John Button (rallycross driver)

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1978: John Button in his rallycross days

John Button (born July 27, 1943 in London , United Kingdom ; † January 12, 2014 on the Côte d'Azur , France ) was a British automobile racing driver who was involved in rallycross sports in the 1970s . The 2009 Formula 1 world champion , Jenson Button , is his son.

Life

In the 1970s, John Button ran a car dealership for Volkswagen and Audi in Trowbridge ; the integrated tuning company was called Autoconti Tuning . In the early 1970s, Button began to compete in British autocross - and then rallycross events. He often used a VW Beetle with an engine enlarged to 2.1 liters, which was known as the Colorado Beetle because of its striking black, yellow and red paintwork . Button later drove a revised, nearly 200 hp VW Golf . Its launches were limited to British events. 1976 was the most successful year for Button in sporting terms: he took part in both the RAC British Rallycross Championship and the TEAC / Lydden Rallycross Championship and was runner-up in both series. After the success with the less competitive VW Golf had subsided in the late 1970s, Button gave up his active racing career.

2008: John Button at the Belgian GP

From the 1990s onwards, John Button was the "driving force" behind his son Jenson's motorsport career, which began in 1989 with kart racing. Although he went bankrupt in 1992 after the currency and exchange rate crisis of " Black Wednesday " and lost both his company and his house, in the following decade John Button organized Jenson's races and, among other things, took care of raising funds. After his promotion to Formula 1, Button regularly accompanied his son to racing events; he missed only one of the total of 247 Grand Prix that Jenson Button competed from 2000 to 2013 due to illness .

Button was married to South African- born Simone Lyons until 1987 . In addition to son Jenson, the couple had three older daughters. According to a previous statement by Button Senior himself, Jenson's first name is a tribute to his friend and fellow rallycross driver, the Danish- born Erling Jensen. However, Jensen was changed to Jenson in order not to arouse any association with the former British car manufacturer Jensen Motors . Jenson's mother Simone later denied this and said she came up with the name herself. From 1994 to 1999 Button was married to Pippa Kerr, who was 19 years his junior.

John Button died on January 12, 2014 at the age of 70 at his place of residence on the Côte d'Azur (southern France) under circumstances that were not entirely clear, as Jenson Button himself describes in his autobiography Life To The Limit .

To commemorate John Button, the organizers of the British Retro Rallycross Challenge series launched the so-called John Button Memorial Trophy in 2015 , which is awarded to the “Retro Rallycross Driver of the Year”. The first winner, the Englishman Ray Morgan, received this trophy personally from Jenson Button in autumn 2015 at the Lydden Hill Race Circuit .

Web links

Commons : John Button  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jenson Button's father John dies aged 70. www.autosport.com, January 13, 2014, accessed January 15, 2014 .
  2. ↑ a b For 10 years I was Jenson Button's mother but today, on his 30th birthday I don't even know where he is ... Daily Mail , January 24, 2010, accessed on January 18, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Sebastian Fränzschky: John Button dies at the age of 70. Motorsport-Total.com, January 13, 2014, accessed January 15, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Pai de Jenson Button é found morto na França aos 70 anos. Yahoo Brasil, January 13, 2014, accessed January 18, 2014 (Portuguese).
personal data
SURNAME Button, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British rallycross driver
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH London , UK
DATE OF DEATH January 12, 2014
Place of death France