by Alan Jones
As it turns out one was conceived at Goodwood and the other in Spain. Jack is the mellow one, so I’m sure he was England and Zara is feisty, so she’s got to be Spain. I prefer to think of it that way than to picture Zara as a feisty little me, and Jack as an Amanda.
I was already into my 50s when they were born, and now that I’m 70 they keep me both young and old. It’s given me a second lease of life. It’s good, I like it, I love it.
Amanda is a really great mother, and I’m not just saying this to earn brownie points. But she is a great mum and as a result they are growing up as great kids. Well I am old and I know it, so parenthood today is no challenge for me, I just hand them over to Amanda when I need to.
We all sort of fit in pretty well. Diane, that’s Amanda’s mum, lives up here and she’s terrific. She’ll come round and look after them or stay with them if we’re both away, given we both travel for work and often can’t change our travel dates. Diane has been an absolute godsend.
From the outside it all seems very complex, but for me it works. I can’t say it works or has worked for each of the kids, but I can’t change that. All I can do is look to the future and what can happen from there.
They’re all happy, healthy, good looking and great people. All is good. We’ve never all got together but I’d dearly love for that to happen. Who knows? There’s always next Christmas.
25
AJ Today
WHEN I DID my first book back in 1981, I said, ‘So far, I have expressed my life in my racing, and who I am will not come out until I’ve finished.’
So who am I? We all know about my racing, I was a Formula One World Champion, and while millions have had that dream, only 33 have pulled it off. I was the 18th to do so – the second Australian, and hopefully not the last.
But I am more than that. I have been both a good and an equally poor father, and I have been the same as a husband. I love my family, all of them.
Above all else though, aside from a few times of stress, I have always been able to sleep at night without fear or shame. I try to be a good person, I act with honour and I am honest, which is why I fire up if someone questions that.
Deep down though I am just a bloke who is as happy sitting in the corner at the bowls club having a beer with himself, as I am walking the paddock and talking car racing with people, or even attending the odd function in a dinner suit. Just the odd one, mind you.
I am 70 now and trying to slow down. The twins – Zara and Jack – are in their last years of school, but I would imagine education is not nearly done for them, so there is no freedom on the near horizon.
I have a few things I am working on in addition to the TV, which I really do enjoy. I am an ambassador for a few different products – Lexus cars, Ageless supplements – and I enjoy all of those in my own little way.
I am not the sort of person that could just stop and do nothing. I found that out on the tractor all those years ago – not that cutting hay is exactly doing nothing. I’m actually getting very close to perfecting drinking; I’ve been putting a lot of work into that and I’m nearly there.
I was grifting and grafting in the 1970s to make enough money to live and to invest in my career. With Brian I was buying and destroying racing cars and working on a dream. When I needed help from people, they weren’t there then. When I was successful and didn’t need it, they were everywhere.
I don’t know if it is any easier or harder today than when I was young. One thing I know is that there is no use sitting in a pub somewhere drinking another pint and lamenting what might have been.
Winning my World Championship was a ten-year exercise; I was not an overnight success. I was great with the mind games, I was able to read people and know exactly what to say. I didn’t write things down, and while my memory has never been that great for many things, it worked really well when I needed to remember the weakness of a competitor, or the trick I used to get through that bloody right-hander at Zandvoort.
My life has been an amazing journey with few regrets. I said earlier in the book, I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes as my father. I was not going to leave this earth without having given my all to get to the top.
As it turns out, I did get to the top. Hopefully this story will help inspire a young driver to make sure I am not Australia’s last world champion – but that is out of my hands.
Afterword – Andrew Clarke
Alan Jones means more to Australian motorsport than he ever cares to admit. Or perhaps even understands.
He brought Formula One to our TV screens in the late 1970s and ultimately a Formula One grand prix to our shores in the mid-1980s, which remains to this day. As a young motorsport fan who liked Formula One more than touring cars, this was truly significant to me. The people I had read about were now on the TV screen in Australia. And like many of us down here, when our TV screens burst into life at some ungodly hour in the middle of winter to the sounds of Murray Walker and James Hunt, we were doing it to watch AJ win grands prix and then the World Drivers’ Championship in 1980.
What Alan did, without realising it, was to change the motorsport landscape here in Australia. If he hadn’t been successful enough to inspire the Nine Network to come on board, we wouldn’t have our Formula One grand prix.
