Personal information | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Born | Wallingford, Connecticut, U.S. | October 4, 1943
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 |
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.
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.
The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, HPDE, Time Trial, Road Racing, and Hill Climbs in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional racers.
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is a multi-track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, 64-kilometre (40 mi) east of Toronto. The facility features a 3.957 km (2.459 mi), 10-turn road course; a 2.9 km (1.8 mi) advance driver and race driver training facility with a 0.402 km (0.250 mi) skid pad and a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) kart track. The name "Mosport", a portmanteau of Motor Sport, came from the enterprise formed to build the track.
Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the first known hillclimb at La Turbie near Nice, France, took place as long ago as 31 January 1897. The hillclimb held at Shelsley Walsh, in Worcestershire, England, is the world's oldest continuously staged motorsport event still staged on its original course, having been first run in 1905.
Sno*Drift is a rally racing event held in Montmorency County, Michigan, annually, with headquarters in Atlanta, Michigan. The event was the first Rally America National Rally Championship event of the season, and is currently the first American Rally Association National Championship. Sno*Drift is a winter rally, run primarily on snow-covered gravel surface roads, and is held in January or February. Unlike other snow rally events, studded tires cannot be used per Michigan law, which makes Sno*Drift particularly challenging.
Walter Röhrl is a German rally and auto racing driver, with victories for Fiat, Opel, Lancia and Audi as well as Porsche, Ford and BMW. Röhrl has scored 14 victories over his career, with his notable achievements including winning the World Rally Championship twice: in 1980 in a Fiat Abarth and in 1982 while driving for Opel. He has also competed in other forms of motorsport, such as endurance racing, winning in the GTP +3.0 class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1981 with the Porsche System team. Röhrl also set the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record in 1987 driving an Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2. He is often regarded as one of the greatest rally drivers of all time.
The Rally America National Championship was the national championship of rallying events in the United States. The inaugural season was in 2005. Rally America was also the name given to the organization that sanctioned the championship, was briefly rebranded to RallyCar in July 2010, then reverted to Rally America the following year. 2018 was the final year that Rally America sanctioned a rally event. In 2019 Rally America briefly became a media organization with the stated goal of promoting rallying in the United States before pausing all social media posts and shutting down its official website.
Peter Holden Gregg was an American race car driver during the golden age of the Trans-Am Series and a four-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona. He was also the owner of Brumos, a Jacksonville, Florida, car dealership and racing team.
SCCA ProRally was an American rally racing series, run by the Sports Car Club of America from 1973 until 2004. The SCCA discontinued it for 2005, due to concerns about safety and insurance. It allowed Rally America to replace it, utilizing most of the same venues and existing infrastructure.
Randy Franklin Pobst, also known as "RFP" or "The Rocket," is an American race car driver and journalist for Motor Trend magazine.
Rodney Kenneth Millen is a New Zealand racing driver, vehicle designer, and business owner. He has competed in numerous genres of motorsports, including rallying, off-road racing, hillclimbing, drifting, and super touring.
The Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race, also known as the Climb to the Clouds, is a timed hillclimb auto race up the Mount Washington Auto Road to the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. It is one of the oldest auto races in the country, first run on July 11 and 12, 1904, predating the Indianapolis 500 and the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. The event was revived in 2011 and was held again in 2014 and 2017.
Tim O'Neil is an American rally racing driver, and the winner of five production-based North American rally championships. He has driven both as a privateer, and as a factory driver for Volkswagen and Mitsubishi.
Peugeot Sport is the department of French carmaker Peugeot responsible for motorsport activities.
Antoine L'Estage is a Canadian rally driver. He has won national championships in both the Canada and the USA. He lives in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec.
Subaru Motorsports USA is Subaru of America's motorsports arm that participates in events in the United States and its operations are managed by Vermont SportsCar, previously Prodrive.
SCCA Pro Racing is the pro racing division of the Sports Car Club of America. SCCA Pro Racing was formed in 1963, the company is a fully owned subsidiary of SCCA.
Nathalie Richard is a Canadian rally co-driver. She was the co-driver for Subaru Rally Team Canada alongside her brother Pat Richard in 2004 & 2005, and later co-drove with Antoine L'Estage over 8 seasons before returning to Subaru Rally Team Canada with Martin Rowe. As of 2014 Richard had earned 43 overall national victories in Canada and the US. Nathalie is a three-time X Games Rally Car athlete and the most decorated co-driver in North America. In 2020, Nathalie Richard was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
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Bill Rutan was a racing driver and hillclimb racer. Rutan was the winner of the Climb to the Clouds hillclimb in 1961. Rutan also won the SCCA National Championship Runoffs twice in the Formula C class.
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Rally Racing News John Buffum biography. Retrieved December 31, 2004.