John Button (27 July 1943 – 12 January 2014) was an English

rallycross Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport held on a mixed-surface circuit (racing), racing circuit using modified production touring automobile, cars or prototype racing cars. It began in the 1960s as a cross between rallying and autocross ...

driver and the father of

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Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

World Champion

Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jota. Button competed in Formula One from to , and won the World Drivers' Championship in with Brawn; ...

. His best overall results were both in 1976, as the runner-up in the

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

/ RAC-MSA British Rallycross and TEAC/

Lydden Lydden is a civil parish and small village in the Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in F ...

Rallycross championships.Rallycross Yearbook 1979, by Eddi Laumanns (page 93, John Button portrait)

Biography and racing career

Button was born on 27 July 1943 in London. During the 1970s he became well known in the UK for his so-called (because of its striking paintwork) ''Colorado Beetle''

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

with eventually 2.1-litre engine. Later on he competed less successfully for a couple of years in a

Volkswagen Golf Mk1 The Volkswagen Golf Mk1 is the first generation of a small family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen. It was noteworthy for signalling Volkswagen's shift of its major car lines from Rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, rear-wheel drive ...

with 1.9-litre engine, run by his own VW-Audi dealership and tuning garage ''Autoconti'' of

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies south-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south-west of Swindon and south-east of Brist ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. John Button created Rocket Motorsport when Jenson Button started karting and it has won 11 junior karting championships. The performance of his Rocket engines in the Cadet class helped many up-and-coming youngsters, including

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

. Button, who was nicknamed "Papa Smurf" by his son, gained much airtime during Formula One coverage in 2009 (particularly on the BBC) when Jenson won six out of the first seven races of the season. Until his death, Button attended every single Grand Prix of his son's career, apart from the

2001 Brazilian Grand Prix The 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the XXX Grande Prêmio Marlboro do Brasil) was a Formula One motor race held before 70,000 spectators on 1 April 2001 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil. It was the third race of the 2 ...

when he was unable to make it because of illness.

Death

Button died at the age of 70 at his home in the south of France from a suspected head injury on 12 January 2014, although the exact circumstances are not fully established. He had been out for dinner with Richard Goddard (Button's manager), and stopped for a nightcap at the bar, La Rascasse. At some point Button left the bar on his own, and it wasn't until evening the next day when Goddard became concerned at repeated missed calls, that he decided to check on Button at his home. Upon arriving, Goddard found the keys in the gate to the house. Letting himself in, Goddard found Button's body on the steps leading up to the house. The most likely sequence of events is that at some point between leaving the bar and his car, Button had fallen and hit his head. He had then arrived home, and locked himself out of the house when the gate had shut behind him with his keys still outside. Unable to gain entry to the house as the gate could only be buzzed open from within the house, it is thought that whilst attempting to gain entry he had slipped and fallen again, hitting his head a second time, this time fatally. In memory of the late John Button, the organisers of the Retro Rallycross Challenge in 2015 created the ''John Button Memorial Trophy'', which is the annual award presented to the Retro Rallycross Driver of the year.

References

External links

Obituary of the late Rallycross Driver John ButtonJenson Button presenting the first ever ''John Button Memorial Trophy''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Button, John 1943 births 2014 deaths English racing drivers Racing drivers from London Formula One people 20th-century English sportsmen