Alan Jones obit

Australian F1 icon and former champion Alan Jones dies aged 80 after brief illness

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Alan Jones, the 1980 Formula 1 world champion, has died aged 80 after a brief illness.

Jones, an Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame legend and a Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductee, was the second and so far last Australian to win the Formula 1 world title, the culmination of a career that featured 12 victories and 24 podium finishes.

“We are extremely saddened to announce the passing of our beloved Alan,” wife Amanda said in a statement.

“He will be dearly missed and fondly remembered by those closest to him, as well as the many fans whose support he was always grateful for.

“Alan dedicated his life to motorsport, building a legacy that will live on through the countless people he touched along the way.”

“Through his achievements, passion and unmistakable character, both on and off the track, Alan left an enduring mark on the sport both nationally and across the globe.

“As a family, we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was part of Alan’s journey for the many years of friendship, love and support.

“He was incredibly fortunate to have so many wonderful people around him.”

He is survived by Amanda and children Christian, Amber, Zara, Jack, Camilla and Emma.

Jones was awarded the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy in 1979, 1980 and 1981. During 1980 he was also made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for "service to motor racing" and was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1989.

He and his father Stan, along with Graham and Damon Hill, and Keke and Nico Rosberg, are the only father/son combinations to ever win the Australian Grand Prix.

After retiring from F1 for good after 1986, Jones became a commentator with Channel Nine as part of their Formula One coverage in Australia in 1987, a role which lasted until 2002 with change of network rights for Formula 1. This association with Nine saw him hosting F1 telecasts from Nine's Sydney studios working mostly with Darrell Eastlake, but sometimes with former Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion Barry Sheene on 500cc Grand Prix telecasts. Jones also worked as a pit reporter during the Australian Grand Prix where his relationships with those in F1 made it easier for him to obtain relevant information, and also as a pit reporter for Nine's broadcasts of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

In March 2013, Jones signed with Network Ten as a commentator for their Formula One coverage where he joined regular hosts Matthew White and former MotoGP rider Daryl Beattie.

Jones' post Formula One career was initially spasmodic in nature. Briefly in demand for his services as a touring car co-driver, he raced occasionally in his home country's biggest endurance race, the Bathurst 1000 but success was elusive. In 1982, he attempted his first full season of racing, driving a Porsche 935 to dominate the 1982 Australian GT Championship. This championship included races against local touring car ace Peter Brock driving Bob Jane's 6.0 litre Chevrolet Monza. The duels between Australia's two biggest motorsport names at the time have often been regarded as some of the best racing seen domestically in Australia. Soon after he made his first failed comeback to Formula One. During 1982, he formed his own touring car team, combining the resources of V8 Ford Falcon driver Bob Morris and rotary Mazda RX-7 racer Barry Jones into a single two-car team but results were mixed and the exercise dissipated by the end of the season, though Jones and Jones did win the CRC 300 at Amaroo Park in a Mazda RX-7 (Alan Jones was to drive with Bob Morris in the Falcon in the Oran Park 250 endurance race, but elected after the race started to let Morris drive the 100 lap race solo. Morris went on to win the race).

1984 brought a top six finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Kremer Racing teamed with 1983 winner, fellow Aussie Vern Schuppan and Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jarier. From there he teamed again with Warren Cullen in a brand new Holden VK Commodore for the Sandown 500 at home in Melbourne where a troubled run saw them finish 12th, and then a top four finish at the Bathurst 1000. Cullen and Jones, the latter of whom drove the final stint in the race and required pain killing injections after having the steering wheel wrench out of his hands during practice which damaged ligaments in his elbow, were unlucky not to finish second, but a rear brake problem with the car saw him forced to use engine braking and thus more fuel than normal forced a late race stop for fuel (during the race the team discovered they'd made a mistake with their rear brake pad choice and when Jones pitted late it was found that the pads had worn away down to the brake discs). This allowed the second Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore of David Parsons and John Harvey to sneak into second and the Mazda RX-7 of Allan Moffat and Gregg Hansford to claim third.

