John Buffum

John Buffum
Personal information
Nationality	American
Born	(1943-10-04) October 4, 1943 (age 80) 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

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.

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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	<span style="color:white">CAN</span> DSQ	ITA	CIV	FRA					N/A	N/A
1978	Spantape / Louvercurtain	Ford Escort RS1800											GBR Ret				N/A	N/A
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

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This page was last edited on 4 March 2024, at 13:43

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