It was 40 years ago that he joined Williams, and within three years the combination of him, Patrick Head and Frank Williams had built a dynasty. AJ’s brilliance as a driver was as much the catalyst as the technical genius and financial wizardry of the other pair.
And have no doubts, he was a bloody good driver. The best of his day. His mind was strong and he had a great ability to weaken the spirit of his rivals off the track, before beating them on the track. He was at his brutal best when he had to fight. He could overtake and because he had sublime car control he was a gun in the wet. I’ve always admired racing car drivers, not mathematicians, behind the wheel, or politicians away from the track.
If he hadn’t walked away at the end of 1981, who knows what the record books would have reflected. He would certainly have more wins and more titles beside his name, but we’ll never know how many.
My first contact with AJ was when he returned to Australia after his Formula One career was done. He started racing for Tony Longhurst’s Benson & Hedges Racing team and he was hard to connect with. He was distant but palatable, he wasn’t friendly or warm like Glenn Seton, but he also was not gruff like Allan Moffat – he was somewhere in between. Today I know a different AJ. He is no different to most of us in that he carries his memories within his heart.
The seeds for this book were born out of a chance conversation with my old mate Mark Larkham at the end of 2015. He said AJ was ready to tell his story, but he wanted it done right. So AJ and I started to talk.
We spoke to Alison Urquhart at Penguin Random House, with whom I had worked before. She jumped at the concept and gave it life, embracing the worldwide concept as much as the Australian. And then she brought her team on board and today you hold the results in your hands, and both AJ and I are indebted to them for the work they have done for us.
There were many websites used for fact-checking, and the people over time who have studiously kept these records are to be thanked, particularly formula2.net, oldracingcars.com, primotipo.com, racing-reference.info, f3history.co.uk, autosport.com, grandprix.com, touringcarracing.net and conrod.com.au.
Thanks to Keith Sutton (sutton-images.com), my first port of call for any international motorsport images, John Crawford, Mike Dixon and Peter Kostas and the rest of the crew who run the Lexus drive days.
As ever, my personal inspiration comes from the racers I have loved watching. Drivers like Ronnie Peterson, Ayrton Senna and now Daniel Ricciardo, and down here in Australia, Allan Moffat, Dick Johnson and Marcos Ambrose. And of course AJ, who belongs in both groups.
I have been honoured to work with Alan on this book and I hope you gain some insight. Success doesn’t happen by chance, it’s one per cent inspiration and 99 p
er cent perspiration, as they say. In the sporting parlance, it means there is no use having talent if you don’t have the determination to do the hard work. AJ did that hard work.
Thanks to my two great kids, Byron and Gabi, who understand when I am tired and have lost track of time and forget to get them out of bed because I’m deep into the story. To my father who helped foster my love of motorsport and gave me the courage to follow my own dreams. As with AJ and his family, it is my family that gives meaning to my life.
Andrew Clarke, 2017
Index of Searchable Terms
A1 Grand Prix
A1 Team Australia
Adelaide
1985
1986
Adelaide International Raceway
Ageless supplements
AGV helmets
Akai
Alan Jones Marine
Alan Jones Pit Stop
Albert Park
alcohol
Alfa Romeo
All Hallows Primary School, Balwyn
All Japan Sports Prototype
Championship
Fuji
Allan Docking Racing
Allison brothers
Alonso, Albert
Alpine
Amaroo Park Raceway
1982
1990
1993
1994
Ambrose, Marcos
Anderstorp
Andretti, Mario
apartheid
Ardmore
Argentina
Argentine Grand Prix
1978
1979
1980
1981
Arnoux, René
Arrows
Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship
Aston Martin DB6
Atlanta crash
