Button was born on 27 July 1943 in East London. During the 1970s he built a following in UK rallycross through his Volkswagen Beetle — noted for its striking paintwork and nicknamed the "Colorado Beetle" — which was eventually fitted with a 2.1-litre engine. Running the car through his own VW-Audi dealership and tuning workshop, Autoconti of Trowbridge in Wiltshire, Button finished 1976 as runner-up in two of the country's leading rallycross championships: the Embassy/RAC-MSA British Rallycross Championship and the TEAC/Lydden Rallycross Championship. He later competed for a couple of years in a Volkswagen Golf Mk1 with a 1.9-litre engine, also run by Autoconti, but with less success than he had achieved in the Beetle.
When his son Jenson took up karting, John Button established Rocket Motorsport to support and develop young talent in the junior formulae. The enterprise proved highly productive: Rocket Motorsport won eleven junior karting championships, and the performance of Rocket engines in the Cadet class benefited a number of young drivers beyond Jenson, including Lewis Hamilton.
Button's role as a devoted supporter of his son became widely known during the 2009 Formula One season. Jenson Button's championship-winning campaign — which included six victories in the first seven races of the season — was followed with extensive BBC broadcast coverage, and John's presence in the paddock and his relationship with his son was a recurring element of that coverage. Jenson nicknamed his father "Papa Smurf," a name that became widely adopted by fans and media.
Until his death, John Button attended every single round of Jenson's Formula One career with one exception: the 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix, which he missed due to illness. His presence in the paddock was a constant, and his unmistakable pink shirts became a visual fixture at Grands Prix.
John Button died on 12 January 2014 at his home in the south of France, aged 70. The precise circumstances were never fully established but the most probable sequence involves a head injury sustained after leaving a bar called La Rascasse following dinner with Jenson's manager Richard Goddard. Button left the bar alone. When Goddard could not reach him the following evening and became concerned, he went to check at Button's home and found the keys still in the gate. Letting himself in, Goddard discovered Button's body on the steps leading up to the house. Investigators concluded Button had likely fallen and struck his head at some point on his return from the bar, arrived home, then become locked outside when the gate closed behind him with his keys trapped outside; a second fall while attempting to gain entry is believed to have been fatal.
In his memory the organisers of the Retro Rallycross Challenge created the John Button Memorial Trophy in 2015, awarded annually to the Retro Rallycross Driver of the Year. The trophy recognised both his own achievements in the sport and his broader contribution to British motorsport through Rocket Motorsport and his support of his son's career.
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