Jones was quickly snapped up as teammate to Colin Bond on Bond's newly formed factory supported Network Alfa touring car team for the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship driving an underpowered Alfa Romeo GTV6 in Australia's first full year using the international Group A touring car rules. After some giant killing performances in the early rounds of the championship, Jones abandoned his first serious ATCC campaign to make his second Formula One comeback with the Haas Lola team.

He joined Kremer Racing for the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans where he would share a Porsche 956B with 1983 Le Mans winner (and fellow Aussie) Vern Schuppan along with former F1 driver Jean-Pierre Jarier. After dicing for the lead with the pole sitting Lancia LC2 of Bob Wollek and Alessandro Nannini for the first third of the race, damage caused when Schuppan was the innocent victim of a spinning Roger Dorchy, and finally a broken conrod, saw Jones finish his first 24 Hours of Le Mans start in 6th place. Jones had previously driven for the Kremer brothers when he and Schuppan drove a 956 to fifth place in the 1983 1000 km of Silversone. Later in 1984, Jones drove with Schuppan for the factory backed Rothmans Porsche team at the 1000 km of Sandown Park, the final round of the 1984 World Sportscar Championship and the first ever FIA World Championship race to be held in Australia. After Schuppan qualified the Porsche 956B third behind teammates Stefan Bellof and Jochen Mass, Jones started the race and got the jump on the West German pair and had the honour of leading the first lap of the first FIA World Championship race ever held in Australia. Jones and Schuppan eventually finished ninth, 12 laps down on Bellof and Derek Bell after numerous punctures.

On 20 September 1987, at SUGO, Jones won a round of the All Japan Touring Car Championship driving Toyota Team Tom's, Group A Toyota Supra MA70 Turbo. Unfortunately the factory backed Supra could not compete, even with the Private Ford Sierras, thus for the remaining two JGTC races he scored only one additional podium on 6 December at Suzuka where he finished third. After returning home again in 1987 his career did not pick up again until a competitive third placing at the 1988 Bathurst 1000 with Colin Bond's team in a Ford Sierra RS500, saw him signed up as full-time number two driver to Tony Longhurst in Longhurst's Frank Gardner run team to drive a Sierra in 1990. The Benson & Hedges sponsored Sierras were brutally fast but disappointingly fragile and results were again elusive. The team switched to BMW M3 Evolution's in 1991 saw the return of reliability at the cost of speed. Jones took the occasional podium result while Longhurst took two wins against the all-powerful Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R's. A switch to Glenn Seton Racing mid-season in 1992 brought improved results and race wins and he finished runner up to his team leader Glenn Seton as their V8 Ford Falcons dominated the 1993 Australian Touring Car Championship. Jones' reputation as a hard charger was shown in the 1993 ATCC when he was involved in a number of incidents, most notably pushing the Holden Commodore of Mark Skaife off the track at Symmons Plains Raceway before also doing the same to the Holden Racing Team's Commodore driven by Australia's 1987 500cc Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion Wayne Gardner less than half a lap later. Rule changes to make the Commodores more competitive saw the team's dominance fade over the next few years. The 1995 Bathurst 1000 looked to be a high point with a memorable 1–2 finish for their two cars fading into just a second for the car Jones shared with veteran Allan Grice, the pair finishing behind the Holden Commodore of ex-F1 driver Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall (Seton, leading by five seconds with just nine laps remaining, retired with a dead engine).

By this point, the team was sundering apart and Jones took the major sponsor (Philip Morris International) to form a new team with engineering brothers Ross and Jim Stone as partners, known commercially as Pack Leader Racing (the Pack Leader name came about as the use of the Peter Jackson cigarette brand was banned following the Australian Government's blanket ban on all cigarette advertising from 1 January 1996). Initially fast, the partnership was fading by 1997 and the Stones bought Jones out, re-badging the team as Stone Brothers Racing. Jones returned to race with Tony Longhurst's Longhurst Racing team again in 1998 by this time his form was fading. From 1999 onwards he no longer raced full-time, driving just the endurance races as a hired gun. His final race was with Dick Johnson Racing, driving into a seventh-placed finish at the 2002 Bathurst 1000.