Austin-Healey Sprite
Australian Grand Prix
board membership
1977
1980
1985
1986
Australian International Racing Organisation (AIRO)
Australian Sports Saloon and GT Championship
Australian Touring Car Championship
1985
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999 and
Austrian Grand Prix
first Grand Prix win
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1986
Azusa go-kart
Baird, Craig
Balestre, Jean-Marie
Barbagallo
1994
1997
Bartlett, Kevin
Bathurst
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1996
1997
1998
2002
2016
Beatrice Foods
Beck, Baron
bed and breakfast
Belgian Grand Prix
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
981
1986
Bennell, Kay
Benson & Hedges Racing team
Bernard, Diane
billy-cart racing
BMW
M1 Procar series
M3
M5
Bond, Bev
Bond, Colin
Bondurant, Bob
Bowe, John
BP
Brabham
Brabham BT28s
Brabham, Jack
Brambilla, Vittorio
Brands Hatch
1973
1974
1975
1976
1978
1983
1985
2005
Brawn, Ross
Brazilian Grand Prix
Formula Three
1978
1979
1980
1981
1986
Bright, Jason
Briscoe, Ryan
Brise, Tony
British Formula Three Championship
British Grand Prix
1971
1975
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
Brock, Peter
Brodie, Dave
Brothers Kremer see Porsche Kremer Racing team
Brown, Warwick
Burke Hall
Burton, Richard
Butler-Davis, Amanda
Butler-Davis, Amber
Buzaglo, Buzz
Byrne, Rory
Cahier, Bernard
Caines-Buchanan, Peter
Calder Park
Can-Am
1977
1978
Canadian Grand Prix
1976
1978
1979
1980
1981
1986
car dealerships
car racing, early
carbon fibre cars
Carl Haas
Carl Haas Racing
Carnaby Street
CART IndyCar World Series
CART racers
Castle Combe
Castrol
Catholicism
Chapman, Colin
Charlotte
Cheever, Eddie
Chevrolet Camaro Stock Cars
Chinese Grand Prix
Circuit Île Notre-Dame
Citibank
competitiveness
Concorde
Concorde Agreement
Constructors’ Championship
Cooper Climax
Cooper Mini
corporal punishment
corruption
Costanzo, Alfie
crashes
throttle stuck open
Crawford, Jim
Crichton, Neville
Crichton-Stuart, Charlie
Cullen, Warren
Custom Made
Daly, Derek
DART (Dobbie Automobile Racing Team)
Davison, Will
De Angelis, Elio
death of car drivers
Dennis, Ron
Depailler, Patrick
Dick Johnson Racing
Dijon
Dobbie, Denys
Donington
crash
Donohue, Mark
Dormobiles
drugs
Dumfries, Johnny
Dutch Grand Prix
1973
1975
1976
1977
1979
1980
1981
Dyk, Ian
Earl’s Court
Ford Thunderbird crash
Eastern Creek
1994
Triple Challenge
Eastlake, Darrell
Easton Neston
Ecclestone, Bernie
Eckersley, Wayne
Elgh, Eje
Embassy Hill
England
1966
1968
Ensign
Erskine, James
Ertl, Harald
Evans, Alan
Falcons
Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FISA)
Ferrari
Ferrari, Enzo
Firebird International Raceway
Fittipaldi, Emerson
Fittipaldi, Wilson
Fitzgerald, Peter
flying
Follmer, George
Forbes-Robinson, Elliott
FORCE (Formula One Race Car Engineering)
Ford
Ford Galaxie
Ford Sierra
&nb
sp; Formula Atlantic
Formula
1976 (Mid-Ohio Raceway)
1976 (Mosport Park)
1976 (Pocono)
1976 (Watkins Glen)
Formula One
Formula One Constructor’s Association (FOCA)
Formula Pacific
Formula Three
British Championships
1972 season
Formula Two
Forward Thrust Formula Three Championship
Foster’s
Foyt, AJ
Frankenheimer, John
French, Rusty
French Grand Prix see also Paul Ricard
1978
1979 (Dijon)
1980 (Paul Ricard)
1981
Fuji
1976
1987
Gardner, Frank
Gardner, Wayne
Garner, James
Geelong Sprints
Gentlemen Lift Your Skirts
German Grand Prix
1975
1976
1977 (Hockenheim)
1978 (Hockenheim)
1979 (Hockenheim)
1980 (Hockenheim)
1981
Giacomelli, Bruno
Gibbs, Mark
Glenburn farm
Glenn Seton Racing
go-kart racing
Godfrey, Kerrie
Gold Coast
car dealerships
Goodwood Festival of Speed
Goodyear
Gotch, Adam
Grand Prix de Troi-Rivières
Grand Prix Drivers’ Association
Gregg, Peter
Grice, Allan
ground-effects cars
Group Racing Developments (GRD)
Gurney, Dan
Haas, Bernie
Haas, Carl
Carl A Haas Racing Team
Newman-Haas team
Hailwood, Mike
Hall, Jim
Hamilton, Alan
Hamilton, Lewis
Hansford, Gregg
Hardiman, Jim
Harper, Bob
Harry Stiller Racing
Hart engines
Head, Patrick
Healey
helicopter
Herd, Robin
Hesketh