MARCH 24, 2005

Sons of famous fathers

There are lots of famous names in racing, carried from one generation to the next. We have seen Brabhams, Hills, Andrettis, Unsers, Villeneuves and soon no doubt will be dealing with new Rosbergs and Piquets. Over in America another old F1 name has popped up with Jeff Bucknum, the son of former Honda F1 driver Ronnie Bucknum, who was plucked from obscurity in 1964 to drive for Honda. He scored his only World Championship points at Mexico City in 1965 where he finished fifth, eclipsed by team-mate Richie Ginther's outstanding victory. Bucknum went on to race a Carroll Shelby GT40 to third place at Le Mans in 1966 and competed in Indycar racing, winning the 1968 Michigan 500.

Jeff Bucknum has just passed his Indy Racing League rookie test at the Phoenix International Raceway and will drive a second Dreyer & Reinbold Racing entry at Twin Ring Motegi and Indianapolis alongside Roger Yasukawa.