John Buffum (born October 4, 1943, in

Wallingford, Connecticut Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, centrally located between New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford, and Boston and New York City. The town is part ...

) is the most successful U.S.

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver ever, winning 11 national titles and 117 national championship events.

Career

From 1977 to 1980, when

British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...

dropped out of U.S. racing, he won both the

SCCA ProRally 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 ...

series and the North America Rally Championships. In 1981, he competed with an

Audi 80 The Audi 80 is a compact executive car produced by the Audi subdivision of the Volkswagen Group across four generations from 1966 to 1996. It shared its platform with the Volkswagen Passat from 1973 to 1986 and was available as a Saloon (autom ...

and

Peugeot 504 The Peugeot 504 is a mid-size, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive automobile manufactured and marketed by Peugeot from 1968 to 1983 over a single generation, primarily in four-door Sedan (automobile), sedan and station wagon, wagon configurations – ...

, but they were not competitive compared to

Rod Millen Rodney Kenneth Millen (born 22 March 1951) 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. ...

's factory

Mazda RX-7 The Mazda RX-7 is a front mid engine, Rear-wheel drive, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car, manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 through 2002 across three generations, all of which incorporated the use of a compact, light ...

rally cars. 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 The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an rallying, automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The champion ...

event, taking the 1983 Sachs Rally in West Germany and the 1984

Cyprus Rally The Cyprus Rally is a rallying competition held yearly in Cyprus since 1970. The event is run by the Cyprus Automobile Association and is based in the city of Limassol (Lemesos). It is run on the winding roads of the nearby mountains of Troöd ...

, both with Audi Quattro. He also ran the 1969

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) is a rallying event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. From its inception in 1911 by Albert I, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert I, the 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 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 count ...

in 1990 and served as Chief Steward of the hillclimb from 1990 to 2000, again in 2011 and again in 2017.Press Release 2/12/02, Mt. Washington Hillclimb, Rally Racing News
/ref> Since the late 1980s, Buffum has owned and managed Libra Racing based in

Colchester, Vermont Colchester is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Colchester was 17,524. It is the third-most populous municipality and most populous town in the state of Vermont. Colchester borders B ...

. He has been responsible for building cars for the Hyundai Factory rally programme in the US and has worked alongside

Vermont SportsCar Vermont SportsCar (VSC) is a race car manufacturer that designs, engineers, and builds rally, rallycross and other specialty vehicles for teams and private clients. Since 2006 Vermont SportsCar has been the technical partner to Subaru of America a ...

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 Vermont Sports Hall of Fame is an athletics hall of fame in the U.S. state of Vermont. Above all, induction "is for accomplishments in sports and recreation that generate a great source of pride to the state." Launched as a project in 2011, ...

Complete WRC results

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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffum, John 1943 births Living people People from Wallingford, Connecticut Sportspeople from New Haven County, Connecticut World Rally Championship drivers American rally drivers Trans-Am Series drivers Audi Sport drivers Racing drivers from Connecticut