John Buffum

Last updated
John Buffum
Personal information
Nationality Flag of the United States.svg American
Born (1943-10-04) October 4, 1943 (age 80)
Wallingford, Connecticut, U.S.
World Rally Championship record
Active years1973–2000
Co-driver Flag of the United States.svg Wayne Zitkus
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Robin Edwardes
Flag of the United States.svg "Vicki"
Flag of the United States.svg Doug E. Shepherd
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Brown
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ian Grindrod
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Neil Wilson
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Fred Gallagher
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg John Bellefleur
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Steve Greenhill
TeamsLibra Racing
British Leyland
Audi
MIT Motorsport
Rallies18
Rally wins 0
Podiums2
Total points38
First rally 1973 Press on Regardless Rally
Last rally 2000 Rallye de Portugal

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.

Contents

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

YearEntrantCar1234567891011121314WDCPoints
1973 Libra International Racing Ford Escort RS1600 MON SWE POR KEN MOR GRE POL FIN AUT ITA USA
4
GBR FRA N/AN/A
1974 Libra International Racing Ford Escort RS1600 MON SWE POR KEN GRE FIN ITA CAN USA
Ret
GBR FRA N/AN/A
1976 English of Bournemouth Ford Escort RS1600 MON SWE POR KEN GRE MOR FIN ITA FRA GBR
Ret
N/AN/A
1977 British Leyland Triumph TR7 MON SWE POR KEN NZL GRE FIN CAN
4
ITA FRA GBR N/AN/A
1978 British Leyland Triumph TR7 MON SWE KEN POR GRE FIN CAN
DSQ
ITA CIV FRA N/AN/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 NC0
1980 British Leyland Triumph TR7 V8 MON SWE POR KEN GRE ARG FIN NZL ITA FRA GBR
Ret
CIV NC0
1981 John Buffum Triumph TR7 V8 MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE ARG BRA FIN ITA CIV GBR
Ret
NC0
1982 Audi Sport Audi Quattro MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL BRA FIN ITA CIV GBR
12
NC0
1983 BF Goodrich Motorsport Audi Quattro A1 MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN ITA CIV GBR
5
28th6
1984 BF Goodrich Motorsport Audi Quattro A2 MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE
5
NZL ARG FIN ITA CIV GBR
Ret
24th8
1986 Audi Sport Audi Sport Quattro S1 MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN CIV ITA GBR USA
3
18th12
1987 Libra Racing Audi Coupé Quattro MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE USA
Ret
NZL ARG FIN CIV ITA GBR NC0
1988 Libra Racing Audi Coupé Quattro MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE USA
3
NZL ARG FIN CIV ITA GBR 20th12
1993 MIT Motorsport Honda Civic SiR MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE ARG NZL FIN AUS
Ret
ITA ESP GBR NC0
2000 John Buffum Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V MON SWE KEN POR
26
ESP ARG GRE NZL FIN CYP FRA ITA AUS GBR NC0

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References

Rally Racing News John Buffum biography. Retrieved December 31, 2004.