | Triumph TR7 V8 | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | GRE | ARG | FIN | NZL | ITA | FRA | GBR Ret | CIV | NC | 0 | ||
| 1981 | John Buffum | Triumph TR7 V8 | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | FRA | GRE | ARG | BRA | FIN | ITA | CIV | GBR Ret | NC | 0 | ||
| 1982 | Audi Sport | Audi Quattro | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | FRA | GRE | NZL | BRA | FIN | ITA | CIV | GBR 12 | NC | 0 | ||
| 1983 | BF Goodrich Motorsport | Audi Quattro A1 | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | FRA | GRE | NZL | ARG | FIN | ITA | CIV | GBR 5 | 28th | 6 | ||
| 1984 | BF Goodrich Motorsport | Audi Quattro A2 | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | FRA | GRE 5 | NZL | ARG | FIN | ITA | CIV | GBR Ret | 24th | 8 | ||
| 1986 | Audi Sport | Audi Sport Quattro S1 | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | FRA | GRE | NZL | ARG | FIN | CIV | ITA | GBR | USA 3 | 18th | 12 | |
| 1987 | Libra Racing | Audi Coupé Quattro | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | FRA | GRE | USA Ret | NZL | ARG | FIN | CIV | ITA | GBR | NC | 0 | |
| 1988 | Libra Racing | Audi Coupé Quattro | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | FRA | GRE | USA 3 | NZL | ARG | FIN | CIV | ITA | GBR | 20th | 12 | |
| 1993 | MIT Motorsport | Honda Civic SiR | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | FRA | GRE | ARG | NZL | FIN | AUS Ret | ITA | ESP | GBR | NC | 0 | |
| 2000 | John Buffum | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V | MON | SWE | KEN | POR 26 | ESP | ARG | GRE | NZL | FIN | CYP | FRA | ITA | AUS | GBR | NC | 0 |
References
Rally Racing News John Buffum biography. Retrieved December 31, 2004.
External links
- Libra Racing, John Buffum's company.
- JohnBuffum.com - John Buffum's homepage.
- In Like a Lamb...Out LIke a Lion Champion co-driver and former National PRO Rally Manager, Tom Grimshaw, tells John Buffum's story and the course of rally racing in the United States.
- 2006 SCCA Hall of Fame Class Announced
- Vermont Sports Hall of Fame Bio